It is a truly shocking experience in the Ireland of 1999 to meet a farmer who shows you a one-acre field in Co Leitrim and tells you he makes a growth return of £20,000 on it per annum. When he adds that he has shunned all Government and EU subsidies and grants, you begin to wonder if you've landed on another planet.
Mr Rod Alston started his organic farm at Rossinver in north Leitrim about 25 years ago and since then has built Eden Plants into a successful business. His aim was never to make money: it was more of an ideological experiment.
On a 20-acre holding, he specialises in herbs and produces more than 180 varieties, in addition to a full range of vegetables. He points out that there are costs to be subtracted from the £20,000 return he makes on his garden.
Mr Alston doesn't crow about his success, but argues calmly that what he is doing makes sense. He is responding to real demand in the market place, not producing for intervention or following subsidies.
A compelling argument for serious Government support for organic farming is made in a report produced by an advisory body to the Western Development Commission. A detailed "action plan" for the organic sector in the seven western counties has been commissioned.
The initial report concludes that organic farming is an economically viable sector with "enormous potential" for the future, which has been slow to develop because of successive governments' failure to recognise this potential. It is argued that the seven western counties from Clare to Donegal should be established as an "organic zone".
Ms Cariosa Lynch of the Western Development Commission says the sector offers a great opportunity to those involved in conventional farming to stay on the land and earn an income.
The report examines the development of the organic sector in other countries and looks at the measures needed to achieve similar growth in Ireland. Across Europe demand is growing. In France organic food sales account for 39 per cent of total retail turnover.
With State support, the value of the market in Sweden increased more than tenfold in the five years to 1997. The UK is currently importing 80 per cent of its products and demand is expected to increase by 25 per cent per annum for the next three years.
The European market for organic meat and dairy products was estimated to be worth $1.1 billion in 1996 and the total market is forecast to be worth $3.2 billion by 2002.
Ireland has already seen rapid growth in this sector. The number of producers has increased by more than 300 per cent since 1993. The introduction of cash incentives under the Rural Environmental Protection Scheme is believed to have been a major factor in this increase.
Of the 817 registered organic farm producers in the State, 340 are located in the seven western counties. The report says the majority of the 59,238 farms in these seven counties are no longer economically viable. Going organic would appear to be an obvious solution to help keep more people on the land.
In order for Ireland to follow the growth pattern of other countries, it is estimated that the number of people in the organic sector needs to treble over the next 10 years. It is accepted that there is a huge shortfall in the provision of information, advice and training in the sector, a situation which has led to the development of The Organic Centre in Rossinver, of which Mr Alston is a founding member.
A non-profit-making venture, the centre opened to the public in 1997 and has secured funding to undertake a £560,000 expansion. A new training centre, with a cafe and shop, is to be built. A full-time 36-week course run in conjunction with FAS is to start at the end of the month and a year-round programme of weekend courses continues. Both vegetables and seeds are also sold.
The centre's co-ordinator, Mr Ed Henderson, says people have come from all over the country to learn about everything from sheep farming to basket-making. There is only one other full-time course in organic farming available in the country, in Drumcollogher, in Co Limerick.
He says there is a growing demand for organic produce, although the weather conditions in the north-west, added to the heavy soil, do not make it easy to supply the market. About 90 per cent of organic vegetables on sale in Irish shops at this time of the year have to be imported.
Mr Alston's farm has also suffered from the bad weather, but at this stage he knows how to weather a storm. Sheets of black plastic cover the drills in the vegetable garden to prevent nutrients in the soil from being washed away with the rain. He keeps a few cattle for a constant supply of all-important fertiliser and a small herd of goats provide milk for cheese-making.
He believes in the importance of providing training and support to encourage organic farming, but is wary of a subsidy culture and says decisions, which can look good on paper in an office in Dublin or Brussels, often have disastrous implications on the ground.
"By subsidising production, you are persuading people to go in the totally wrong way," he says.
He supplies a small number of quality restaurants and shops in the Sligo-Leitrim area, and believes collaboration like this, even on a small scale, can be a huge addition to an area. "It can give the place self-confidence and pride and can bring people into an area. It doesn't have to be on a massive scale to be very important," he says.