CAP reform boosts the case for less-intensive farming, but organic producers feel their efforts are being hindered by the State, writes Liam Reid
Until recently the organic movement was often seen as little more than a bunch of hippy cranks. However, in the last few years, the issues which drive the sector - protection of the environment, sustainable development and food safety - have moved centre stage as primary consumer concerns.
Modern agricultural methods have damaged the Irish environment, with the Environmental Protection Agency estimating that nearly three-quarters of all water pollution in Ireland has been caused by farming.
Supporters of organic farming - a certified system of farming free of pesticides, artificial fertilisers and other synthetic additives with lower animal stocking levels - argue that the case for it has been furthered by CAP reform, with its emphasis on sustainable methods.
Organic food has yet to take a major hold among either consumers or farmers despite consumers' growing concerns about the environment and food safety.
Nevertheless, CAP reform, consumer concerns and stricter environmental regulations such as the nitrates directive, is putting pressure on Irish farming to adopt more environmentally friendly measures. The underlying principles of the reform will lead to less intensive farming methods for many Irish farmers, making it easier to transform to organic methods.
Ireland has the poorest record on both fronts, with less than 1 per cent of land being farmed organically and only 1,000 farmers involved in the sector.
While the world market for organic produce has seen phenomenal growth and is now worth €25 billion, sales of organic produce in Ireland is just €25 million per anum, with nearly half of that being imported.
The Minister for Agriculture has rejected calls for a national target of 20 per cent of agricultural land to be organically farmed by 2010, a target which has been set in Germany.
In response to a Dáil question from the Green Party, Mr Walsh said a target of 3 per cent by 2006 was feasible. "While organic farming offers real opportunities to a proportion of Irish farmers, particularly in the aftermath of the mid-term review of the CAP, I do not see any point in setting targets that do not reflect market realities," he said.
However, there is a growing "slow food movement" made up of small-scale "artisanal" producers of high-quality foods, who believe the regulatory regime in Europe mitigates against them in favour of the larger firms.
In their view, demand for all types of foods all year round has seen globalisation on an unprecedented scale and the food industry has become highly concentrated in the hands of large corporations and multi-nationals. Food production methods have also been forced to change as profit margins are squeezed in the push for cheaper commodity prices.
The BSE crisis is seen as the prime example of this and the biggest food safety issue to hit Europe. The fatal flaw which led to the infection of thousands of animals in Britain has been traced back to intensive feeding methods which entailed cattle being fed meat and bone meal made from cattle. The cause of BSE - a rogue prion - was seeded in the feed and the cannibalisation feeding methods saw the disease spread to a large proportion of the national herd.
Other food scares have put the spotlight on the highly concentrated integrated nature of the food chain. In 1998, animal feed in Belgium became contaminated with dioxins, leading to the recall of most food produced there, from chocolate to pork.
The foot-and-mouth crisis of two years ago highlighted another aspect of modern farming and food production methods - the huge distances travelled by many animals during their lives.
Lambs born in France could be reared in Wales, sold in England, killed in Ireland and exported back to France as Irish lamb, all within the space of six months.
The acting chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, Mr Alan O'Reilly, says large-scale production methods have the potential to cause much greater damage to health.
"In that type of global market, when something happens, it goes wrong big time. You have the opportunity to affect a lot of people."
O'Reilly gives examples abroad such as when 13 children died and thousands fell ill in Japan in 1996 after school meals became infected with E-coli 0157. The meals were being produced centrally for hundreds of schools.
With the food and farming sectors still a cornerstone of the Irish economy, the regulations governing food and farming in Ireland are among the most stringent in the world. However it is these stringent regulations which smaller producers claim are actually hindering the development of a more dynamic and varied food production sector.
Critics of the system say that some of the regulations are draconian and are geared towards large export-driven food-production operations. Small craft food producers claim they are being driven out of business by some of the rules.
One of the chief critics is Mr Pat Brady, chief executive of the Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland and one of the main figures behind the Irish slow food movement. Many of his members used to run their own abattoirs.
"The abattoir regulations are designed for the large export plants. Seventy per cent of the abattoirs catering for the domestic market have been forced to close over compliance with crazy regulations that are very costly to implement, regulations like having separate toilet facilities for inspectors."
The Food Safety Authority rejects the suggestion it has been over-policing smaller producers, but acknowledges their problems. "We're enforcing it proportionally to the risk, rather than stringently," O'Reilly says.
"We accept there are differences which have to be put in perspective. The risk from a small restaurant which serves 25 to 30 meals a day is much much different to a large hamburger chain."
According to O'Reilly, a major reform of food hygiene laws is under way at European level, which will allow for derogation at national level for smaller producers. The FSAI is currently establishing a group of small producers to discuss how this might be done.