b4 u even start on this and the government, have a look at what will now happen because the greens are in government. And then think of what would have happened were they not in government.
Its an a-z of what should be done. Like 500 _new_ teachers....
Sure if u don't trust the times, there's always the horses' mouth itself
article begins:
Its amazing how much dislike there is out there for the government, and how this manifests itself.
This occasionally naked anger appears in a myriad of different ways � even in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food's (DAFF's) promotion of organic farming.
On line and in print, the establishment of Foras Organach has actually managed to annoy a number of people, both from and outside the farming community.
Foras Organach is the new body, which takes over from the National Steering Group for the Organic Sector, with a remit to drive the development of organics.
That Foras Organach is taking over from a previous body seems has passed most of the critics by.
This shows a lack of due diligence on their parts - under-researching their opinion and criticising something without having the facts established.
However it also reveals just how little faith people have in the government: in the case of Foras Organach, they immediately presumed it was another gravy train.
One of these sources of criticism was the on line forum politics.ie . This is an extremely busy and active website, which carries news and discussions on politics.
On politics.ie the announcement of Foras Organach was greeted with shouting rage. Many presumed it would be costly, that the members of the body would be on a wage, that offices would be filled with the members and their staff.
In fact, Foras Organach is 1/3 the size of the previous group and far more targeted, as conventional sector experts and organic representatives work together in a very focused way.
The members are all either volunteering private businesspeople, or state employees doing their dairy work.
The meetings are in Department of Finance buildings in Tullamore. This latter fact also reduces the costs associated with it, as Tullamore is in the midlands so people traveling from the four corners, as it were, will have a shorter distance to travel. And as farming is rural, the logic of this location is clear.
Members do receive civil service rates for traveling to Tullamore the once a month meetings, but why shouldn't they? Especially if they are private businesspeople taking a day out of actually earning money, and volunteering to help develop the organic sector?
Critics also saw Foras Organach as a waste of money in a country with none. Apart from the fact that it will actually cost very little money, investing in organic farming is investing in a growth area that, compared to conventional farming, has a younger demographic, has a better gender balance, has more profitability and is more sustainable. What's not to support in this, considering the Department's conventional farming budget tops E2.6 billion?
While you can expect a level of ignorance about farming on websites, you might expect a bit more from a farming publication.
The Irish Farmers' Monthly actually carries an editorial on Foras Organach in its current October edition. The presumptions and basic errors made in Margaret Donnelly's editorial are noteworthy.
Claiming that Foras Organach is an �entirely new body� is a very basic error. As is the claim that recent research has found that organic has �zero health benefits�: no food has zero health benefits.
While, expecting that people will have less money to spend, and thus might purchase less organic food, is understandable, this jars with the fact that organic sales in Ireland are increasing as the recession deepens.
In July of this year, organic sales reached E124 million. This is a 19% increase on the July 2008 figure. (This has been misreported almost everywhere, as people have conflated the volume increase of 13% with the value increase of 19%)
It also ignores the fact that Ireland has an export orientated agricultural sector, and that there are significant shortages of organic produce in many parts of Europe � where, as it happens, the recession is not as severe anyway.
Foras Organach will continue to grow the organic sector, in a very cost effective manner, whatever about people's dislike of the government.
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