1800 tonnes of Irish organic oats are now used by Flahavans in their products, up from just 100 tonnes in 2008.
This is quite a jump, as in 2008 the majority of the oats in Flahavans organic products were sourced from abroad, including from far flung territories like Argentina and Canada.
Now between 60% and 75% of their organic oats are sourced in Ireland.
I met John Noonan, sales and marketing director with Flahavans at the National Organic Awards at Bord Bia's offices in Dublin.
Their jumbo porridge oats were commended at the awards in the sustainability category, because of some of the environmental innovations they have recently carried out.
(pic from bibliocook - great site!)
Along with the recyclable packaging, the processing plants themselves are now more sustainable: The burning of the outer shell of the oat powers the boiler, which generates steam for the cooking process.
They also generate electricity from the original millstream alongside their mill, which will soon be the only mill left in Ireland.
Their recent upscaling and upgrading of their processing facilities involved an investment of E1.7 million on drying, grain handling and storage equipment: they can now store 4000 tonnes of organic oats.
Vital for Ireland Incorporated, Flahavans have been leading the charge on exports, with 20% of their sales now going to foreign markets. This is primarily to the UK, where over 200 Tescos and a slightly smaller number of Waitrose stores carry their products, along with Wholefoods and Tree of Life.
More recently the Spanish market has opened up for them, whilst they are also initiating sales to the US.
Of the four Teagasc's organic advisors, James McDonald covers the south east. He thus has his ear to the ground when it comes to the organic tillage sector.
Growth in the sector he puts down to the efforts made by Flahavans to build Irish production of oats: �Flahavans have attended numerous farm walks and conferences over the last two years. They have been very publicly looking to increase the number of farmers who supply them.�
He continues: �The price has been reasonably good for oats for the last couple of years too. 2 years ago they were paying E400 per tonne. Last year, it was still strong but back to E340 a tonne.�
These reasonable prices encouraged farmers into organic, and also encouraged farmers who did not previously have tillage to to take on some oats as part of their mixed enterprise.
However, according to McDonald: �Tillage now is as valuable as a feed crop� as the price paid for feed is almost if not actually the equal of the processor price:
Indications are that organic oats will fetch just E300 per tonne this year.
In effect, the organic beef and sheep sectors are defining the price of the oats as much as Flahavans. This may have the effect of putting a floor beneath any further price drops, as growers can simply turn to the feed market.
And with, by a considerable distance, the biggest progress being made in beef and sheep in terms of conversion to organic in recent years, including 2010, this situation is likely to continue.
According to McDonald: �for example, one farmer I was dealing with went in (to the organic farming scheme) on the 15th May with 100 sucklers. He'll need 80 or 90 tonnes to finish. So organic beef growth is driving demand, as is the euro exchange rate.�
The latter effects the price of imports from the UK, where significant increases in organic oat production, for the feed export market, have been noted in recent years.
This all points to a stable and reasonable situation for organic oat growers in Ireland: not as well rewarded as two years ago, but then, very few people in any sector, farming or otherwise, are.
Next, we'll talk to one of the tillage farmers who supplies Flahavans, Richard Galvin of Portlaw in Waterford.
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