2009: THE ORGANIC YEAR THAT WAS

In spite of the trials and tribulations every aspect of Irish life has faced this year, organic farming and food has managed to stand tall.

Difficult, challenging, and testing times no doubt, and more yet to come. This is not to say of course that everyone has grown their business, that all have even survived. It is to say, however, that the organic movement is resilient.

The organic year began with a slightly unusual announcement: the arrival of a new certification body: IMO. This global organisation specialises in various ethical certifications, including organic.

Their arrival may in the coming years open up export markets, expertise and multi layered certification and validation of Irish organic products, which may well help build the Irish organic sector - who knows? Its up to farmers and food producers to be innovative in this regard.

February saw the largest delegation yet of Irish organic food businesses at the BioFach trade show in Germany. This was one of the many innovative actions the Department of Agriculture and the organic sector took: the necessity of a weak UK market bred the ingenuity of new European markets.

The summer saw two significant occurrences: the UK Food Standards Authority's (FSA) report on nutrition, and the figures on the growth of the organic market in Ireland. This report was, in my own reasonably informed opinion, flawed in numerous ways.

In brief, however, regarding the nutritional superiority of organic over conventional: a conclusion of 'not enough evidence to make a case either ways' would have been far more accurate than the actual report's conclusion of 'no evidence'.

New excellent award winning organic products emerged: simple, honest foods like Moonshine Milk, Drumeen Farm Happy Heart Oil and Sowan's bread.

In my own small way, myself and Joe Condon have been adding to this by beavering away on the Organics with Altitude initiative. This encourages hill farmers to consider suitable upland breeds, artisan butchering, direct selling and organic certification. It has been going well for us, and I've really enjoyed getting out and about meeting farmers from Donegal to Kerry.

Also during the summer, Foras Organach was established, a streamlined and industry-led way to help develop the sector, whilst public procurement of organic finally began.

Despite or perhaps even because of the recession, the organic market actually grew in the period up to last records, July. It grew at a faster rate than its previous rate of growth,which was fast anyway. Few other areas are also growing in the Irish economy: as a stark contrast, pharmaceuticals and the multinational sector in general are.

A crucial difference between organic and these other growth areas is that organic is about one of Ireland's key and immovable natural resources � the land. Organic doesn't even have the option of relocating to Bangalore or New Deili: multi and transnational capital always has that option.

In this light, it is at least heartening that the 2009 reviewed programme for government renewed and indeed strengthened its commitment to organic.

Post budget, it was announced that all the organic cash was coming back: grant aid and both the in-conversion and area-based payments are being reintroduced at the previous levels.

And, happy new year folks: the Organic Farming Scheme returns tomorrow. Subject to new organic farmers completing a training course and business plan, they can apply from tomorrow on.

It cannot have been easy for the Minister with responsibility for organic farming, Trevor Sargent, to achieve this in the worst economic meltdown the country has even seen.

I genuinely do not think that the organic movement knows how blessed it is to have a supportive, hard working and, yes even visionary Minister at the helm: how would organic have fared in budgetary cutbacks if a journeyman with no real commitment to the sector was in there instead?

The biggest single remaining block to growth now is the issue regarding REPS 2 and REPS 3 farmers not actually being allowed convert to organic: some 30,000 don't even have the option, unless they pull out of REPS and return their payments.

Here's hoping that this crucial barrier is lifted in the New Year.

CLONMEL FARMERS' MARKET: QUALITY, VALUE AND REVERSING DONUTIFICATION

�You just can't get stuff this fresh � it was picked this morning�, so says Siobhan, a salt of the earth middle aged shopper at Clonmel's farmers' market. A massive self-serve bag of salad leaves, complete with nasturtium's for colour and spice, for 3 euros. This leafy vibrant bag is a million miles from the supermarket option: jaded bags puffed out with inert gas and binned 45% of the time, according to research.

She picks up a bottle of Happy Heart Organic Rapeseed Oil, the only other product on sale at the stall. This oil, winner in the sustainability category at the recent Bord Bia national organic awards, comes from Drumeen farm in Kilkenny.

Drumeen is one of Ireland's pioneering organic farms run by the Colchester family. It dates back to the mid 1970s, and the second generation is now branching out into what is an incredible tasting oil. Kitty Colchester's boyfriend Joe Moore runs the stall. �Its grown, pressed and bottled on the farm� he tells me proudly.

In fact, this oil is pressed every week, making it just about the freshest of all oils available in Ireland. And a snip at E6 for a half litre, such is its quality.

The market is busy from the get go, with a constant trail of people arriving, the occasional one by bike. Despite the intermittent rain, people stay to shop. When the rain eases off, they start to sit at the tables and chairs, taking in the atmosphere.

Jurgen the gourmet coffee man seems to have a permanent buzz around him. His Fair Trade americano is E1.70, which is a great price for what is a very well made gourmet coffee.

Joe Condon's organic Galloway steakburgers burgers have sold out since noon.

�I haven't seen a drop off in sales at all with the recession� he tells me; �my customers are buying more burgers than they used to, and less steak, but I sell out every week. I get a lot of people who used to go to restaurants to eat out once or twice a week. Now, they're eating organic meat at home�.

Condon's 4 pack of organic burgers retail at E6.50, which Conor Pope gave the top grade to in his pricewatch column. Its easy to see why: Condon has samples the day I visit, and the burgers seem to get bigger rather than smaller when cooked on the BBQ. �The meats' hung for 3 weeks, so it looses weight but develops flavour that way. You won't see a puddle of water run off when you cook them. People appreciate that�.

Because of this, it is difficult to even compare like with like, when comparing what you get at a farmers' market to a supermarket: �A big processor just wouldn't bother to go to the trouble I go to: it wouldn't be economical for them. It is for me because I direct sell�according to Condon.

Like everything else in Ireland, farmers' markets are feeling a pinch. Some smaller, peripheral markets have closed or struggle on. However, the bigger ones, such as Dun Laoire or Mahon Point, are doing exceptionally well. There are also incredible waiting lists for stalls, as newly unemployed people look for alternative ways to make money.

I asked a few of the shoppers why they went to the trouble of the farmers' market: was it, for example, health or the environment?

�I don't see a separation really� was the overwhelming response. For most shoppers I spoke to that day, these issues were one and the same; healthy soil, healthy planet, healthy body.

Others also pointed to the fact that actually meeting the person who produced the food was vital � �I can trust what I'm putting in my body if I can look in the eye the person who grew it� as one woman said to me.

Others again pointed to the conviviality of the place; �shopping as it should be�, as one twenty something on a bike joked, playing on the popular Supervalu supermarket slogan.

Bernie Lennon, local Green Party councilor, was instrumental in setting up this market. �We were worried that, like so many towns, Clonmel would turn into a donut�. I pressed him on this Homer Simpsonesque image: �empty in the middle, with a ring of development around it�.

But now, thanks in part to the Saturday farmers' market, the donutification of Clonmel is being challenged: in fact, the donuts at the two bakery stalls are playing their own small part in revitalisating the town centre, the producers and the consumers in this part of Ireland.

Happy Heart Oil: the next generation of organic

As the organic movement matures, the next organic generation emerges to take up the reigns.

Kitty Colchester is Ben and Charlotte's daughter. The Colchesters have a c.200 acre organic holding near Urlingford in Kilkenny called Drumeen farm. They have had this as an organic farm since the mid 1970s.

(photo LtoR Eileen Bentley Bord bia; Kitty Colchester and Minister for Food Trevor Sargent)

A central part of the organic movement since then, their mixed farm has cattle (mostly Angus) sheep, poultry, turkey, honey and forestry. They also grow their own feed, which is where the idea for the Happy Heart Oil came along.

So now, this JFC award winner and Teagasc organic demonstration farm has another feather in its bow.

Daughter Kitty's Happy Heart organic rapeseed oil is divine, really sustainable and perfectly affordable, retailing as it does from between E5.50 and E6 for 500ml. Winner in the sustainability category at the Bord Bia National Organic Awards this year, its easy to see why.

The taste is exceptionally fresh, due to the fact that it is pressed each week on the farm. In fact, all the work is done on the farm.

Ben Colchester had been growing rapeseed and pressing it for the protein feed by product it yields to feed the chickens and turkeys. This created an opportunity for Kitty:

Over to Kitty:

�I'd been in in sales, but after doing aid work in Africa for a year, I didn't want to go back to that � I was more interested in doing something on the farm. The oil was an obvious choice�.

Having done some research into the nutritional benefits of rapeseed oil, Kitty started pressing, labelling and bottling earlier this year. The oil has been a huge hit so far.

�Most oil available in Ireland comes in from southern Europe. Its usually about 3 to 4 months old by the time the customers get it, whereas I press weekly�.

Both the nutrition and the taste of the oil improves because of this.

Three times a year, 300 or so customers come to the farm to collect their large organic food orders: They sell freezer portions, including half and whole beef and lamb animals, butchered to customers' requirements.

For the birds �we do three batches - chicken in June and in September, and then a Christmas Turkey run. We kill about 1500 animals here on our on farm abattoir each time. In June, the oil was also available to the customers, they tried it and they all bought some�.

Since then, the distribution base has expanded. The oil is available from Duncan Healy's Organic Delights stalls at Farmers' Markets on the east coast, at other mostly regional farmers' markets including Clonmel, in some regional box schemes, and in various retail outlets in Dublin, Tipperary, Cork, Wicklow and Offaly.

�The rapeseed is rotated every 3 to 4 yrs; we grew 11 acres, but went up to about 20 acres this year. We get 10-15 tonnes, and a tonne give about 600 bottles. Next year's plan was to double, but that's been delayed by a year.�

Delayed. That's a euphemism.

�We won the award for best sustainable product, sales and feedback were going really well, and then we had a fire. I lost the whole crop.�

Disaster. Despite being encouraged to buy oil in for the year, Kitty decided not to. �No, I want to do something different, something 100% Irish and traceable. Buying in and then changing back to my own oil next year would be too confusing for the customer�.

Luckily, her overheads have been low � she does the pressing, bottling and labelling herself, so the crop loss hasn't been as costly as it might have been. Also, she has enough stock left to keep for the farm sales and to �dribble out over the year�.

In the intermittent period, she will work on branding, labelling and other marketing-related areas.

But watch out for the limited supplies of this year's 2009 vintage: it will be much sought after. And here's to a happy and healthy growing, pressing, and bottling experience for Happy Heart oil from now on.

Fire walking through it all: organic farming's cool wet grass

Sometimes it must seem as if organic farming is blessed. It is almost as if organic farming is fire walking, thinking all the time of cool wet grass while bounding across the burning agri-food embers.

All around, casualties nurse their smoldering, singed, smoky feet. And yet, in its own small but significant way, organic continues to thrive.

Economists, commentators and other apparent experts have euligised the new fashion for frugality in food: the consumer now only wants cheap cheap cheap, and the consumer is getting it.

In this new world, organic supposedly doesn't stand a chance. How and why would anyone spend, wait for it, more than they have to, on something so basic as food? Its like taxing yourself on top of all the imposed cuts and taxes.

The same commentators then morn for farmers' falling income, as though cheap food and falling farmer incomes are not connected.

All the while, organic farming calmly and collectively presents itself as a viable and sustainable alternative.

Despite its image as expensive, organic continues to defy expectations. Despite all the presumptions, predictions and hype, organic sales figures are still growing in Ireland.

The most recent TNS figures for organic food sales put the figure at E124 million. Organic broke the 100 million mark in July 2008, and has been on the rise ever since. 73% have purchased an organic product in the last month.

Indeed the growth rate is actually hastening. Perhaps the consumer is sharpening her focus on value: the balance between price and quality.

It seems as if a new breed of quality organic products are emerging. There once was a place for uber convenience, for what now seems to be gimmicky value added products, or for ever smaller portions designed for ever more convenience again.

The new breed is an altogether leaner, cleaner, greener, machine. Consider the winners at this year's Bord Bia national organic awards.

Happy Heart organic rapeseed oil from Drumeen farm is grown, pressed and bottled on the Colchesters' farm in Kilkenny. It tastes great and is good value too, clocking in at under E6 for a half litre.

St Tola's organic goats cheese 1 kg log, which wins awards across many competitions at home and abroad, is now an export product.

The non-homogenised Moon Shine 2 litre organic milk, overall winner from the Kelly's in Westmeath, is another great taste great value product.

All three were category winners, decent sized portions, and all are produced on a farm.

Looking at the winners and highly commended's from these awards, its clear that simple, good quality foods are emerging as the foodie's choice.

This years organic award winners were meats, bread, milk, oil, cheese, porridge and yogurt: Simple honest foods.

The Good Herdsman's organic steakhouse beef, a highly commended product in the awards, proves that organic is able to compete with any retail product. The Good Herdsman recently achieved a E500,000 contract on the continent with their Organic Steakhouse, which is produced, processed and packaged in Ireland.

That the driving forces of the company, John Purcell and Josef Finkle can speak fluently in French and German no doubt helped with achieving contracts at this year's Biofach organic trade show in Germany.

Fellow judge Darren Grant from the Organic Supermarket in Blackrock, Dublin was very impressed by the fact that this new organic product has an extra 10 days shelflife.

St Tola's, Drumeen and Moonshine products, all farm produced, surely suggest to farmers that there are realistic options out there, both in organic and in on farm processing.

And for those very farmers, the dates and locations for the new Teagasc Organic Farming Courses have been announced.

These FETAC accredited courses start the week of the 20th October, and run for 25 hours in total one day per week for five weeks. The cost is �200 per participant.

Accredited courses are now compulsory to qualify for the new organic farming scheme, which reopens on the 1st January 2010.

And while the grass is greener on the organic side, in flaming world of farming, it's cooler and wetter too.

(photo by chaosinjune )

Bord Bia National Organic Awards 2009

The Overall winner this year is Moon Shine farm's organic milk.

This new retail product, which comes from Gerry and Mary Kelly's Westmeath farm, is a non homogenised milk, which retails for E2.39 for 2 litres.

It also won the best local product.

Well done to the Kelly's - they were up against some stiff and well financed companies, so thier acheivements are all the more spectacular.

(The Kelly's farm, right)

CATEGORY WINNERS NATIONAL ORGANIC AWARDS

Best Organic Retail Product

Organic Greek Style Natural Yoghurt,

Glenisk

Best Organic Export Product

St Tola Goats Log,

Inagh Farmhouse Cheese

Best Organic New Product:

Organic Gluten Free Real Wholegrain Bread Mix,

Sowan's Organic Bread mix

Best Organic Sustainable Product:

Happy Heart Oil Rapeseed Oil,

Drumeen Farm

Best Organic Local Product:

Moon Shine Farmhouse Milk,

Moon Shine Organic Farm