organic farming

Sounds wrong from what one thinks of all in being organic and driven by mindset.

But seemingly it's allowed by the organisations.

@tractorporn

Jesus wept.

Allowing any farmer to be both conventional and organic at the same time is crazy. It’s wide open for abuse.

You must have separate ownership of land, facilities, stock and machinery here. Conventional and organic cannot be owned/directed/produced by the same farm/Company/Partnership etc

Organic depends heavily on credibility…if there’s any bit of fraudulent activity, the whole industry suffers. There was a scandal before Covid where between 4 and 8% of imported organic fruit and veg were found to be carrying a heavy loading of pesticides. It was the start of the slippery slope for organics in France and Germany.

A good read.

It's never been as easy to get into the scheme. Staying in and doing things right will be more of a challenge.

Obviously they’re making an effort to keep the processors in line with good housekeeping when handling the goods, but why allow farmers to have a leg in both camps? It’s guaranteed that there’ll be messing at farm level without strict rules.

Friends of mine that are organic ended up having to sell their sprayer because the neighbors were reporting them for using pesticides even though they were only using biostimulants etc. etc.

It wouldn’t be a huge stretch of the imagination to see a farmer of both codes treating organic crops with ‘biostimulants’ or ‘trace elements’…?

No sprayer = nothing to hide.

Remember there’s no solid scientific evidence backing the belief that organic is better than conventional, and visa versa.

No amount of Teagasc/Government/Science/Greenwashing can dig organic out of a hole if found out to be adulterated with chems etc.

Before Covid it became public that between 4% and 8% of imported organic produce was tested with pesticides. There was immediate consequences for the organic market and it’s continuing to decline. Credibility is everything with organic, absolutely everything. Allowing farmers to produce both is insane!

A word of caution with teagasc I was chatting to a senior organic advisor about organic price premium or lack thereof he’s reply was that it was a good thing because it would put on political pressure

He is not wrong but you’d know he’s paycheck was dropping into the bank every month

One of the leading organic buyers said at a farm walk two years ago that, 'organic beef is now a commodity'. So you know where the thinking comes from.

I am organic and finish for both and sell in mart. This year anything I factory is going conventional as for heifers, which I kill, same price essentially and kill when suits you. the 20c bonus for one movement, or none on, cattle makes the organic price pointless. Haulage to organic factory the killer; Tipp and Wexford the two places killing organically and it is 40 to 50 a head if you are up the North or west of the country. I only kill 25 heifer a year max and calved here and different ages ie calved Jan to June, so tricky get a load all fit same time. Same with bullocks i sell much same price in ordinary mart. Organic became a destocking measure by the back door when they moved the min LU/ha to 0.1

Yeah it is a commodity I am in it years and essentially alot of "feed lot" in the organic too. Same few lads buying for the factories.

Another thing is the time it takes to get there never killed the same day as leave yard so they are losing weight and prob slipping a grade. Now with 30 AA, 20 QA and 20 for one movement that is 70c per kilo of bonuses that Organic not paying out. As said I am finished killing organically.

Looking to know what you guys think of moving from suckler-to-yearling system to a weanling to store system.

The Suckler cows are costing a nice bit to keep, with needing a reliable tractor for feeding, decent sheds etc.

Certainly a lot easier if you're part time. What price do you aim to buy and to sell at? Are you buying Oct/Nov and sell 12 months later? Scouring the right stock is an issue that might need to be worked out, have regular sources.

I thiought same as last year which is O plus as a min?? used to be any O was ok. I used to be all Continental swiitched to AA bull last year assume conitental cows bring as seem to be an R grade calf.

To be fair most lads would meet that.