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Organic Farming

Organic Farming

CSO statistical publication, , 11am

Structure of Organic Farms

There has been a marked increase in organic farming in recent years, with over 4000 farms either certified organic or undergoing conversion to organic in 2023. The data indicates there were 4,168 organic farms in 2023, up from 1,686 (+147.2%) in 2020. Organic farms made up 3.1% of the total number of farms in 2023. The total Utilised Agriculture Area (UAA) on organic farms in 2023 was almost 180,000 ha up from approximately 75,000 ha (+143.9%) in 2020. UAA on organic farms represented 3.9% of total UAA.

Table 8.1 Principal Totals Organic Farms, 2023

55.1% of organic farms were classified as Specialist Beef production, similar to the proportion of Specialist Beef Production across all farms (56.1%). Specialist Sheep farms represented 26.5% of organic farms, this is significantly higher than the proportion of Specialist Sheep farms across all farms (13.1%). Specialist Dairying farms made up only 1.6% of organic farms while representing 11.4% of all farms.

There were 1,105 organic farms classified as type Specialist Sheep, making up 6.3% of all farms of this type. 5.6% of Mixed Crops and Livestock farms were organic. These were the farm types with the highest levels of organic farming.

X-axis labelType of farm
Specialist Tillage110
Specialist Dairying66
Specialist Beef Production2297
Specialist Sheep1105
Mixed Grazing Livestock300
Mixed Crops and Livestock102
Mixed Field Crops100
Other 88
Table 8.2 Organic Farms by Farm Type, 2023

In 2023, the mean farm size for organic farms was 43.2 ha. This was 24.5% higher than the average farm size across all farms; 34.7 ha. 31.7% of organic farms were over 50 ha, compared to 19.7% for both organic and non-organic farms. About 300 organic farms had less than 10 ha of UAA (7.5%). 

X-axis labelFarm Size
Less than 10 ha311
10 - 20 ha668
20 - 30 ha686
30 - 50 ha1183
50 - 100 ha1014
100 + ha306
Table 8.3 Organic Farms by Farm Size, 2023

66.7% of organic farms have standard output between €8,000 and €50,000. Only an estimated 2.9% of organic farms have standard output of €100,000 or more. Just less than 10% of organic farms have a standard output of less than €4,000.

X-axis labelEconomic Size
Less than €4,000397
€4,000 - €8,000548
€8,000 - €15,000988
€15,000 - €25,000896
€25,000 - €50,000898
€50,000 - €100,000319
€100,00 +122
Table 8.4 Organic Farms by Economic Size, 2023

There is a higher proportion of female farm holders on organic farms (17.2%) than across all farms (13.2%). 

X-axis labelPercent
Male82.8
Female17.2
X-axis labelMale
Male86.8
Female13.2
Table 8.5 Organic Farms by Sex, 2023

Land Utilisation on Organic Farms

The majority of organic Utilised Agricultural Area (UAA) in 2023 was grassland (95.4 %). There was over 5,000 ha are under organic cereals over approximately 270 farms.

X-axis labelAverage Utilised Agricultural Area (ha)Number of Farms
202073798.81686
2023179992.44168
Table 8.6 Crop Type and Area Under Selected Organic Crops, 2023

The South-West region reported the highest percentage of organic UAA under grassland (98.5%). The Mid-East and Dublin had the lowest proportion of organic UAA under grassland with 83.7%. The highest proportion of organic UAA under cereals in 2023 was in the Mid-East and Dublin region (10.4%).

X-axis labelGrassCerealsOther
South-West98.50.90.6
Border98.40.90.7
West97.911
Mid-West93.84.31.9
Midlands89.36.93.8
South-East85.19.45.4
Mid-East & Dublin83.710.46
Table 8.7 Organic Farms and Area Under Organic Grassland and Cereals by Region, 2023

Organic Livestock

In 2023, there were over 100,000 cattle over nearly 2,800 organic farms. There was nearly 500,000 sheep up by approximately 420,000 animals (+562.1%) since 2020. There was over 500,000 poultry on organic farms.

X-axis labelHeads of LivestockNumber of Farms
Cattle1036842773
Sheep4957431728
Poultry506493340
Table 8.8 Organic Farms with Organic Livestock, 2023

The Northern and Western region reported the most poultry on organic farms in 2023 with nearly 350,000 animals, representing 67.1% of all poultry on organic farms. This region also had the highest number of sheep on organic farms with over 250,000 animals (50.9%). The region with the most cattle on organic farms was the Southern region with over 43,000 animals (41.8%).

X-axis labelNorthern and WesternSouthernEastern and Midland
Cattle380734330022311
Sheep25236417289170488
Poultry33960912088246002
Table 8.9 Organic Livestock on Farms by Region, 2023