Teagasc Organic Specialists and Advisors organise a number of activities and events throughout the year. These include:
More information on these events outlined below.
Find some advice on the Steps to Organic conversion here
Upcoming events
Teagasc are holding a series of ‘Let’s Talk Organics’ webinars this Spring. These webinars, featuring Teagasc Organic Specialists and Advisors along with guest speakers and organic farmers, will cover various technical aspects of organic farming. They will be of interest to farmers already farming organically, those in conversion, and those thinking of switching to organic production.
Click here to register for the webinars!
Wednesday, 4th March | 7:30pm
Join the Teagasc Organics team and guest speakers online on Wednesday, 4th March at 7:30pm for an episode of Let’s Talk Organics which will provide an insight into the growing of protein crops.
After oats, intercrops containing a grain and legume crop grown side by side, are the most common tillage crop grown on Irish organic tillage farms. Pete Iannetta, James Hutton Institute in Scotland and Martin Bourke, Teagasc Organic Specialist will present the finding of research trials and give us their experience of growing intercrops in Ireland and Scotland.
Click here to register for the webinar!
Wednesday, 1st April | 7:30pm
Join the Teagasc Organics team and guest speakers online on Wednesday, 1st April for an episode of Let’s Talk Organics which will focus on making quality grass silage on organic farms.
Grass silage is the most common preserved forage grown on Irish organic farms. The Teagasc Organic Specialists and Advisors team have recently undertaken a pilot project to assess the quality of feed value of silage on Irish organic farms. The results of this analysis will be presented and at the factors that contribute to making excellent silage on organic farms and the knock on implications that has on animal performance will also be discussed.
Click here to register for the webinar!
Wednesday, 4th February | 7:30pm
The Teagasc Organics team and guest speakers held an episode of Let’s Talk Organics which provided an insight into composting farmyard manure for livestock farmers.
This webinar aimed to inform livestock farmers as why they should compost farmyard manure (FYM), the varying methods of FYM composting and how to achieve optimal results. Koen Willekens of ILVO in Belgium presented the findings on research he has undertaken on the process of composting FYM and Kerry organic farmer, Tommy Reidy outlined how he composts FYM on his organic beef farm in Camp.
The Teagasc Organic Specialist and Advisory team have organised a series of Organic Inspection and Record Keeping Workshops across the country. These workshops are not to be missed if you need guidance on organic inspections and record keeping.
Topics to be discussed include:
See dates and venues below:
Teagasc Office, Naas, Co. Kildare. Eircode: W91 HP38.
Teagasc Office, Newcastlewest, Co. Limerick. Eircode: V42 DY03.
Teagasc Office, Thurles, Co. Tipperary. Eircode: E41 AK40.
Cillin Hill, Kilkenny Mart , Co. Kilkenny. Eircode: R95 A4VP.
Keane’s Bar, Maam Bridge, Maam, Co. Galway. Eircode: H91 VN82.
Teagasc Office, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford. Eircode: Y21 ED27.
Teagasc Office, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork. Eircode: P61 C996
Teagasc Office, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. Eircode: N91 PK10.
Teagasc Office, Macroom, Co. Cork. Eircode: P12 TX32.
Teagasc Office, Roscommon, Co. Roscommon. Eircode: F42 XC63.
The ‘Growing Organics’ Programme is a five year programme led by Teagasc, and will promote the adoption of best practice at farm level to increase the future viability and sustainability of the Irish organic sector. The results from the activities on the demonstration farms will be made available to all farmers and researchers to significantly improve the data available on different aspects of organic farming.
Organic demonstration farms have been selected throughout the country to illustrate best practice and monitor key financial and environmental metrics. Providing up to date technical advice to organic farmers is a key objective of the National Organic Strategy 2019-2025.
Tuesday, 25th February 2025
William Deasy, Teagasc Specialised Vegetable Advisor, along with Elaine Leavy and Martin Bourke Teagasc Organic Specialists, hosted this episode of Let’s Talk Organics. The webinar focused on the Irish retail market for organic fresh produce (vegetables and fruit), and provided advice for growers doing business with supermarket buyers.
The team were joined by Emmet Doyle, Bord Bia Organic Sector Manager and Conor Hogan, Organic Executive at Bord Bia who provided up-to-date market data for organic fresh produce retail sales in Ireland and insights and trends from European organic fresh produce retail markets. Retail expert, Ged Futter, founder of The Retail Mind in the UK and former supermarket senior buyer turned management consultant provided key advice to growers on managing the supermarket supplier relationship.
Watch webinar recording below
Wednesday, 4th December | 7:30pm
On this episode of Let’s Talk Organics, Elaine Leavy, Teagasc Organic Specialist was joined by Emmet Doyle and Conor Hogan, Bord Bia and Anne Maher, Urban Co-Op to discuss the market opportunities for Irish organic produce. A questions and answers session took place at the end of the webinar, which was facilitated by Marianne Mulhall, Teagasc Organics Advisor.
Watch webinar recording below
About the panellists
Wednesday, 7th February | 7pm
Elaine Leavy, Teagasc Organics Specialist hosted a webinar on Wednesday, 7th February which looked at establishment methods for red clover. Elaine was joined by Cathal McCauley, Specialised Organic Advisor, Teagasc; Lisa McGrane, Teagasc and Michael Egan, Teagasc Researcher.
Cathal provided an overview of Michael Edgeworth, organic farmer from County Leitrim’s farm. Michael and Ann converted to organic farming just over a year ago. In June 2023, they decided to try three different ways of establishing red clover on their farm – Direct drill; power harrow; and plough. Cathal caught up with Michael to get an insight into how they got on with each establishment technique.
Lisa McGrane provided an overview of her recently completed PhD which looked at the addition of clover or herbs to a perennial ryegrass sward: effects on animal and sward performance. Lisa gave an insight into part of her research on the various establishment methods for red clover.
Michael Egan provided an overview of the role of red clover silage and gave an insight into research being carried out in Teagasc.
Watch webinar recording below
Wednesday, 6th March | 7pm
Elaine Leavy, Teagasc Organics Specialist hosted a webinar on Wednesday, 6th March which looked at experiences with cover crops for field-scale organic vegetable production. Elaine was joined by William Deasy, Specialised Vegetable Advisor, Teagasc and Christoffel den Herder, Senior Advisor Organic Vegetable Growing – CERES Horti Advice.
The webinar was aimed at horticultural growers and farmers who are interested in learning more about commercial organic horticulture.
Christoffel den Herder provided an insight into the reasons for growing cover crops including benefits and challenges; selecting and integrating cover crops into organic vegetable rotations; and practical experiences with establishment and management including destruction for following crops.
Watch webinar recording below
On Wednesday, 28th August 2024 a farm walk took place at Beechlawn Organic Farm, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway, H53 K753.
About the farm
Beechlawn Organic Farm are producers and distributors of Irish grown and imported organic fruit and vegetables. Certified by the Irish Organic Association and Bord Bia Sustainable Horticulture Assurance Scheme, the farm comprises both field-scale and protected production of organic horticultural crops.
This farm walk is a chance to view at first-hand the experiences of one of the leading organic enterprises in Ireland. Everyone welcome.
Teagasc, Bord Bia and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) jointly organised a National Organic Beef Open Day on the farm of John Purcell, Ross, Golden, Cashel, Co. Tipperary on Wednesday, 28th September 2022.
The open day was aimed at providing up to date best practice for existing organic farmers and also will aim at providing an insight into organic farming methods for those farmers contemplating converting their farms.
John took over the running of the farm from his late father Michael Purcell in 1997. The farm had always been associated with a livestock enterprise and in 1998, John converted the farm to organic and continued with the beef model. The overall farm operation of 950 acres consists of owned and leased land and all together produces over 1000 finished beef cattle per annum for the market.
The farm walk is on a block of 500 acres. The farm produces most of the winter feed for the operation and houses 600 cattle during the winter months. Combination crops and clover grass swards are grown as part of the winter-feeding system. John’s farm does not exclusively focus on beef production, he also has incorporated biodiversity corridors/habitats. He has also planted over 10,000 trees in the last three years to sequester carbon and is planning to claim carbon natural status by 2025.
