Low-Carbon Transition in Irish Agriculture: Organic Sector Growth and Structural Change Under Policy Support

Abstract

Low-carbon transition in European agriculture requires evidence on how sectoral structures adjust under policy support. In Ireland, fiscal investment through the Organic Farming Scheme has increased over the period 2020–2023 as part of national and EU commitments to sustainable production. The study provides a descriptive economic analysis of growth and structural change in the organic farming sector over this period, with particular attention to the organic beef subsector. The analysis uses data from the Central Statistics Office Census of Agriculture 2020 and the Farm Structure Survey 2023. Growth is measured through volume-based rates of change in conformity with Eurostat farm structure reporting. The results show growth in the number of organic farms by +147%, while certified organic land area expanded by +144%. Growth occurred primarily in beef systems in absolute terms and in sheep systems in relative terms, with smaller increases in dairy, tillage, and mixed farms. Expansion was concentrated among small and medium-sized holdings and in the Northern and Western regions. At the same time, average standard output on organic farms declined by 24% and median output by 16%, reflecting the entry of smaller and more extensive farms with lower economic scale. The study documents the structural adjustment in Ireland’s organic beef sector during a period of expanded support, without inferring causation. The findings provide new evidence on how policy-supported expansion is associated with sectoral structural change and transition toward lower-carbon production systems in a region with historically low levels of organic adoption.

Received: 1 October 2025 | Revised: 26 March 2026 | Accepted: 30 April 2026

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest to this work. This research was supported by the Teagasc Walsh Scholars Programme, Ireland, and the funder had no role in the study design, analysis or interpretation of the findings, or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Data Availability Statement

The data used in this study are publicly available from the Central Statistics Office of Ireland Farm Structure Survey2023 and Census of Agriculture 2020 . Farm Structure Survey2023 data are available at https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublica tions/ep/p-fss/farmstructuresurvey2023/data/, and Census of Agriculture 2020 data are available at https://www.cso.ie/en/release sandpublications/ep/p-coa/censusofagriculture2020detailedresults/ organics/.

Author Contribution Statement

Alfred Afeku: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization. Cathal O' Donoghue: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Resources, Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition. Kevin Kilcline: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Resources, Writing – Review & Editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition.