Organic Food Is Booming in EU--Several Country Reports

ORGANIC NEWSLINE
Weekly International News from Organic Trade Services, www.organicts.com/,
THE organic industry portal on the Web.
Release · Vol 2 Issue 10
15 Mar 2001
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ireland: Dramatic Rise in Farmers Seeking to go Organic
Denmark Organic Policy an Example for EU Policy Change
Organic Foods Gain Popularity in Italy
Germany/EU: Pro-Environment Agricultural Policy Shift Needs Broad Based Support

Ireland: Dramatic Rise in Farmers Seeking to go Organic
22 February, The Irish Times

Ms Noreen Gibney, the operations manager of the IFOGA, has called for a
publicly funded information campaign to help farmers who are seeking
information on how to convert to organic farming. The demand from the
farming community for information on how to go organic has increased
dramatically as concern grows over the effects of BSE
"There has been a huge upsurge in calls here from farmers, processors and
the public on how they should proceed, and we are hard pressed to keep up
with the demand," she said. Apart from farmers, food-processors have been
anxious to get into the organic business and so are the beef processors, she
added. "The number of plants licensed to process organic beef has risen from
three to 15 in the last few months, and this demand has been market driven.
"Demand for organic beef both here and abroad far outstrips supply, and I
see that demand growing in the future," Ms Gibney said. "In addition we are
getting calls from smaller processors who want to process organic food, and
there are farmers who want to get involved as well.

"Even on the home market, there are many opportunities for local processors
to substitute organic produce for the organic produce we are importing now,"
she said. "Ireland is ideally placed to make the change to organic
production because there is not much intensive farming." She said clear
signals from the EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr
Franz Fischler, that he favoured the organic route had added to the demand.
The announcement by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural
Development, Mr Walsh, of more assistance for farmers changing to organic
production had been very important. "There are 45,000 farmers already in the
Rural Environment Protection Scheme who have a contract to farm in an
environmentally sensitive way and they would be best placed to move into
organic production," she said. The hill sheep farmers who are using very
little input are also well placed to make the move if they change their
supplementary feeding and veterinary practices." She said the surge in
interest in organic farming was happening against the background of ongoing
deliberations by a special committee set up by Mr Walsh last November, the
Organic Development Committee.

"That report, which will point the way forward for the industry, is due in
April of next year and the committee is currently working on a new logo for
Irish produced organic food," she said.

At the end of 2000 there were 1,014 registered organic producers, and she
predicted a dramatic increase this year. She said most of the producers
registered with IOFGA were already in beef production, and nearly 850
produced beef on their farms. "The farms vary in size from a few animals to
over 100, and there are substantial numbers of organic animals available,
but the demand for them is very high."

She said that, like conventional farming, organic beef producers were also
looking at breeds of cattle which could be ready for the market before 30
months of age. This work would be assisted by Teagasc, the agriculture and
food development authority, through its work at its research stations at
Johnstown Castle, Co Wexford, and Athenry, Co Galway. Also, more research
was being carried out in the country on all aspects of production by organic
organisations and private individuals.

She said a two-day conference would be held in Killarney, Co Kerry, on April
19th and 20th and this would be of interest to anyone wishing to get
involved. Details of that conference, and of organic production, can be
obtained from the organisation at 0506-32563
___________________________________________________________________________


Denmark Organic Policy an Example for EU Policy Change
12 March 200, The Scotsman (UK)

Organic products have found the way into the fridge of the average Danish
consumer and Danish farmers are steadily converting to organic farming. With
agricultural policy change on the agenda across Europe, Denmark is an
interesting example as politicians, farmers and consumers look for
alternatives to industrialised agriculture.

Danish minister for food production, the ex-EU Commissioner for
environmental issues, Ritt Bjerregaard speaks warmly of organic farming as
she has been growing organic apples on a large scale for more than ten
years. Bjerregaard unhesitatingly claims that one of the great benefits has
been presenting to farmers and consumers alike "a trustworthy and realistic
alternative to conventional farming burdened with increasing problems".
With agriculture at the core of its national identity, Denmark can claim a
certain success in diverting agriculture from intensive to organic. Due to
environmental awareness and sensible government policies organic farming has
been hugely successful in Denmark, as reflected by the statistics: organic
milk production in Denmark is nine per cent of the total, compared with less
than one per cent in the UK. As to land - six per cent of Danish
agricultural land is organic, or about to be converted, compared with three
per cent in Britain. The official target is that close to 10 per cent of
agricultural land will be organic in 2003. In 1994, 98 Danish farmers
switched from traditional to organic farming, making a total of 677. Last
year 800 farmers switched to organic farming, making the total 3,100.
But why do organic products enjoy such popularity in Denmark? "Denmark
became organically minded overnight," is the most common explanation. It
refers to a day in 1993 when Brugsen, a Danish supermarket chain, lowered
the price of milk from 10 kroner a litre (about 80p) to six kroner (about
50p), a level that has mostly been retained. People queued for milk from the
early hours and demand outstripped supply. In the course of the next 18
months, 95 per cent of food retail shops were selling organic products.
But lowering the price was not the only reason for consumers¹ interest. In a
small country such as Denmark every inch of the ground is of importance and
any threat to the environment is taken very seriously. Environmental issues
have permeated Danish politics since the seventies. The Danes never turned
to nuclear power like the Swedes and the Danish windmill industry is
thriving.

The conversion process from traditional to organic farming takes two years,
during which the farmers are fully compensated, partly from higher prices
from organic products, but also by contributions from the Danish state and
the EU, which funds 50 per cent of the conversion cost in the EU countries.
In spite of strong political support for organic farming there is no target
as to how big a percentage of the farming should be organic. "The Danish
government wishes to support a growth in organic food production, both in
Denmark and in Europe," Bjerregaard maintains, "but the government intends
this growth to go hand-in-hand with the wishes of the producers and the
consumers."

Since organic products generally cost 20-50 per cent more than traditionally
farmed products, the consumer¹s faith in the products is of importance,
according to Peter Gæmelke, president of the Danish agricultural council,
brought up on a farm and a traditional farmer himself. Also here the Danish
state gives its support. "By surveying the organic farming and granting a
recognisable label for organic products the state plays an important role in
building up that faith," Gæmelke says.
In Denmark there is not a wide array of private labels. The bright red Ø,
the first letter in the Danish word Oøkologisk¹, meaning Oorganic¹,
certifies that the product meets prescribed standards. It guarantees that
the product comes from state-authorised farms, visited annually by
inspectors who employ random as well as appointed inspections to ensure that
standards are maintained. Both Bjerregaard and Gæmelke point out that the EU
regulations and logo for organic farming are for the better and will
increase consumer faith in organic products throughout Europe.
With an organic farmer heading the political framework the Danes seem set on
cultivating the growing interest for sound products and farming methods,
both at home and abroad.
____________________________________________________________________________

Organic Foods Gain Popularity in Italy
12 March

Italian shoppers, influenced by food scares, are increasingly turning to
organic foods but their awareness of such produce is patchy, a poll of
retailers showed. According to the poll of supermarkets and hypermarkets,
organised by farm research body ISMEA, 65 percent said Italian demand for
organic foods was growing while 67 percent said consumers were poorly
informed about it. "The knowledge of Italians (about organic food) is often
fragmentary and full of blanks," Rome-based ISMEA said.

Many Italian supermarkets now have sections reserved for organically farmed
produce. Thirty-eight percent of the retailers had imported organic
produce, while 46 percent had bought home-grown organic foods. Organic foods
were grown primarily in southern Italy and processed mainly in the north,
according to the survey, carried out in February and available on ISMEA's
website http://www.ismea.it. Most of southern Italy's organic food
production is fruit and vegetables.

Just three percent of the organic food consumers came from the economically
depressed south while 80 percent were from the rich north of Italy. Organic
foods are rising in popularity due to worries over the impact of intensive
farming on food safety, consumer groups say, pointing to scares such as mad
cow disease and foot-and-mouth.

The area devoted to organic farming in Italy is some one million hectares,
double the level of three years ago, Italian organic farmers said.

Germany/EU: Pro-Environment Agricultural Policy Shift Needs
Broad Based Support
9 March

The wide-scale adoption of eco-friendly farming practices in Germany will
only succeed if all sectors of the food chain support it, including
consumers at the check-out, declared the presidents of the Office for
Environment Protection (Umweltbundesamtes or UBA) and the Federation for
Nature Protection (Bundesamtes für Naturschutz or BfN), Prof. Dr. Andreas
Troge and Prof. Dr. Hartmut Vogtmann last week in Berlin and Bonn.
Together with a gradual development of organic agriculture, environmentally
friendly management practices must be achieved quickly in conventional
agriculture and that requires the setting of some basic conditions in
agricultural policy in the opinion of the BfN and UBA. These include a
basic reorientation and ³greening² of the entire EU agricultural policy as
well as the modification of past subsidy practices for agriculture in
Germany and Europe ", declared the two presidents.

As drivers for new policy reform the German Federal Government and the EU
agricultural policy-makers need to understand this and thus give signals to
the population that any significant change needs broad support. The UBA and
BfN have maintained for years that conventional agriculture loads the
environment in various ways and is a heavy consumer of natural resources but
accounting for these factors remained to a large extent ignored.
Both authorities are the opinion that the target development of the market
share of organic food to 20% within ten years will bring great natural and
environmental benefits. The change to more sustainable food production is
currently focussed on gaining the support of the farmers but it should
concern the integration of policy and support through the entire chain
including agricultural, environmental and consumer policy.

"As a first step so-called good technical practice in agriculture must be
supplemented and developed further ­ and for this the BfN and UBA have
already given proposals ", said Prof. Vogtmann. And UBA president Troge
added, ³environmental and consumer protection are not to be separated.
Therefore environmentally friendly agriculture also consumer-friendly
agriculture ".

Organic agriculture is the most commonly held example of a sustainable food
production system. However, mass conversion of conventional agricultural
operations to organic ones cannot happen overnight and there is a spectrum
of practices between the two extremes that can be implemented.
However, this requires some fundamental system changes, because the entire
management and organization of the industry, up to the point of sale, needs
to change.

For the time being the majority of the agricultural surface area will remain
conventionally managed so the environmental impacts of these operations must
be reduced as far as possible which could be substantially assisted by the
adoption of so-called good technical practice, which sets minimum
requirements. Good technical practice must be supplemented and developed
further with environmental and natural protection criteria.
Specifically this requires:

· the examination and reworking of the fertilizer regulations,

· the reworking and the better enforcement of the regulations on plant
protection agents,

· the conversion of the regulations of the federal soil laws for the
protection of good technical practice

· the definition of good technical practice leading to amendment of the
federal nature protection law

· the prohibition of antibiotic service promoters in animal husbandry and

· the renouncement of the use of genetically-modified organisms.
The Common Agricultural Policy of the European union must continue to
develop subsidy practices that support environmental and nature protection.
Counter-productive farm subsidies, like the silo corn premium, should be
abolished. Direct payments must also be coupled to binding environmental
regulations. So-called second Column agricultural policies ­ which include
among other things Agrarian environmental programs - should be developed
further and substantially strengthened financially.
However, references to the pan-European dimension of agricultural policy
must not block the development of local courses of action because
comprehensive local and regional systems are the basis of sustainable food
production and will help in the short-term by developing better transparency
in production systems. Regional management within global targets strengthens
the regions and will serve both causes of environmental and consumer
protection. The marketing of locally produced, pollution free quality
products are recognised as having increasing merit for the preservation and
maintenance of the cultural landscape and the UBA and BfN already promote
numerous local initiatives.
____________________________________________________________________________