Organic Europe Home Page

(June 12, 2009) The economic slowdown is impacting global organic food sales. After reporting high growth rates for over a decade, 2009 could be the first year of single-digit market growth says Organic Monitor in a recent press release. >>More

(June 11, 2009) Sales of organic food in France jumped 25 percent last year and more than 60 percent in three years to reach 2.6 billion Euros, according to Agence Bio. To meet swelling demand, farmers increasingly switched to organic agriculture with the land devoted to organic food nearly tripling in nine years to 580'000 hectares, against 210'000 hectares in 1999, Agence Bio said. Compared with 2007, the total organically managed land increased by 5 percent; the in-conversion area by 34 percent. >>More

IFOAM EU Group comments declaration on the future Common Agricultural Policy

(June 4, 2009) At a recent meeting, the Ministers for Agriculture of the European Union agreed on a common declaration for the future of the Common Agriculture Policy CAP. The IFOAM EU Group’s response is that serious steps to tackle these challenges must follow in order to make the 2013 reform of the CAP a real success. >> More

(May 28, 2009) The European Union Group of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements IFOAM, the IFOAM EU Group, has elected a new president and deputy president and has formed an executive board. The new president is Christopher Stopes from the UK, the new vice president Thomas Dosch from Germany. >> More

(May 18, 2009) The '2nd International Conference on the Organic Sector Development in Central/Eastern Europe and Central Asian Countries' will take place in Tbilisi on September 10 and 11, 2009. A first conference was held in Kiev/Ukraine in 2008. >> More

The International Congress on Organic Cotton 'From Fashion to Sustainability' is organized as part of the UN Year of Natural Fibers 2009. The congress is coordinated by Helvetas in collaboration with international partners and takes place September 21-25, 2009, in Interlaken, Switzerland. >>More

International conference on organic agriculture and environmental problems in North Cyprus

(May 14, 2009) The international Conference on 'Organic Agriculture in Scope of Environmental Problems' will be organized February 3 to 7, 2010, in Famagusta in North Cyprus. >>More

For Spain a major growth of organic land is reported for 2008. According to the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture there are more than 1.3 million hectares of organic land. >> More

(May 4, 2009) The country report about organic farming in the Netherlands has been updated by Biologica, which recently presented the figures for organic farming for 2008. The area under organic management is now 50’435 hectares and has thus grown by 7.3 percent compared to 2007. >>More; >> Country report

(May 1, 2009) The EU is looking for a new logo for organic products. Young artists or designers can enter the logo competition and send their creations until June 25, 2009. The competition is organised by the European Commission. >>More

Denmark: 10 percent increase of organic land in 2008

(April 28, 2009) In Denmark the organically managed land went up by 10 percent during 2008. Currently more than 160'000 hectares or six percent of the country's agricultural land are organic. Most of the land is fully converted, 20'000 hectares are under conversion. The in-conversion area grew by 90 percent. >> More

Italy: Market grows by more than five percent in 2008

(April 25, 2009) Italy's organic market continues to grow. In 2008, the Italians spent 5.4 percent more on organic products compared to the previous year. Growth was however slower than in 2007, when the organic market grew by 10.2 percent. >>More

EU environment related indicators 2009 published

According to DG Environment, in 2007, 4.1 percent of EU-27 farmland was organic, slightly up from 4.0 percent in 2006. Austria has the highest share of organic farming, followed by Latvia. Italy accounts for 16 percent of the total organic area in the EU-27.

However, although there is a big difference between the EU-15 (4.6 percent) and the new member states (2.9 percent), organic farming has seen rapid growth in the new member states in recent years, comparable to that in EU-15 during the 1990s. >>More

Czech organic market: 40 percent growth in 2008

(April 16, 2009) The turnover with organic food in the Czech Republic grew by 40 percent in 2008 and reached 1.8 billion Czech Crowns or 68 million Euros. Czech consumers thus spent more than 0.5 billion Czech Crowns more than in 2007, Green Marketing reports. >>More

UK: Organic market report released

(April 9, 2009) The 2009 market report for the UK has now been released by the Soil Association, showing that UK sales of organic products increased overall by 1.7% in 2008 to over 2.1 billion Britsh Pounds, growing strongly in the first six to nine months and then falling back in the face of the economic downturn in late 2008 and early 2009. >>More

Switzerland: Strong growth of organics in 2008

(March 27, 2009) On March 24, 2009, the Swiss organic umbrella organisation Bio Suisse presented the latest figures on organic farming in Switzerland (end 2008). According to these figures, the Swiss organic market grew strongly in 2008 – by 11.2 %. The number of farms remained constant and is currently at 11.9% of all farms. >> More

Bulgaria: Organic product market

(March 23, 2009) For almost 10 years Bulgarian and foreign organic products have been offered on the Bulgarian market. The turnover with organic products in Bulgaria is estimated at 4 million Euros in 2008. A recent report of Radio Bulgaria informs about the current situation.

(IFOAM. March 17, 2009) After a three-month worldwide search and review of dozens of qualified applicants, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements IFOAM selected Markus Arbenz to serve as its next executive director. Arbenz, currently the Executive Director of IFOAM member Bio Suisse, will take up the leadership and management of operations and oversee the 15 professional staff on 1 August 2009.

Turkey: High potential for organic agriculture

(March 3, 2009) According to recent report at the Fresh Plaza homepage, Turkey with its immense experience in farming practices, different climatic conditions and rich biodiversity possesses a high potential for organic agriculture.

Turkey is a major producer and exporter in various agricultural products. Owing to her great production potential Turkey has started to produce organic agricultural products with the international demand from major export partners of Turkey. By adjusting organic production system in accordance with the demand of importing firms, organic production has been realized according to the standards and certification systems of the importing countries.

Germany: Latest figures released

(February 25, 2009) According to the German Federation of the Organic Food Industry BOELW, the organic area increased to more than 900'000 hectares in 2008. This constitutes an increase of 5.3 %. The number of farms is 19'824, an increase of 6 %. According to first estimates the organic market value was 5.8 billion Euros compared to 5.3 billion in 2006. The market share for organic products is now 3.5 %.

These as well as numerous other data on organic agriculture in Germany and in Europe can be found in the BOELW-Broshure Zahlen, Daten Fakten: Die Bio-Branche 2009 that was published for BioFach 2009.

Links related to oranic agriculture in Germany at www.organic-europe.net

2009 edition of 'The World of Organic Agriculture'

(February 23, 2009) The 10th edition of 'The World of Organic Agriculture' documents recent developments in global organic agriculture. It includes contributions from representatives of the organic sector from throughout the world and provides comprehensive organic farming statistics that cover surface area under organic management, numbers of farms and specific information about land use in organic systems.

The book also contains information on the global market for organic food, activities of UN organizations, the latest developments in organic certification, standards and regulations and insights into current status and emerging trends for organic agriculture by geographical region.

The newly launched hoemapge www.organic-world.net offers background information as well as graphes and tables.

IFOAM EU Group launches dossier on the new organic regulation

(February 23, 2009) On February 19, 2009, IFOAM EU Group launched its dossier on the new organic regulation. The dossier was published by the IFOAM EU Group as a very first stakeholder attempt to give a assessment of the regulation and its implications for the organic sector in Europe.

The introduction of new EU legislation for organic food and farming - Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 and Regulation (EC) No 882/2008 (laying down detailed Implementing Rules) - has been in the attention of the organic sector for more than four years. Now that they are in place, their interpretation and practical implementation needs further work. IFOAM EU Group took up this task and produced the Dossier as a first step in this direction.

The dossier offers a solid background introduction and collects interpretations from 18 experts in the field. The dossier is now available in English and German and can be be downloaded from the homepage oft the IFOAM EU group and will be published in at least four more languages in the spring of 2009.

Second Round Table of the Eastern European countries;Organic Agriculture and Legal Framework

(December 08, 2008) The Second Round Table of the Eastern European countries ‘Organic Agriculture and Legal Framework’ was conducted in Kyiv, Ukraine on November 5 and 6, 2008. Participants of the public and private sector from eleven countries discussed the opportunities of organic agriculture.

Furthermore Ukraine participants discussed the current draft of the organic agriculture law which is expected to be passed by the Parliament in 2009. In a closed workshop representatives of the Ministries exchanged their experience in the implementation of legal frameworks and explored the potential for further cooperation. It was agreed that further exchange between authorities and certification bodies on the regional level should be supported.

The participants and speakers represented the public and private sector from Ukraine, Albania, Czech Republic, Macedonia FYROM, Moldavia, Montenegro, Poland, Slovenia, Switzerland and the European Union.

The Round Table was organized by FiBL and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine and supported by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the National Association of Agricultural Advisory Services of Ukraine.

Italian Network for Research in Organic Farming RIRAB established

(December 4, 2008) Recenty the Italian Network for Research in Organic Farming as a platform for researchers and stakeholders was founded. Several thematic working groups cover topics like biodiversity, energy, plant protection, quality, agricultural techniques and organic animal production.

The Groups are co-ordinated by experts coming from the National Research Council (CNR), the Council for Research and experimentation in Agriculture (CRA), the Italian Association for Organic Agriculture (AIAB), the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment (ENEA), the National Research Institute for Food and Nutrition (INRAN), the Regional Agency for Development and Innovation in Agriculture of Tuscany (ARSIA); the Research Centre for Crop Production of Emilia Romagna Region (CRPV).

Technology Research Platform ‘Organics’ launched

(December 2, 2008) The European Union's and global agriculture face major challenges like climate change, loss of biodiversity, food security and depopulation of rural areas.

The research Technology Platform ‘Organics’, which was launched on December 2, 2008 with a public presentation in Brussels, outlines in its first major publication - the Organic Research Vision 2025 - the numerous ways in which organic food production can significantly contribute to solving these problems.

The Vice Minister of the Czech Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Jiri Urban, expressed in an opening greeting the support of his ministry for the Platform. TP ‘Organics’ is also being supported by a growing number of organisations representing the industry, the research community and the civil society.

European Action Plans on Organic Food and Farming

(November 16, 2008) The partners of the European project ORGAP (Development of criteria and procedures for the evaluation of the EU Action Plan for Organic Agriculture) have recently compiled a list with the quantitative targets of action plans in the European Union. The list shows that at least 19 countries have or had action plans in place. Some of these have ambitious targets: Austria for instance aims to have 20 % organic land by 2010 (now: 13 %). The list is currently supplemented with information from other European countries. Furthermore an overview of the main qualitative targets and measures will be given.

Fostering healthy food systems through organic agriculture – focus on the Nordic-Baltic region: Conference in August 2009 in Estonia

(October 15, 2008) From August 25-27, 2009 the international scientific conference “Fostering healthy food systems through organic agriculture –focus on Nordic-Baltic region” (NJF seminar 422) will take place in Tartu, Estonia.

The aim is to provide opportunities for the exchange of knowledge and further scientific co-operation in Nordic-Baltic region. The conference is open to all fields of research involved in organic agriculture.

The Conference is organised by the Nordic Association of Agricultural Scientists NJF in collaboration with Estonian University of Life Sciences, Estonian Organic Farming Foundation.

(September 29, 2008) On September 1, 2008, the European research project CERTCOST - Economic analysis of certification systems for organic food and farming - started. This project proposes to combine the experience and knowledge of both researchers and SMEs to fulfil the following objective: analyse the implementation of organic certification systems and estimate all relevant expenditures or transaction costs for different certification systems along the organic food supply chain in various regions of the EU, including a candidate country and Switzerland. The project will run for three years and is funded under the European Commission's 7th research framework programme with 2.7 million Euros. (Picture: Photo archive at www.oekolandbau.de, (c) BLE, DE-Bonn)

Italy: Latest figures

(September 26, 2008). Recently, the Italian Ministry of Agriculture released the latest organic farming statistics. In 2007 there was a slight increase of the organic agricultural land (1'150'253 hectares hectares, +0.2%) whereas the number of operators decreased (-1.5%).

Most of the land s fully converted (more than 900'000 hectares). Italy continues to be the country with the largest organic area in Europe. The organic share of the agricultural land is 9%.

New implementing rules on organic production published

(September 18, 2008) The EU implementing rules on organic production have been published in the Official Journal L 250 of September 18, 2008. The full title is

European Commission launches new promotional campaign for organic food and farming

(July 26, 2008) The European Commission launched the European Union's new Organic Farming Campaign on July 26, 2008 at the Foire de Libramont agricultural fair in Belgium. Under the campaign slogan: “Organic farming. Good for nature, good for you”, the promotional campaign aims to inform consumers about the meaning and benefits of organic farming and food production. The campaign will focus on increasing consumer awareness and recognition of organic products, and especially on young people and children to carry the organic idea into the future.

(July 24, 2008) The Organic.Edunet questionnaire on educational needs in the area of organic farming and agro-ecology has been online since the beginning of March 2008. Up to now, almost 1,400 participants from all around Europe have contributed their professional experience and ideas. The first evaluation shows that many primary, secondary and upper secondary school teachers would like to incorporate material about organic farming and agro-ecology (almost 72% percent in primary education, 89% in secondary education and 95% in upper secondary education). There is a clear sign that there is a need and will to learn more about organic farming and agro-ecology .The European project Organic.Edunet, which aims to raise awareness about Organic Agriculture and Agro-Ecology in schools and agricultural universities, was launched early 2008. The project is, involves 15 partners from 10 European countries, and is expected to facilitate the access, usage and exploitation of digital educational content for teaching topics related to Organic Agriculture and Agro-Ecology. >> Press release

Guidelines for successful organic action plan development and evaluation welcomed in Brussels

ORGAPET is a collection of different information/data sources and evaluation tools, including participative techniques, quantitative assessments and methods to identify relevant indicators, which can be used selectively to meet the needs of a particular assessment of national or EU organic action plans.

The publication 'Organic Action Plans Development, implementation and evaluation' is a practical manual for initiating, implementing and evaluating Action Plans.

According to a FiBL press release, the manual and evaluation toolbox designed to support the European and national action plans for organic food and farming were presented to the meeting of the Standing Committee on Organic Farming in Brussels on 2nd July (see minutes) and discussed with the EU member state delegates and the European Commission’s Organic Farming Unit.

The first volume deals mainly with various aspects of organic crop production, which traditionally represent the largest share of all papers submitted to conferences on organic agriculture. The second volume gives insights into the increasing research activities on animal husbandry, socio-economics, interdisciplinary research projects. Furthermore it contains the papers for the five workshops of the Integrated project Quality Low Input Food which was held as part of the ISOFAR conference.

(June 26, 2008) From June 16 to 20, 2008, the 16th IFOAM Organic World Congress, including pre-conferences, took place in Modena, Italy. The Congress had more than 1'700 participants. Thematic conferences surrounding the congress dealt with subjects such as organic markets (mainstream certification, short supply chains and participatory guarantee systems) and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). Other important issues tackled comprised the adaptation and mitigation of climate change in agriculture, and research on the effects of biodiversity loss.

Among many other subevents, the 2nd conference of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research ISOFAR took place. 200 papers and 160 posters were presented at this conference. The proceedings were published by ISOFAR and FiBL will be made available in the FiBL-Shop (printed and PDF).

At the IFOAM General Assembly a new board was elected. The new IFOAM president is Catherine di Matteo, USA. Urs Niggli of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL (Switzerland) and Roberto Ugas of the University of La Molina (Peru) are vice-presidents.The general assembly voted for Korea as the venue for the next IFOAM Organic World Congress.

ICROFS replaces and expands the scope of DARCOF

(June 12, 2008) ICROFS, the International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems was established by the Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries on June 1st 2008. It is a “centre without walls” where the research is performed in interdisciplinary collaboration between research groups in different institutions and universities.

The centre is an expansion of the former research centre DARCOF, which the Danish Government in 2008 decided to give an international mandate and an international board. The main purpose of ICROFS is to initiate, coordinate and monitor high quality research of international standard in organic food and farming systems. Further, the aim of ICROFS is to stimulate international and transnational research and secure impact of the research results through support and dissemination in order to achieve optimum benefit from the allocated resources.

DARCOF initiated and set up the Organic Eprints Archive which has become a very valuable source of information on organic farming. In the future, the archive will be maintained by ICROFS.

(June 10, 2008) Scientists from EU’s largest organic research project, QLIF, are ready to present their results on how to improve quality, ensure safety and reduce costs of food from organic and low-input food supply chains.

Organic farming systems hold the potential to produce food of high quality while at the same time considering food safety and environmental benefits.

At the 4th QLIF Congress in Modena, scientists from the EU project QLIF (QualityLowInputFood) will present and critically evaluate the new and currently available evidence for differences in food quality and safety between foods from organic, low-input and conventional production systems. As an example of new project results, it was recently shown that grazing cows on organic farms in the UK produce milk that contains significantly higher levels of beneficial fatty acids, antioxidants and vitamins than their conventional counterparts.

QLIF will contribute to the scientific part of the 16th IFOAM Organic World Congress with several interdisciplinary workshops. These will take place June 19 and 20, 2008. These workshops will aim to summarize and synthesize the results and data gained during the first four years of the QLIF project. In total, five workshops will be held on product quality, safety of foods, crop productivity, livestock productivity, resource efficiency.

(June 9, 2008) Organic farming in Belgium has continued to grow substantially in 2007. The organic area increased from almost 29'000 ha to more than 33'000 ha, constituting an increase of 15 %. The organic market grew by 10 % and was at 283 million Euros in 2007. More than half of the organic products are sold in supermarkets.

A totally revised country report about organic farming in Belgium, provided by Petra Tas of Bioforum Vlaanderen is now available at Organic Europe.

(June 9, 2008) According to the EU Regulation on organic farming, European Union Member States must ensure that a database is established in which organic seed and seed potatoes can be registered.

Recently, the Bulgarian Government decided to adopt “organicXseeds”, set up by FiBL. OrganicXseeds is already recognized as the official database in Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. This database, now complemented with a Cyrillic version, handles about 10,000 seed products and has more than 1,000 visitors a week.

Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL
Ackerstrasse, CH-5070 Frick
Tel: +41 62 865 72 72 Fax +41 62 865 72 73
Internet http://www.fibl.org
Contact: Helga Willer

News

News

Denmark: 10 percent increase of organic land in 2008

Italy: Market grows by more than five percent in 2008

EU environment related indicators 2009 published

Czech organic market: 40 percent growth in 2008

UK: Organic market report released

Switzerland: Strong growth of organics in 2008