Bioacademy 2005 - The Conclusions of Conference C: Development and support of organic farming within the EU
Conference C dealt with current situation of organic farming in Europe and individual European countries regarding to current subsidies within supports for rural development and new possibilities from 2006 (EAFRD). The importance of organic farming in Europe has increased significantly over the past 15 years.
Rural development has become an important issue in European agricultural policy. An array of rural policies are now implemented in order to enhance integrated economic development in rural areas, with the main objective of reinforcing competitiveness and of increasing the income of rural households in general. Agri-environmental measures, from which organic farmers have mainly been able to receive support in the past, have accompanied these policies, but have not yet allowed for a mainstreaming of sustainable agricultural practice in rural regions. A new framework programme for rural development has been approved (EAFRD). In order to make it successful, the European Union, national governments and civil society should work out a new social contract. Civil society organizations, including the voluntary, commercial and private sector and organic farming organizations, in particular, should commit themselves to a more active role in information, capacity building, training and the exchange of good practice in rural development projects in order to qualify for a trustful partnership with governmental agencies and institutions. Environmental instruments under Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) need to be used in the right combination to ensure appropriate environmental management of agricultural land. However, the national implementation of rural development measures in particular will determine whether agri-environmental instruments under the CAP are employed successfully in preserving the environmental values of farmland in the New Member States.
It is obvious that organic farming also has a significant regional dimension. Organic farming and organic foodstuffs production create new business opportunities, therefore organic farming can be perceived as a way to solve the issue of decreasing rural population and of workers leaving primary agricultural production. The development of agri-tourism at organic farms can contribute to creation of new job opportunities. Agri-tourism, as one of the products of rural tourism, attracts many people not only among potential clients but especially among farmers.
From 2007 new programmes for rural development will come to validity in all EU countries, and offer remarkably wider range of measures aiming at non-agricultural activities. Only 57% EU residents live and will live in rural areas (only 2,5% farmers of them). The new Rural Development Programme 2007-2013 should concern agri-environmental measures – in particular: support of organic farmers, marketing strategies, quality of foodstuffs, education, quality of rural life, subsidies of associations of organic farmers, communication with ministries and retailers, etc. National co-financing is also necessary (European Social Fund).
At present organic farming is supported by numerous programmes, there are numerous regional measures – in education, advisory on legislation, standards, modernization, company investment (also non-material investment, know-how, improvement of logistics…), marketing (support in the area of information and communication), innovation, research, processing, added value creation – finalization of products, quality of foodstuffs, certification systems.
Support of organic farming from national sources, for example in Bavaria, is poorer than that of conventional agriculture. The difficulty is that numerous farmers return back to conventional system as they are not able to sell their products (in Austria it is about 1000 farmers who return back to conventional farming). Either in the Czech Republic cooperation at the ministry level is not strong enough, in particular with the Ministry of Health, although quality of foodstuffs and health are the key themes of the future.
In Poland the poor part of the chain is in promotion, the consumers lack access to information, there are not enough advisors, processing capacities, distribution system or promotion.
Slovak organic farmers receive the highest subsidies of all farmers in Slovakia, which shows an increase within year 2005 (by 75%). Nevertheless support of marketing and promotion of organic produce is missing. There is no strategy of education and training for organic farmers and consumers.
Denmark is a good example of a very good system of education for organic farmers and advisors.
In 2003, more than 5,7 million ha of land were managed organically within the European Union which represents 3,4% of the EU's agriculturally used area. One important step was that the organic sector was able to unite its interests within Europe through the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements – the IFOAM EU Group in Brussels . Within the EU it is necessary to protect both producer and consumer by strong and complex quality standards.
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