In 2001 the rapid rise in the number of ecological farmers entering the Association, which was typical for the previous years, came to an end, and quality of service for the members increased. The internal structure of the Association continually developed, regional centres started to work at full pace for member enterprises within the regions and also in the field of promotion. However, the level of work was quite different in individual centres.
A lot of effort in advisory work was devoted to a smooth transfer to new legislation - the Act on Ecological Farming and relevant procedural decree became valid on 1.1.2001. Association members had to face the new law and a new system of inspection without any transition period, which gave rise to numerous difficulties. We realised that although PRO-BIO has, so far, had a key role in promoting ecological farming, we do not get anything for free just on merit. Therefore a new programme of membership benefits was elaborated, and our promotion, advertising and marketing were intentionally aimed at products and services of the Association members. We represented ecological farmers on the Board of Administrators of KEZ inspection authority (Inspection in Ecological Farming, a public benefit corporation), made attempts to communicate with the Czech Ministry of Agriculture. The Association management had a meeting vith the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Jan Fencl. We engaged in fund-raising for education and promotion among other things, but unfortunately this activity brought more success abroad. We started partnership cooperation with Bioland - a German Association. We continuously kept the PRO-BIO Association in the position of a non-governmental organisation, which is able to defend the interests of ecological farmers even in a globalised liberal society.

2001 Annual report
The year 2001 was more complicated for the PRO-BIO Association and its members than previous periods. On the first day of the year Act No. 242/2000 on Ecological farming came into force, but there was no united interpretation of it nor the procedural decree. This only appeared in February, as well as Regulation No. 53/2001. All this caused a lot of difficulty for ecological farmers who applied for subsidies according to Governmental Decree No. 505/2000 which referred to both above-mentioned laws. The Association defended its members interests in meetings with responsible representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and also in meeting with agricultural agencies so that the financial benefit for ecological farming (EF) was paid in time and to the agreed amount. The Association advisors who worked at individual regional centres (RCs) essentially helped the Association members to adapt to the new legal conditions. This activity was reflected in the results of inspection carried out by KEZ inspection authority.
Satisfaction of the Association members was a reflection of the work done by the regional centres - there were 11 of them registered at the end of the year. Administrators of the centres took positions on the Board of the Association. At the end of the year Třebíč RC was divided into two new RCs: Brno and Humpolec.
It is necessary to say that there are certain imperfections in some of the RCs self-government, which makes the members criticise the work of the Association. In these sporadic cases the Board of PRO-BIO Administrators can decide to cancel such a RC if the internal situation of the centre does not improve.
PRO-BIO together with the Austrian Ernte Association initiated an important international event called "European Summer Academy of Ecological Farming" which took place in June 21st to 23rd in Lednice. In the future years this Academy will focus on solving practical problems in ecological farming and on exchange of experience among experts from various European countries. In Lednice, an "Action plan of ecological farming development" was introduced to the Czech Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Fencl, who was quite interested in it.
A big step was made in the area of promotion of ecological farming and of PRO-BIO members. It was for example a manual on usage of the PRO-BIO trade mark, promotional materials supporting sales and also presentation of the members in the monthly "Euro magazine". 2001 was also a successful and final year of the project entitled "Support and development of ecological farming in the Jeseníky microregion". During the year the Promotion and Project Department started to work on other projects as well.

Mr. Jan Štěrba from Deblín and Mr. Miloš Kužvart, the Czech Minister of Environment, at an organic trade fair at Barrandov, Prague.
Photo: Jiří Dvořák, Pro-bio archive.

A contract is being prepared with the German Bioland Association. PRO-BIO has been keeping a friendly relationship with its branch, Bioland Bayern since 1993. This contract is expected to strenghten influence on political decisions in the area of ecological farming in both countries, extend business cooperation, allow the use of Bioland trade mark by PRO-BIO members. The contract should also stimulate improvement in quality of the Association activities and further opportunities for Association members.
From the point of view of the Association's life 2001 was a dynamic year in the spirit of ecological farming principles.

Ing. Stanislav Daněk
Chairman of the Association