Image: VOLKER WEIHBOLD
Last year, the number of organic farms in Austria fell by around 933 to 24,148. The cultivated area fell by 10,000 to 695,180 hectares. According to the RollAMA household panel, the amount of fresh organic food purchased fell by 2.8 percent, it was said on Thursday at a press conference by AMA Marketing and Bio Austria at the Biofach trade fair in Nuremberg.
- Read here: Why things aren’t going well for organic
The chairwoman of the Bio Austria industry association, Barbara Riegler, called for “a political signal” from the government, especially with improvements for organic farmers in the ÖPUL agri-environmental program and significantly more organic food in public procurement.
In the coming weeks, the Ministry of Agriculture can submit proposals for changes to the Austrian ÖPUL program to the EU Commission, which will then apply from 2025. “You have to take advantage of this opportunity to improve the situation on organic farms,” said Riegler at the world’s largest organic trade fair in Nuremberg.
Austrians bought less organic food
According to the RollAMA household panel, the quantitative organic share of fresh food in the Austrian food trade climbed from 4.9 percent in 2003 to 12.7 percent in 2022 and has now fallen to 12.3 percent in 2023. According to the household panel (2,800 households record their purchases), sales of fresh organic fresh products in Austrian food retailers rose by 5.3 percent to around 873.6 million euros in the previous year.
- Read here: Reinhard Honeder: “Unfortunately, the food has lost its value”
The increase in sales is due to price increases; the purchased quantity fell by 2.8 percent to 205,222 tons. In organic farming, farmers avoid, among other things, easily soluble mineral fertilizers and chemical-synthetic sprays. There must also be a varied crop rotation in arable farming and species-appropriate animal husbandry with exercise and grazing opportunities.
With a share of organic farmers of 22.7 percent in 2023 and an organic area share in agriculture of 27.1 percent, Austria is by far the leader in the European Union and second worldwide behind Liechtenstein.
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Source: Nachrichten
