the world of organic agriculture - Organic Eprints

140
The World of Organic Agriculture 2006
companies grew more steadily. ‘NaturaSi’, the largest Italian organic supermarket chain, with 42
outlets, reports 13 percent growth in 2004 and in the first half of 2005.
Organic food is supplied through a number of different channels, including public procurement,
specialist shops, traditional supermarkets, restaurants and farm holidays. More school canteens
are offering organic meals because of promotional campaigns and new local regulations. The region
of Emilia-Romagna passed a new law, supported by the Green regional deputy, which approved
the development of organic canteens for local schools. Most of the wholefood and organic food
shops are concentrated in Northern Italy, among them approximately 100 organic supermarkets
of over 200m2 retail area. Many supermarket chains in Italy are marketing their own label organic
products. One chain, Serramarina, has opened a new concept store in Padua, featuring 25 percent
organic products compared with their usual 8 to 9 percent. They are hoping to expand this idea by
opening such stores around other regions of Italy and throughout Europe.
The market for organic products in Denmark continues to grow slowly in the most important
sales channel of multiple retailers. Statistics for other supply channels are patchy, but it seems
that overall organic sales are being sustained without substantial decreases. The recent political
emphasis on promoting organic farming through the market, along with recent slower growth in
the retail market, has led to continued reductions in the Danish organic land area and numbers
of producers. This “standstill” phase in the development of Danish organic farming follows a
sustained period of growth throughout more than a decade, and the organic sector continues to
be an important influence in Danish farming 25 .
In Austria, the organic sector has been strengthened by the foundation, in January 2005, of
a single membership organization for organic farmers, called Bio Austria. The idea was first
discussed in 1993, followed by intensive consultations between the 19 former organic farmers’
associations. Now representing over 14’000 organic farmers, Bio Austria aims not only to become
the main communication and information network for the whole Austrian organic sector but also
to help increase the number of farms and organic land area by ten percent each year 26 . Despite this
positive development in the production sector, the Austrian retail market showed slow growth
in the last year, remaining at between twelve percent of sales for milk and potatoes, and two
percent for sausages. A national Bio Austria advertising campaign, promoting the fact that organic
products are free of GMOs, was taken off the air by the Austrian Agricultural Market Agency
(AMA) because of intensive protests from the conventional food and farming lobby, but organic
farmers are now trying to reverse that decision. Austria is also the home of Bio-Hotels, a recently
formed association of independent hotels offering holidays based around natural products
with organic and local food. Apart from Austria, the association also has members in Germany,
Switzerland, Italy, Ireland and Spain 27 .
In the Netherlands, the retail market has developed confidently with growth rates of
approximately five percent. This may be a result of the government focus on improving marketing
25 http://www.lr.dk/oekologi/diverse/org_agri.htm
26 www.bio-austria.at
27 http://www.biohotels.info