Demand for organic products continues to increase globally - organic is ‘hip and trendy.’ Good news for cultivators and consumers who believe it is better to grow food in collaboration with nature instead of fighting nature with chemicals. But the words hip and trendy also evoke something ephemeral, something that goes out of fashion after a while, such as hipsters, platform shoes or Pokémon Go. Yet everything points to organic farming becoming the standard, it is not just some kind of hype.
According to Michaël Wilde of Eosta, these are the six most important reasons why the future is organic:
1. Millennials flock to organic products
Various international surveys show millennials are the biggest organic consumer. Millennial is an English term for the age group 18-34 years. The interesting thing about this group is that, by definition, it is not the most affluent group, but it is the future.
Few consumers turn their back on organic products at a certain moment. The expectation, therefore, is that millennials will continue choosing organically grown products, and that they will also influence their children’s behaviour.
2. Availability
Supermarket chains have not just discovered organic, they have also embraced it and show the largest increase. They expand their assortment, allowing more consumers to come into contact with an organic alternative -for example, sprayed bananas or lemons with a chemical layer of wax. More availability leads to more consumption, which is a boost for the supermarket chains to expand their range even further.
3. From reactive to positive health care
In the Netherlands and abroad the notion is emerging that it is better, and cheaper, to invest in your health instead of first becoming ill and then being treated with expensive and sometimes harmful medications. My expectation is that people will look back in 20 years and wonder how it was possible that we had health care in 2016 that barely paid attention to food and a food sector that was not at all concerned with health.
More and more people make their own decisions and proactively deal with their health. They exercise more, seek a balance between rest and work and choose healthy foods, preferably organic.
4. Political climate
Politics is also starting to care about organic agriculture. Not just because it suits a sustainable policy, but also because politicians realise organic cultivators have a positive impact on the soil, biodiversity and, for example, groundwater.
An extensive French study showed groundwater in France is contaminated with pesticides and artificial fertiliser, and that this is going to cost the government about 522 billion euro. It was also in the news in the Netherlands this week. It is therefore logical that the government’s financial experts want to make sure that these means are used as little as possible in future. People are already one step ahead in Sweden, where a tax on artificial fertiliser has already been increased to 20 per cent. The income is being used to further develop sustainable agriculture in Sweden.
5. No one likes pesticides, especially not cultivators
In the past eight years that I have worked for Eosta, I have spoken to many conventional cultivators. I have never met one who enjoys spraying. They worry about the impact of pesticides on the environment, the water and especially their own health.
When an interview with Eosta CEO, Volkert Engelsman, appeared in the FD recently, we were flooded with positive responses from coventional agriculturists. They indicated that they are compelled by price pressure from supermarkets to use chemicals against their own wishes, in order to keep their heads above water in the short term. Young farmers are looking for a workable, realistic and sustainable alternative.
6. Brink of disaster
With the exception of a few Republicans in the US, everyone realises we have a long way to go to ensure this beautiful planet will remain liveable for our children and grandchildren. Social organisations, government, business, you and I, all realise that things must change, and fortunately those words are being acted on. When the future of the earth is concerned, organic agriculture will not be perfect, but it will be the best form of food production we currently have.
Source: Grensverleggers.nl / Michaël Wilde (Eosta)