Organic farming back on road to success

There are currently around 3,900 organic companies in Upper Austria, and they cultivate 73,000 hectares of farmland. Thus, approximately 15 percent of all agricultural companies in Upper Austria work according to the criteria of organic agriculture, and they cultivate barely short of 14 percent of the totality of farmland in Upper Austria, which is at 530,000 hectares.

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"Although the number of organic companies has been declining over the last couple of years because of the organic entry stop in the expiring agricultural environment program ÖPUL, the organic farmland has remained about the same since 2013. Now, the successful road in organic agriculture is to be continued with the new organic action program 2015-2020, which has been developed by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, together with the Chamber of Agriculture and Bio Austria. The program wants more organic production, sales and marketing. in the Chamber of Agriculture, we also opt for this way, because organic products are in high demand amongst consumers. The Chamber of Agriculture will gladly support organic companies, or companies that want to transition to organic, by educating them and giving advise," Franz Reisecker, chairman of the Chamber of Agriculture, explains.

Organic agriculture and organic food are a current trend. The goal of the new organic action program 2015-2020 is to maintain Austria's position as organic country number 1.
"The organic action program is a policy for the planned support of organic agriculture in the coming years. This help intends to increase the share of organic farmland in 2016 to 20 percent and to continue increasing the number of organic companies. The profitability of organic products is to be increased simultaneously. This means that organic products should also be marketed at the highest possible percentage. Educational and advisory services especially should be developed further, for example on the topic of animal welfare," Mag. Franz Waldenberger, chairman of BIO AUSTRIA OÖ, explains.

Source: www.bio-austria.at