Austria is still a European leader when it comes to organic cultivation. The overarching Austrian organic organisation has now set itself a new goal: they want a 30 per cent increase of the organic share of the complete horticultural area by 2025, according to website bio-markt.info.
At the BioFach, it was announced by Bio Austria that the long-time objective of 20 per cent had already been reached by the country. According to the association’s figures, organic production occurred at 571,585 hectares in Austria in the previous year. That means a share of 22 per cent of the complete horticultural area. “Nowadays, production according to organic guidelines occurs on more than every fifth hectare in Austria. The increase of the organic horticultural area amounted to 26,500 hectares in the past year. That is about the size of Malta, or approximately 38,000 football fields,” says Bio Austria chairman Gertraud Grabmann.