The organics challenge: from niche to mainstream market
July 2016
This is target of Anabio (Italian Association for Organic Agriculture) - Cia (Italian Agriculture Association), confirmed during the national meeting held in Rome on Wednesday 6th July.
"The organics system is able to respond to consumers who want quality wholesome produce, the planet, in terms of safeguarding the environment, and farmers who demand a fair income", recalled Anabio chairman, Federico Marchini, who has numbers on his side.
Organic food consumption grew by +19% in the first months of 2016, after the already exceptional +20% of last year. Turnover was 2.1 billion euro, rising to 2.5 including bars and catering.
Organic farming is growing too: almost 50 thousand organic farms in Italy, covering more than 11% of cultivated land. In addition to major energy savings (around -25%), organics offers better returns.
For example: in 2015 the average price paid to milk producers dropped by 13% whereas the price of organic milk rose by 14%. It’s the same story with durum wheat: the source price of traditional wheat varieties rose by more than 8 percentage points whereas organic wheat saw a massive increase of +41%.
Anabio’s chairman commented saying that: “The National Strategic Plan for the Development of the Organic System should foster a strong alliance between farmers and national and regional institutions to boost the harmonious and coordinated development of the sector to reach 50% cultivated land surface accounting for 30% of production by 2020”.
According to Cia chairman, Dino Scanavino, for the success of this operation it is evident that “issues concerning legislative and administrative simplification must be solved. At the same time research and innovation must be boosted as they are essential for the development of the sector to combat problems like climate change responsible for reduced productivity”.
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