In France, organic agriculture is growing at its fastest rate since 1995, according to Ouest-France.fr. Each month, the site has reported, 300 new producers join the ranks of organic agriculture.
At the end of 2009, there were 16,407 organic producers, according to Agence Bio, up from 13,298 one year earlier.
The area devoted to organic production as such increased to 2.5 per cent of the total farming land in France, having remained frozen at 2 per cent for many years.
“The pace is significant,” said Elisabeth Mercier, director of Agence Bio. “But there remains an even greater step to take if the highly ambitious target of the Grenelle de l’environnement, to increase the organic area to 6 per cent of the useful farming area by 2012, is to be achieved.”
About the new European logo, which will be compulsory from 1 July 2010, Ms Mercier revealed she had high hopes. “It will allow consumers to buy an organic product knowing full well whether it is locally produced or sourced from further afield with a bigger carbon impact,” she said.
For Ms Mercier, the most pressing challenge for the coming years will be to structure the sector, enlarging the product range, improving techniques, making economies of scale and forming long-term relationships with distributors to guarantee fair returns for producers and affordable prices for consumers.
