The European Commission has launched a new promotional campaign for organic food and farming.
The Organic Farming Campaign was unveiled last week at the Foire de Libramont agricultural fair in Belgium.
Under the slogan ‘Organic farming. Good for nature, good for you’, the promotional campaign aims to inform all parts of society about the meaning and benefits of organic farming and food production. The campaign focuses on increasing consumer awareness and recognition of organic products, particularly targeting young people and children to champion organics in the future.
Mariann Fischer Boel, European commissioner for agriculture and rural development, said: “Consumer demand for organic products is growing, offering increased business opportunities for all sectors of the food supply chain. By launching this campaign, I call on all stakeholders in organic farming to promote the organic idea through the new campaign slogan ‘Organic Farming. Good for nature, good for you.’”
Over the last few years, the number of organic operators in the EU has increased. In 2005, there were 182,305 in the EU-25, corresponding to a 13.4 per cent increase over 2004. In recent years, the European organic retail market has experienced strong growth, of between five per cent and 30 per cent in most countries, including the new member states. Increasing consumer demand is strengthening the organic market and giving farmers and processors new opportunities.
The European Commission launched the campaign with the announcement of a competition to develop a new organic farming logo.
The commission also unveiled the centrepiece of its campaign - a new multilingual website for organic farming, www.organic-farming.europa.eu, containing an electronic toolbox that provides marketing materials in 22 languages free of charge to professionals throughout the entire food and farming sector, in order to promote organic production and farming.
