Karin Bornett
The figures from AMA-Marketing show that organic food is increasingly in demand: “The Austrian organic market is growing continuously and has increased in value in the past year by a further 7% compared to 2018. Organic food (excluding bread and pastries) worth EUR 2019 million was bought in domestic food retailers in 580, which means annual expenses of EUR 158 per household for organic products. Every Austrian buys an organic food at least once a year, according to current RollAMA figures, the buyer reach is 96,7%. Both the frequency of purchases and the quantity of organic products purchased have been increasing continuously for years. ”
According to AMA, the ranges of milk, yoghurt and eggs have the highest organic share in food retail, followed by potatoes and vegetables. “The organic content of butter, fruit and cheese is also above average. It is below average for meat and poultry as well as sausage and ham. "
Agriculture responds
The increasing consumption of organic food is also reflected in production: “The development of organic agriculture in Austria is still on the rise. This is shown by a look at the current figures from the Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Rural Regions and Tourism (BMLRT). Currently, 24.235 farms operate according to the criteria of organic agriculture, that is 22,2 percent of all farms. The organic farmers in Austria cultivate a total of 668.725 hectares of land. This currently accounts for 26 percent of the total agricultural area. There was an increase in the area of around 31.000 hectares, which corresponds to an increase of around five percent. The organically farmed area has grown by around 2018 soccer fields per day from 2019 to 115 ”, announced BIO AUSTRIA chairwoman Gertraud Grabmann at a press conference. Increases can be recorded all over Europe: "Both the organically farmed areas and the sales of organic food grew by almost eight percent in Europe in 2018."
Graphics: © BIO AUSTRIA
ON THE CONTRIBUTION TO OPTION AUSTRIA
