Organic food and farming have grown year after year in the EU over the previous three decades and continue to do so. The organic market in the EU is quite dynamic, with different growth rates in different nations. Policies can have a favorable influence on both production and consumption growth.
The organic market in the EU is quite dynamic, with diverse nations’ growth rates. Its continual upward trajectory is attributed to a number of variables. Organic food and farming’s creative nature increased regulatory backing, and European residents’ increasing need for high-quality, sustainable food production are among them.
The rising per capita consumption of organic goods reflects this trend. In general, consumers are spending more on organic food each year, with some product groupings obtaining above-average market share.
Organic is included in the European Commission’s Farm to Fork Strategy, which was released in May 2020, as a critical sector for achieving the European Green Deal’s food goals. According to the strategy, the demand for organic food will continue to increase, and organic farming will need to be promoted even more.
The Commission produced the 2021-2027 Organic Action Plan as part of this plan, with the goal of increasing both organic demand and supply. The Farm to Fork Strategy calls for “at least 25% of the EU’s agricultural area to be under organic farming by 2030 and a major increase in organic aquaculture,” and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should play a key role in achieving that goal.
Only items that have been certified as organic by an authorized control agency or entity are allowed to use the organic logo. Important contributions to organic agriculture were made by Helga Willer and Diana Schaack.
Political factors concerning organic food
Consistently rising consumer demand and an EU norm for organic farming may not have happened if all European nations had political systems and policy support similar to the global leader United States and the United Kingdom, which made coalition governments difficult, if not impossible.
The Green Party was created in the last decade in Germany in 1980, specifically in Lower Saxony, by a group of predominantly muesli eaters worried about nuclear waste, acid rain, animal welfare, and pesticides in their food. The first Green MPs were elected also in Lower Saxony, three years later.
Since then, the party has regularly been the junior partner in federal and state coalition governments. In most other Western European nations, comparable movements and parties exist. What difference does it make?
Politicians influence policy and Green politicians support organic farming. Consumers must believe that organic production guidelines are being observed in order for farmers to benefit from organic agricultural practices.
As a result, The European Parliament maintains the tight supervision and enforcement mechanism shown below to ensure that organic laws and regulations are obeyed correctly. Organic farming is part of a wider supply chain that includes the food processing, distribution, and retail industries, all of which are subject to inspections.
Each EU member appoints “control bodies or authorities” to inspect organic food supply chain businesses. Before they may promote their food as organic, producers, distributors, and marketers of organic products must register with their local regulating authority where they will receive political support. In the end, the takeaway is that Government response is very important.
Positive environment for organic food
To create a more positive environment for organic production in which farmers and food companies feel confident making significant investment decisions to meet consumer demand for products produced with a heart for people, animals, and the planet, this target must be linked to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform, the Biodiversity Strategy, and other agri-food policies.
Many international leaders spoke out against hunger, poverty, and inequality, as well as climate change, during the United Nations Food Systems Summit on the national level. Experts in food systems and market data acknowledge that empowering women, eradicating corruption, tackling food waste, protecting biodiversity, and adopting ecologically responsible production – including organic agriculture – are all critical to global nutrition security. Increased yields aren’t on the list.
Changing how countries produce, prepare, transport, consume, and waste food is necessary to address agriculture’s involvement in climate change.
When leaders ask for cutting-edge, research-based solutions, we believe they should embrace and promote a wide range of science, including agroecology — sustainable farming that relies less on external inputs like fertilizers and pesticides.
A lot of the political factors and politicians are trying to better animal welfare to an extent. The Organic food industry is on track to achieve the aims of organic farming. Permanent grassland is important in organic agriculture, which should be achieved by the government through policy calls.
Is organic food really tastier?
To answer this question, we will examine organic food in two categories. The first is the nutritional value and the second is the flavor.
Hundreds of studies comparing the nutritional worth of organically cultivated food (usually fruits and vegetables) to the nutritional value of the same food grown using conventional farming methods have been published in the last 20 years.
The majority of investigations have come to the conclusion that there is no nutritional difference between organic and conventional foods. Similarly, the notion that organic foods taste better has failed to gain traction.
According to most research, determining an organic food from a conventional meal just based on how it tastes is impossible. But let’s go a bit deeper into the nutritional and taste differences between organic and conventional meals. However, it is difficult to meet demand because of the new legislation.
Nutritional Value
Despite the fact that the majority of research asserts no difference in the nutritional value of organic and conventional foods, many studies, including one published in Science Daily Magazine, have supported the idea that organic is more nutritious.
Organic oranges have up to 30% more vitamin C than conventionally cultivated oranges, according to the study for experienced growth. Because the conventionally produced oranges in the study were roughly double the size of the organic oranges, the researcher first expected the data to demonstrate the exact opposite outcome.
So, why are the results so lopsided? According to the argument, because traditional agricultural techniques employ so much nitrogen in their fertilization (which causes the orange to absorb more water), the orange gets diluted and hence contains a less nutritious value.
So, despite the fact that the conventionally produced orange was significantly bigger, water made up a significant amount of the fruit’s content.
However, the majority of studies appear to imply a tie over time, and because the conclusions drawn from the data vary, it’s difficult to persuade people that organic food is more nutritious when the facts may be interpreted to support whatever side you choose to believe.
Keep in mind that all of these studies are based on the nutrients included in the diet – vitamins, minerals, proteins, and not so much fat and so on. External influences on the developing process are not taken into account.
While this is completely genuine and correct science for assessing the real nutritional information contained inside a meal, it ignores a key factor: the conventional product has been exposed to chemical fertilizer and pesticide use throughout its growth cycle.
Although this is technically not part of the nutritional content of the food, when it is claimed that organic and conventionally farmed foods have the same nutritional value, what it indicates, and what the customer hears, is that one is no more healthy than the other.
That’s how text messages operate. The majority of consumers associate nutritional value with good health in this leading market. The higher the nutritional value of the food, the healthier it is. This is reasonable.
So, while these studies may be technically correct and not intended to mislead, the message that the public receives is often incorrect: “because there is no nutritional advantage to buying organic food (increasing food sales), why spend extra money for it?”
The truth is, the food prices for organic food and consumer spending are typically higher. It’s like comparing the nutritional worth of a crab taken off the Gulf Coast (a week after the 2010 BP oil disaster) to a crab caught off the coasts of Maryland without taking chemical fertilizers and pesticides into account.
In research, the real minerals and vitamins may still stack up rather nicely side by side. It would be a significant and harmful error to omit this as part of the crabs’ nutritional value (or measure of health). When chemical fertilizers, pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics are taken into account, organically farmed food always comes out as more nutritious and healthy.
Flavor
Different countries and nations produce different flavors. For example, the taste of organic food is not the same in Spain and in the UK. It also depends on the niche market. Organic standards also differ. There hasn’t been any official research done to show or deny whether organic foods are superior to conventional meals in terms of taste.
There are different product groups in the organic food markets. Because every one of us reacts to food flavor in various ways, this would be very subjective research. There are several cases where the majority of individuals would agree that a particular meal has a far greater flavor.
When comparing an organic ground-in-store peanut butter to a huge brand name conventional peanut butter in a jar, most consumers would probably choose the organic ground-in-store peanut butter. It’s impossible to say if the organic peanut butter tasted better simply because it was made with more peanuts.
The flavor variation is most likely due to the nut kinds of butter’ recipes rather than the peanuts themselves. The regular brand’s salt and sweetness would undoubtedly dilute the genuine flavor of the peanuts, making a meaningful side-by-side comparison difficult.
Even though there are no formal studies to look at, there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that organic foods have a better flavor. In the coming years, the data shortage will be eliminated because more and more attention is being drawn towards this lucrative market, which will see an even more significant increase.
Many culinary experts and chefs feel that organic foods have a better flavor. The soil care undertaken by organic farmers is credited to food specialists. Strong soil nutrition leads to well-nourished plants, which produce food with great nutritional value and excellent flavor. It makes perfect sense.
According to the conclusions of a survey done by the National Restaurant Association, organic foods taste better. According to the poll, 50% of restaurants with a per-person dinner bill of $25 or more have organic options on their menus.
An interesting fact is that many public schools across the U.S are transferring to organic food. While it may be difficult to find actual data collection to back up assertions that organic foods are better in terms of nutrition and flavor than their conventional counterparts, there is still enough evidence to back up the assumption that organically grown foods are the healthiest and most tasty.
Check out other Interesting Facts About Organic Food
Read more articles in the Lifestyle Category