Delegates and experts gathered in the German town of Nuremberg during 13-15 February to examine the impact trade standards have on the farming business in the developing world. The theme of this year’s event was a “Spotlight on India.”
With worldwide sales in organic products surpassing $59 billion in 2010, trade buyers were excited to learn about organic products from 83 countries represented at BioFach this year, with some 70 percent of the exhibitors traveling from abroad.
According to Oneco (Organic News Community), it has taken great strides on India’s part to become a player in organic agriculture and marketing – but it’s gaining speed. Many large-scale initiatives are being created, and India expects to reach a volume of exports equaling $1 billion dollars by 2015.
The BioFach 2012 forum attendees looked at issues related to organic agriculture in developing countries, including trade and access barriers.Delegates also discussed the progress made in helping farmers expand their international market reach and overcoming technical roadblocks to organic marketing.
“Quite clearly, BioFach is now much more than a world-leading exhibition,” said Claus Rättich, member of the management board of Nürnberg Messe, site for the event. “BioFach stands for variety of products, countries and concepts…it is not just an important marketplace for certified organic products of the highest quality and a base for positioning companies and brands, but also a significant, innovative, and cosmopolitan event with international offshoots in Japan, USA, Brazil, China, and India.”
In 2002, a partnership between the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) first established a joint effort to promote access to the global organic market.
According to UNCTAD, there are about two million certified organic farmers worldwide, 80 percent of which are in developing countries. These countries account for 73 percent of land certified for organic beekeeping and the collection of plant products grown in the wild.
Such farming relies on healthy soils and active agro-ecological management instead of artificial pesticides and fertilizers, which can be detrimental to the environment, agricultural workers, and consumers.
One of the most pressing challenges for the improvement of organic agriculture is the red-tape in trade standards and regulations. A product that meets one set of organic certification standards may also need to be in compliance of another set of organic standards before it can reach the marketplace.
Key issues discussed included a panel discussion on “How Sustainable is Organic?” This panel asked the questions, “What is sustainability in the organic sector and how can it be measured and communicated?” and “Where is action still required – even in the organic sector?”
“The Council for Sustainable Development has certified organic farming as the gold standard,” said Markus Arbenz, executive director of IFOAM. “But we are not satisfied with this and must become more sustainable. How we in the sector can improve on this is discussed at this year’s edition of the world’s leading exhibition.”
Project activities included outreach to share knowledge about sustainability tools, pilot projects to test tools, and technical assistance to governments and private-sector stakeholders to implement the tools and related recommendations. It also included facilitation of new regional initiatives and analysis of the organic trade system and evaluation of the trade-facilitating tools.
The new free trade agreement on organic products between the U.S. and the European Union got a thumbs up from, among others, California congressman Sam Farr, D-Carmel.Farr’s office hailed it as a breakthrough for Central Coast growers, who have 48,548 acres in organic production spread across three counties. Its news release even described the European Union as a “top export destination” for the area.That’s an overstatement, at least in Monterey County where I live. In 2010, the last year for which numbers are available, less than 1% of its fruit and vegetable exports — conventional and organic — went to the European Union. Singapore, for example, got more. The big destinations were Canada, 55%; Taiwan, 11%; and Mexico, 7%.But maybe the congressman was being “Farr-sighted” and looking to the future. There’s every reason to think the pact will make Europe a more attractive destination for California organic growers. The U.S. and EU each agreed to honor the other’s organic certification, easing the flow of commodities, starting June 1.“(It) reduces paperwork and costs for organic farms and processors that used to have to get an additional certification to sell organic products to the EU, and it will mean more organic choices for consumers,” Brise Tencer, director of policy and programs for California Certified Organic Farmers, said in the release.Organic produce has been on the rise in Monterey County, no matter what happens internationally. Production of organic strawberries, spring mix, lettuce, spinach, broccoli and the rest were up $5 million year over year in the last tally, to $168.9 million. Acreage was 19,495, up from 17,581. Organic accounts for about 5% of all land in vegetable and fruit production here.Elsewhere in the state, the agreement may come as cold comfort to some organic almond growers who unsuccessfully fought the pasteurization requirement on their commodity, a hurdle European imports have not had to clear.Methyl iodide ValentineA Feb. 14 vote of Monterey County’s board of supervisors underscored the long-running dilemma over fumigant use by California strawberry growers.The board voted 4-1 to urge Gov. Jerry Brown to reconsider the state’s approval of methyl iodide as an acceptable replacement for methyl bromide. The Environmental Protection Agency has labeled methyl iodide exposure a health risk. Farmworkers shared their concerns with the board.Growers would have preferred to wait on an Alameda County judge’s ruling in a lawsuit over the fumigant.It has been a no-win situation.The Watsonville-based California Strawberry Commission no doubt would like to get off the treadmill of replacing one fumigant with another. Ideas kicked around have included steaming soil or mixing it with mustard seed meal.Resolution, though, is still somewhere down the ‘s your take? Leave a comment and tell us your opinion.