Ziele für den ökologischen Landbau in Europa: Folgen und Maßnahmen

Organic farming now plays a central role in the EU’s agricultural and environmental policies as exemplified by the 25 % organic share of total land area target in the Farm-to-Fork and Biodiversity strategies. Achieving the 25 % target could have acceptable impacts on production levels, with reduced demand for livestock feeds offsetting crop output reductions due to lower yields. Significant positive environmental impacts would also result from 25 % organic, including a 26 % reduction in N-fertiliser use, 20 % less pesticide use, 15 % less greenhouse gas emissions and 13 % less ammonia emissions, with enhanced biodiversity levels on organic cropland. At the same time, rewarding
farmers for environmental outputs benefiting society as a whole is a matter for public policy, not only the purchasing behaviour of a minority of consumers. Since the 1990s, EU Member States (MS) have actively supported conversion to and maintenance of organic farming as an agri-environmental measure, with support expenditure totalling 1.8 billion € in 2018. Despite the 25 % target and strong exhortations from the EU Commission, MS are falling short of the individual national area targets and expenditures needed to deliver the EU target, with less than 14 % planned to be organic by 2027. A transformative policy shift is needed to make the target a reality.