We’re successful, but we’re still a niche industry."This is how IFOAM managing director Markus Arbenz at the BioFach Organic 3.0 Congress described the worldwide effort being put into organic agriculture and sustainable consumption.



Arbenz presented the discussion paper Organic 3.0, that can be downloaded from the IFOAM Organics International website. The illustrated brochure provides information about the stages of development reached in Organic 1.0 and 2.0 and their aims. IFOAM’s managing director was pleased that by now many partners shared the dream of sustainable development.

Urs Niggli, director of the Forschungsinstitut für ökologischen Landbau (FiBL), spoke about the many different solutions that are necessary to drive organic farming forwards. They advocated the use of technology but they always had to check whether it was s good or bad technology. He gave the example of a robot seed drill. The experiences of farmers were also important, and in Switzerland 300 interviews with farmers have been carried out. 

Jörg Lutz from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture put the emphasis on target-group oriented information, that his ministry was providing and for which €7m were being made available every year. He said the aim is to reach 20% organic farming. However, there is no date by when the conversion is to be achieved.