Orgnanic food in demand

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 271, 24 January 1989, Page 7

Orgnanic food in demand

Excessive pollution of drinking water due to agricultural fertilisers and pesticides means that in some European cities drinking water has to be bought at the supermarket. Some governments in Europe are spending millions of dollars upgrading treatment facilities so that water is fit to drink.

This pollution, and incidents like Chernobyl, are accelerating the growth in demand for organically grown food, according to MAFTech Technical Officer Mr Willi Stiefel who recently returned from visiting Europe, Canada and the USA. "In Europe growing public concern about chemical pollution is being matched by increased government funding of research into organic farming." 'This is backed up by well established organic farm advisory services, and as well the whole organic trend is gaining support from the universities", he said. y In fact every agricultural student in Switzerland and Germany now studies organic farming. Mr Stiefel, who works a MAFTech's Flock House Agricultural Centre where a 44 hectare organic research farm was recently establishedr visited numerous European organic farms and research institutes. "I spent a week with a specialist organic farming advisor visiting over 40 Swiss or- . ganic farms", he ex- ' plained. 'Twice yearly the advisor visits each farm to give advice and check that organic production standards are being met". Many of the farms were intensive mixed dairy and cropping operations, although there were also pig and poultry farms, goat and sheep-milking ventures and market gardens. Mr Stiefel was able to see properties where organic production techniques had been followed for 40 to 50 years. "Price premiums for organic produce were generally in the 20-25 "

per cent range. However, I met several farmers who by milling their own grain were able to get 100 per cent premiums", Mr Stiefel said. He found that demand for produce drastically outstrips supply, so most farmers are still able to sell their goods at weekly markets despite the fact the supermarkets are keen to enter the market. 'Migrow' the largest supermarket chain in Switzerland has made moves to offer organic produce to customers. Currently they contract growers to produce fruit and vegetables with low inputs of chemicals. "A half way step to truly organic produce", according to Mr Stiefel. "Produce is not just sold fresh. The Swiss processing company 'Biota' now contracts production from as far a field as Israel and exports organic juices and cocktails to over 50 countries". Mr Stiefel is confident that there are exciting market prospects in Europe for New Zealand organic produce, particularly meat. He does, however, stress the rieed for research on production

techniques as the intensive farming systems being used in Europe cannot be economically duplicated here. This need for research was also backed up by Mr Stiefel's visit to the USA and Canada. "We can learn from their production techniques, but a different climate and farming system means we can-

not just copy their methods", he explained. As in Europe, the organic trend is also starting to gain momentum in North America. The Canadian government for example has launched a project called '2002' by which time they want to see a 50 per cent reduction in the use of pesticides.