AHHEPIM2

4798

18 décembre 2022 18:00

18 décembre 2022 20:53

There are ambitious policy objectives to increase the market share of organic food in Europe. Currently the importance and market share of organic food varies by product and country. While organic crop production has increased and, in some countries, it already covers a substantial proportion of agricultural land, organic livestock production is lagging behind. Especially the market share of organic pork and poultry meat is still small in almost all European countries. In Finland, for example, the most popular organic livestock products are eggs, milk and beef, but only 0.4% of Finnish pork is organic and the share in chicken meat is even smaller. The most common reasons for consumers to purchase organic foods are their cleanness, taste, quality, and friendliness to the environment as well as desire to support small farmers and producers. Even though almost a fifth of consumers choose an organic product without considering its price, the price is still the main obstacle to buying organic products. Moreover, although people appreciate organic production and prefer it compared with non-organic production, the majority of consumers have a poor understanding of the methods of animal production. Hence, consumer communication and dialogue should be increased to clarify the benefits of organic production to the consumers. The small volume causes some challenges in the organic value chain. For example, small production batches result in elevated production cost per unit of output. Small number of organic farmers in a region may also limit the availability of high-quality support services such as veterinary or advisory services. Even though organic livestock production has several animal welfare benefits, there is still room for improvement. For example, the price and availability of organic protein feed, the use of outdoor range under different weather conditions, animal disease risks and the interpretation of regulations may pose challenges to organic farms. However, favourable farm conditions, ethical benefits and easy-to-use features of measures and responding to the consumer demand were seen as factors enabling animal welfare improvements.

None

• AB - Spécifique
• chicken
• finland
• pork
• consumer
• market share
• meat
• organic food
• price
• welfare

82-86

2022

1 janvier 2022