ORGANIC FARMING - WHAT IS GOING ON IN EUROPE?

Abstract

Nowadays, crop organic management is implemented in all EU member- states to a smaller or larger extent. The aim of the present work is the analysis of the progress made in organic farming adoption rates in the EU member-states, in the years 1998 - 2008, in order to assess implementation rates and reach safe conclusions with respect to the expansion and integration of organic practices in each one of the EU member-states. In order to form a clearer view of the integration of organic practices for each one of the 27 European countries, Geographical Information System (G.I.S.) was used. Additionally, descriptive statistics was used to summarize all data. Results of this study demonstrate a rising trend in organic farming growth rates, organically managed plottage having increased by 2.7 times in the years 1998 - 2008. Moreover, findings show that states which have below EU average organic farming adoption rates show higher growth rates for organically managed plottage and therefore a tendency towards counterbalance and convergence with the EU member-states average.