The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, met this Tuesday with the Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture of Germany, Cem Özdemir, to whom he expressed Spain’s support for European initiatives regarding organic production. since they contribute to the green transition of the food system due to their contribution in terms of social and environmental sustainability.
In this sense, Planas has stressed that we must opt for digitalization and innovation, as it will allow the development of more sustainable and economically viable production.
The head of Agriculture told Özdemir that food policies “are part of global policy.” “It is our duty to guarantee food security in the European Union (EU),” he stated.
The meeting between both Ministers of Agriculture was prior to their participation in the inauguration in Nuremberg of the international organic production fair BioFach 2022, in which the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Janusz Wojciechowski, participated.
The increase in prices of raw materials, as well as energy, is affecting the production costs of farmers and ranchers throughout the EU and is having effects on inflation and food prices in all Member States. , also in the international arena. Both have confirmed that both in Germany and in Spain food prices have experienced a similar evolution.
Planas has valued the importance of the Food Chain Law in this context, since it has made it possible to provide a security cushion for farmers and ranchers.
At the meeting, the ministers discussed the next rotating Presidency of the EU in the second half of 2023. Luis Planas thanked Özdemir for his offer to support and collaborate with Spain in the community initiatives on which progress must be made in that semester.
Support for Spanish producers
On the other hand, the Minister of Agriculture has visited the pavilion that his Department has installed at BioFach, a world reference fair for organic production held in the city of Nuremberg from July 26 to 29, where he highlighted the « “strategic nature” of the Spanish organic sector, for whom he has reiterated the Government’s support to take advantage of its great growth potential in the coming years.
Planas addressed the representatives of the 104 Spanish companies, distributed in 11 pavilions, to whom he assured that their presence at this fair is “very justified”, since Germany is the first market for Spanish organic foods.
According to 2021 data, Spain has just over 2.6 million hectares (10.8% of the Useful Agricultural Area), which places it in the first places in terms of organic farming area, both in the European Union and worldwide, with an increase compared to 2020 of 8%.
Likewise, in Spain there are 9,247 ‘eco’ livestock farms, 20% more than the previous year. And that same year, more than 58,000 operators were registered, which represents an increase of 16% compared to the previous year, with growth in almost all categories.
Regarding marketing, Spain would be among the ten largest global markets for organic products, in terms of total value of its organic sales, and among the 15 largest in the world in terms of per capita consumption of organic products. Furthermore, Spain is the world’s fourth largest exporter of organic products, only behind the United States, Italy and the Netherlands.
The minister stressed that organic farming “not only has a present, but also an important future.” In this area, he has emphasized the great contribution that Spanish agriculture has to meet the European Union’s objective of reaching 25% of its agricultural area in organic production. “It is a very ambitious challenge, but we are in good condition to meet it,” he indicated.
To boost its growth, Planas has indicated the ‘roadmap’ for organic production in Spain, on which its Ministry is working hand in hand with the sector and which will address important aspects of interest, such as increasing promotion and strengthening the internal consumption, or the generation and publication of information useful for operators’ decision-making, among others.
The head of Agriculture has stressed that it is essential that the growth of production goes hand in hand with the increase in consumption. To this end, the Ministry launched the ‘Here we are eco-logical’ campaign in November 2021. Nothing to hide’, an initiative whose main objective is to publicize the richness of organic production in Spain and provide citizens with all possible information on association and identification of the ecological logo and the regulations that guarantee food supply in the European Union.