Are all
apples that grow alone organic? Absolutely not, only those that are produced
according to a European specification, which covers everything from production
to marketing and which receives a certificate. How much of the total production
in Europe is organic today? 3%, with Poland, France, Germany and Italy in the
first 4 places. Has the market for organic apples grown in recent years? Yes,
on average 7% per year. So at some point in the future, we will only have organic
apples? Unfortunately no, it's not that simple.
These are
some of the questions that Fritz Prem, founder and president of the European
Forum for Organic Fruit in Kaindorf (Austria), answered at the international
congress "Apple in the World" during Interpoma 2018 in Bolzano. Prem,
born in 1957, himself a passionate apple farmer who switched to organic in
1996, has no doubt to answer the most important question:
Organic
products will never completely replace non-organic products, simply because
they are already part of other production and trading systems. Prem explaines this by inviting the audience of Interpoma to a fantasy journey into the
future, into the year 2023. What kind of apple production and market will there
be by then?
On the one
hand, there will be a huge conventional production without synthetic residues
from harvesting - but not organic - which will become cheaper and cheaper
thanks to strong social dumping. These apples will be available in supermarkets
in large "no logo" packages. On the
other side of the market, a sector will have developed consisting of organic
apples - which in Europe will have reached 6% of the total - with more
varieties than today. From a geografic point of view, those markets will grow
where the consumption of organic food is already more developed, in Europe
mainly Switzerland, the Scandinavian countries and Austria.
In addition
to the organic varieties, a few other "Club" varieties will grow
alongside the Pink Lady and make the leap into the premium segment: A market
segment that will always remain for a few.
The picture that emerges will therefore be that of a very polarized market, like many others in today's economy.
Do you want to learn more about organic apple growing and the European Organic Fruit Forum EBF?
