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Feeding on mounting consumer distrust of such chemical-dependent
farming, Europe's organic agriculture is growing faster than a hormone-injected
steer.
The sector once dismissed as the pastime of crackpots
and idealists has grown into a business worth some $7.3 billion a year
in the European Union and around $15.6 billion worldwide. A report prepared
for the EU this year said the number of organic farms in the bloc had
soared from just 6,300 in 1985 to more than 100,000 in 1998.
Even with that spectacular growth, organic farmers
are struggling to cope with demand. The food scares have played a role,
but there's a more general expectation for better food standards, higher
quality among consumers. They want to avoid genetically modified organisms
in particular.
By 2005, experts expects 10 percent of all agricultural
land in western Europe will be organic, farming that uses only animal
or vegetable fertilizers and does without chemical pesticides, growth
hormones and the like. Austria has already passed 10 percent; Switzerland
and Sweden are not far behind.
The rapid development of organic production was
facilitated by EU legislation in the early 1990s that set common standards
across the 15-nation bloc and allowed for government subsidies to help
farmers break their dependence on artificial fertilizers and pesticides.
Organic products are becoming the number one choice for more and sales
will top $162 million this year, compared to just $8 million three years
ago.
As big business muscles into the organic sector,
some people fear the original farmers' dedication to organic production
will be undermined as the sector expands to take on those motivated more
by profits than ecological ideals.
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