Schwerin (dpa/mv) - According to the agricultural expert of the environmental organization BUND in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Burkhard Roloff, organic food will remain a growth market despite inflation and the recent decline in sales. "The trend towards more regional and ecological products continues," Roloff told the German Press Agency on Tuesday.
Due to inflation and uncertainty, however, consumers are currently shopping less and more price-consciously. In the first half of the year there was a nationwide decline in sales of organic fresh food by 5.4 percent. The main victims are farm shops and organic markets. The discounters in Germany, on the other hand, increased sales of organic food by 11.5 percent in the first half of the year. Overall sales are now higher than before the 2019 corona pandemic.
BUND Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is organizing the 15th organic country outing on Saturday, at which 61 farms and processors across the state will be giving a glimpse behind the scenes and inviting them to farm parties. According to Roloff, they presented practical organic farming, from organic production and manual processing to direct or regional marketing of the farm's own organic products. Patron State Agriculture Minister Till Backhaus (SPD) will open the organic country outing in Klein Trebbow near Neustrelitz with the local solidarity agriculture (Solawi). There will also be an expert discussion on the opportunities and importance of this special form of business.
According to the BUND, 14.5 percent of the total cultivated area in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is currently farmed organically. According to Roloff, the area grew by around 13,300 to 190,000 hectares last year. In the first three months of this year there was a further increase in area of 5375 hectares.
