Many farmers and landowners are concerned about the problem of what exactly to do with their land. How to make money on your land? What exactly should you plant so that it is in demand and sells as easily and expensively as possible? What kind of farm can you create on a small plot of land? Which farm should you create to quickly start making a profit? How to quickly return your invested money? 5 minutes of reading the article will probably give you a new impetus to create your own stable family business.
Listed below are reasons why growing certified organic food on small plots of land is as profitable as possible. Why we recommend growing organic certified vegetables, herbs and herbs. And why we claim that this is a highly profitable farming business.
- Organic vegetable farm is a profitable business even on small plots
Now in Ukraine there are already examples of successful organic family farms, in Kyiv, Sumy, Vinnytsia, Khmelnitsky, Zhytomyr and other regions, which are already consistently making a profit on small areas of land, up to 2 hectares, some even on 40 or even 20 acres.
The essence and success of this business niche is based on the fact that organic certified products, which have been tested by certifying bodies and received a European certificate (Eurolist), are in consistently high demand and are sold at a price ranging from 50 to 500% higher than traditional chemical ones.
Retail chains, specialized online stores with organic and eco-assortments, restaurants and health resorts are experiencing a large shortage of stable supplies of environmentally friendly and organic products. In 2016, even the Auchan chain introduced a separate position for a purchasing manager for organic products.
- This business is one of the most profitable (especially for small areas)
Organic Business School analysts studied the financial parameters of existing organic vegetable farms, and according to our data, a vegetable greenhouse farm becomes profitable after the first year, that is, it passes the break-even point already in the first year of operation.
Calculations were made for a farm that occupies an area of up to 2 hectares. Of these, there are greenhouses - about 20 acres. Main products: tomatoes, cucumbers, greens, lettuce, cabbage, peppers, radishes, strawberries. The full payback period for investments is 3-4 years. Based on the results of 5 years of work, profit is expected to be 2 times higher than capital investments.
- Even a small farm will be profitable if you plant both basic seasonal and more marginal products - rare or exotic products.
The most popular products are regular seasonal vegetables and herbs, which Ukrainian families buy weekly. Potatoes, cabbage, carrots, radishes, onions and others from the so-called “borscht set”. Open ground is suitable for growing these products, and our partner farmers recommend, in addition to greenhouses, to cultivate the same areas of open ground for regular seasonal vegetables and herbs.
Salad vegetables and herbs are consistently popular: tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, various types of lettuce, basil, eggplant, green onions, leeks and others.
For greater margins, we recommend growing rarer, more expensive, even exotic types of crops: colorful cherry tomatoes, colorful bright sweet peppers, asparagus, arugula, hot peppers and other rare crops. We especially recommend basil. This is a high-margin and in-demand product.
All of the products listed are in very high demand - this is what they will always buy from you. True, to get more profit, we recommend that you start your business not by selling raw materials, but by packaging it beautifully, that is, creating your own trademark, brand.
- What makes this business profitable is guaranteed demand exceeding supply.
A little more about demand. We are sometimes asked, isn’t there a crisis in Ukraine now and will people pay more for food? In practice, we constantly encounter the fact that the demand for basic organic and eco-friendly products is several times greater than the supply. And not only in Kyiv.
Almost all regions have specialized stores, online stores, grocery delivery, health centers, restaurants that sell organic products and are constantly in search of a stable supplier. Even large well-known stores are always looking for new farmers. In our experience of communicating with distribution channels, it is a myth that all well-known stores no longer need new suppliers.
We have examples where, even far from Kyiv, an organic farmer can sell his products right in his town at 30-100% more expensive than other farmers for their traditional products. Like, for example, Andrey Marchenko, owner of a family organic greenhouse farm. In the city of Shostka, Sumy region, Andrey sells his certified vegetables and herbs in his own shop at the bazaar.
- An organic farm is a wonderful family business, prosperous and ethical.
An organic farm is a wonderful family business. It is ethical, healthy, open to both millennial traditions and agro-innovations. This is a business for well-being and prosperity. These products will always be in stable demand.
This is a healthy business with which you will never fear for the health of your children, as is the case with traditional farmers who use chemicals and fertilizers.
Our organic farming partners are often married couples who work together or even together with their children, like the brothers Vitaly and Evgeniy Vasyanovich from the Zhytomyr region, who together with their wives successfully work on their farm. Or the family of Tatyana Yablonskaya and Sergei Yatskov, who together develop several farms in 2 different regions and raise 3 children.
- You can create your own brand, or direct delivery to the consumer in the form of a basket
This is an option for those who have the ambition, opportunity and desire to be not just a supplier of raw materials, but to create their own trademark, brand, or just an online store. We can give the following examples:
- Winemaker Valery Petrov from the Odessa region produces certified organic wine (TM VP) and sells it through his online store.
- Organic farmers Valentina Sabelnikova and Konstantin Korza, owners of TM Organic Villa, have their own online store. And they sell not only vegetables and herbs, but also finished products - jams, sauces, sun-dried tomatoes and other more marginal processed products.
- The famous organic farmer Tatyana Yablonskaya created her own delivery of organic products in Kyiv - “Simeina Basket organic&local food” and sells organic and farm products to Kievans directly. The basket contains: organic bread, dairy and fermented milk products, herbs, vegetables from the borscht set, salad vegetables: lettuce, green onions, radishes, peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, pekinka. Greens: dill, mint, sometimes more exotic products - leeks, arugula, chard.
- Andrey Marchenko sells certified salad vegetables and herbs in his own store, and his accumulated reputation over the years as a farmer who produces environmentally friendly and very tasty products allows him to sell at prices higher than market prices.
- Profits and profitability in this business have only grown over the years.
- Increasing land fertility and productivity year after year thanks to organic technologies used. More harvest means higher profitability and more profit.
- Formation of reputation and, accordingly, more opportunities for marketing and sales.
- The longer you do this, the easier it will be to find partners or investors and expand the business.
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We would like to add a recommendation on how to overcome the main threshold that stops many people from starting their own farm - delaying the receipt of an organic certificate. We do not consider this to be an obstacle to profitable sales. You will receive a so-called “Intermediate Period” certificate, which means that your products will still have environmentally friendly status. And you have a high chance of selling them at a higher price than usual.
The main advice we want to give based on the analysis of complaints and dissatisfaction from partner stores: firstly, the farmer must be a stable, systematic and reliable supplier. No matter how trivial it sounds, but for stores, supplier reliability is the main problem of farmers, in general, as well as organic farmers. Secondly, a more or less wide range should be provided.
7 reasons why an organic vegetable greenhouse farm - even on small areas - is a highly profitable business 2016-11-01 2016-11-02 http://site/wp-content/uploads/logo-color.png Organic Businesshttp://site/wp-content/uploads/veg3-kopiya.jpg 200px 200px
ECOCERT is the main French certification body. Today, the ECOCERT certificate has international status and is recognized in more than 80 countries around the world, guaranteeing the natural origin and environmental friendliness of products.
COSMEBIO is the leading association in the natural and organic cosmetics industry, founded in 2002. Unites more than 350 participants in France and other countries. Among them are cosmetic laboratories, distributors, manufacturers and suppliers of raw materials for cosmetics.
BDIH (Bund deutscher Industrie- und Handelsunternehmen - Federal Association of Industrial and Commercial Companies) is a German association of industrial enterprises and trading companies producing pharmaceutical, medical, and cosmetic products. BDIH was founded in 1952, headquartered in Mannheim (Germany), the association includes over 500 cosmetics manufacturers. In 1996, together with leading manufacturers of eco-cosmetics, BDIH developed a set of standards for the certification of natural cosmetics.
The Soil Association is an organization founded in 1946 in the UK and is one of the most influential organizations in the field of certification of food and cosmetic products. It was this association that first introduced the definition of “organic cosmetics”.
Requirements for certified cosmetics
To obtain Soil Association Certification organic certification, a cosmetics company must:
1. Carry out an annual inspection of production facilities for compliance with Soil Association certification. This is to ensure that environmentally friendly production methods are used.
2. Develop all product formulas and packaging in accordance with SA Certification requirements.
3. Provide clear labeling of ingredients so that consumers can make informed product choices.
4. For any non-organic component, provide a declaration from the supplier that it is not a genetically modified component, as well as three statements from suppliers about the origin and quality of ingredients that cannot be obtained organically.
5. Use organic ingredients as much as possible. A product that bears the Soil Association Seal and is labeled organic must contain at least 95% organic ingredients. In cases where a product contains more than 70% organic ingredients, it can still be certified by the Soil Association, but the company supplying the product to the natural cosmetics store must indicate on the packaging exactly what proportion of the ingredients are organic.
6. Use a minimum of inorganic additives and only those that are on the Soil Association list of approved components.
7. Use ingredients that, if processed, are processed only using environmentally friendly means.
8. Do not include nanoparticles in the product composition.
French certification agency with international recognition, founded in 1991. In 2002, Ecocert standards for cosmetics were created. Currently it is the largest certification agency for natural and organic cosmetics in Europe. Ecocert as a certification body can certify individual ingredients or the product as a whole. Only if the packaging bears the standard Ecocert symbol can the entire product be considered certified. In another case, the manufacturer used only Ecocert-certified ingredients, but the product itself was not certified. Ecocert certifies cosmetics according to two standards: Ecological/Natural Cosmetics and Organic Cosmetics.
COSMOS Standard is a non-profit association that was created in 2010 by leading European certification organizations. The founders of COSMOS-Standard were BDIH (Germany), Cosmebio and Ecocert (France), Soil Association (England) and ICEA (Italy). This association has developed an international standard for natural and organic cosmetics, COSMOS-standard, which combines European certification schemes into one common standard. This is the most demanding and uniform quality standard for organic and natural cosmetics throughout Europe. In addition to the basic principles, in COSMOS it is important not only how the product was obtained, but also how it will decompose in nature, and what intermediate stages were used in its production. On the product packaging you will see the inscription COSMOS ORGANIC or COSMOS NATURAL in combination with the mark of the member of the COSMOS-standard AISBL association that certified the product.
The Institute of Environmental Certification is the main certification organization in Italy. ICEA unites 300 accredited experts, more than 13,000 organizations involved in the production of natural and environmentally friendly products, and has branches all over the world. Together with the Organic Agriculture Association, they developed standards for organic cosmetics, and today they provide certification services for harmless, natural cosmetics all over the world.
Initially, this certificate was created for products from the food industry, but then it was extended to other industries: natural cosmetics, ecological construction and textile products, personal care products, household chemicals, furniture and components for it. ICEA also accredits bio-based beauty salons.
Due to its harsh climate, Siberia harbors unique plants for beauty and health, often unique to this region. In order to survive in -50 degree frost and withstand the strongest winds, Siberian herbs and plants synthesize protective active ingredients and have amazing antioxidant properties. In our company, we sacredly honor the technique of collecting wild herbs. When harvested correctly, most herbs and plants reproduce in even greater quantities. It is extremely important to collect herbs of a certain age, size and at the moment of the highest concentration of elements key to beauty and health. That is why all wild herbs of Siberia are collected by hand by local residents.
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27.12.2016
In Ukraine, chickens are raised, one might say, exclusively thanks to conventional methods, in huge poultry houses and cramped cages without access to natural light and the ability to move freely.
At the moment, there are only four successful family-type farms in the country that keep certified organic chickens and produce organic eggs and chicken. The weak interest of producers in organic poultry farming is difficult to explain, because raising chickens using organic methods is relatively low-cost and provides a quick return on investment. Young hens begin laying eggs as early as 5 months, and roosters can be slaughtered for meat as early as four months.
Before we find out what organic poultry farming is and what are the features of organic chickens and eggs, let’s understand the process of raising chickens in industrial poultry farms. The only goal of giant poultry houses is to obtain eggs and meat at the lowest possible price. As is known, in such poultry farms, in small areas, several thousand birds of special hybrid breeds are kept, oriented towards a high yield of meat or eggs. Chickens are kept in dozens in small, cramped cages without access to natural light or fresh air. The birds are fed exclusively high-fat grains and growth hormones to cause rapid growth of muscle and fat tissue, so after 1.5-2 months they are sent to slaughter. In case of illness, birds are treated with antibiotics and chemical drugs for a quick recovery. Such conditions of detention do not meet any sanitary and ethical standards for the treatment of animals. On industrial farms, the assembly line works solely to satisfy the financial needs of the enterprise, without caring about the health of consumers or the well-being of the animals themselves.
Organic chicken farm at home
1) Where to start?
To start organic chicken farming, you must first take care of the organic chickens. To be certified organic, chickens must be entirely organic. Your best bet is to source your chicks from local organic farms that can guarantee the organic origin and care of their chicks, or purchase certified eggs and build your own incubator. Before purchasing young animals, visit the farm in person to ensure that the chickens are raised in proper conditions and are certified organic.
2) Raising chickens
Small chickens need special living conditions - a comfortable place to sleep, constant warmth, the availability of fresh fresh water and special organic feed for young animals. This food contains all the important nutrients for early growth and development. Organic chickens can only be fed "starter" feed for the first 12 weeks.
From 4-5 months of age, chicks should be able to roam freely in the fresh air, but at night the room temperature must still be kept at least 60°C until the chicks are eight weeks old.
3) Keeping chickens
According to organic standards, chickens should not be kept in small cages or confined areas. The territory of the poultry house should be large enough so that the chickens have the opportunity to move freely all day and satisfy their natural needs: run, graze on the grass all day, hunt insects, etc. In addition to stationary equipped poultry houses, the practice of organic poultry farming also allows you to keep chickens in mobile chicken coops - a tractor transports such a chicken coop from territory to territory, providing the birds with new pasture and a source of insects, worms and beetles.
In addition to a free area for walking, chickens should have a room where they can hide at night and in bad weather. The chicken coop should be spacious with a large hall lined with straw or sawdust, and also have a separate cozy room for sleeping, nesting and laying eggs. Another important requirement is ventilation and lighting of the chicken coop to ensure excellent health of the birds. Chickens have very sensitive lungs, so the air in the chicken coop must always be clean and fresh.
For roosting, it is important to build a spacious roost on an elevated surface, as chickens look for a high and safe place to sleep. You don’t have to worry about the temperature regime for adult chickens, because feathers serve as an insulator and protect birds well from the cold even in winter. For laying hens, it is worth taking care of arranging cozy nests - one nest for every three hens is enough.
4) Organic feed
There are offers on the market that sell ready-made certified organic feeds, but they can be too expensive. It is cheaper to buy certified organic grain and mix your own grain mixtures for feeding. It’s even better and more efficient to grow organic grain yourself on your own farm, ensuring a closed cycle and transparency of your production.
Organic chicken feeds can vary depending on the breed of bird. For example, laying hen feed may have higher levels of protein and calcium to help develop strong egg shells. Feed for meat-fed broilers can be more nutritious to build muscle tissue more effectively. In addition, in any case, bird food can be enriched with natural vitamins and minerals.
The market offers ready-made organic whole grain mixtures for feeding birds. Typically, these mixtures consist of whole grain wheat, corn and oats. Seeds of high-protein crops (in particular, alfalfa or kelp, as well as flax and sunflower seeds) are also often added to such mixtures.
In addition to grain, bird feeding requires the presence of solid particles such as coarse sand, gravel, shell rock and limestone, which are an important element in the digestion of animals, since they do not have teeth. Free-range chickens usually find the pebbles they need on their own, but you can arrange additional feeders with crushed granite and limestone.
5) Treatment of diseases
When it comes to diseases of chickens raised on organic farms, it should be noted that the incidence of diseases in organic chickens is lower than in industrial poultry farming. Organic production is primarily focused on preventing disease by creating appropriate healthy conditions for keeping animals, rather than treating already diagnosed diseases.
The main causes of diseases in chickens in poultry farms are overcrowding, as well as poor-quality and unbalanced nutrition. Organic poultry farming eliminates these two factors by ensuring proper sanitation, sound field control and pasture rotation to prevent pests and provide a balanced diet. If diseases do occur, sick birds are urgently isolated from the group and treated with homeopathic remedies approved by standards. But antibiotics are never used in organic livestock farming.
Requirements for organic poultry farming:
Chickens must come from an organic farm;
Feed must be exclusively certified and organic;
The use of animal by-products for feed is not allowed;
Birds must have enough space to move around;
It is necessary to maintain sanitary standards in chicken coops;
The use of antibiotics, growth stimulants, hormones, and GMOs is prohibited.
Raising chickens and producing eggs using organic methods primarily involves raising the birds in a healthy, safe and comfortable environment. Healthy chickens are happy birds, which in turn provide healthy eggs and meat as part of a sustainable lifestyle.
Evgenia Ivanova
Pavel Tarasov - co-owner and main farmer of the Bolotovsky farm - in a greenhouse with tomatoes and eggplants
To get to Bolotovo without a car, you will have to work hard. First, an hour on a bus to Chekhov, and then another 150 km to the Tula region by taxi or unknown transfers. As a journalist, I was met by the main farmer and co-owner of Bolotovo, Pavel Tarasov, who lives in Chekhov. In a large pickup truck, like those used by American lumberjacks, it is easy for Pavel to maneuver between the potholes of the not very good road leading to the farm after the turn from the Simferopol highway, while passengers are tossed and tossed in different directions. It will still be difficult to get here in a regular car.
The car drives into the farm yard - of course, no fence, gates or other nonsense. The small one-story house for the workers who permanently live here is painted white; outside, under the window frames, small hot red peppers are dried. Under the birch trees there is a sturdy table with benches, behind which all three farm workers are drinking instant coffee and cookies - a woman and two men, one of whom managed to work in his lifetime on the Bolotov collective farm.
Actually, Bolotovo has an interesting history. There was such an Andrei Timofeevich Bolotov - an agronomist, botanist and writer of the 18th-19th centuries, largely thanks to whom tomatoes and potatoes took root in Russia. A huge and rich collective farm near the village of Rusyatino was named in his honor, which exists to this day - of course, only in the form of remnants of its former greatness and with only eight employees.
One of the residential buildings is an old hut brought from Altai
Part of the territory of this collective farm - 60 hectares - was once bought by the Germans, who came to Russia to build a biodynamic farm. They stayed in Bolotovo from 1991 to 2004, after which the farm gradually began to decline and in 2008 the Germans completely abandoned the land, which fell into disrepair and at the same time rested.
Now these 60 hectares belong to two biopassionaries - Ilya Kaletkin and Pavel Tarasov. We will also do an interview about the first one, and with the second one, who works directly on the farm.
Pavel Tarasov in front of a house for farm workers
Kaletkin and Tarasov have been reviving the farm for only the second year, so now there is a lot of work there. However, in just less than two years, Bolotovo has become a farm growing vegetables certified according to the European organic standard.
All 60 hectares of Bolotovo have been certified since 2011, but only 4 of them are currently planted: 2 hectares of potatoes and approximately 40 hectares each of beets, carrots and onions. There are also smaller plantings: cabbage, corn, greenhouse tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants, zucchini, squash, greens, beans.
Eggplants, tomatoes and marigolds growing together
Of course, only organic seeds are used for vegetables, some have Demeter certificates - labeling of biodynamic origin, which is understandable and desirable for Bolotovo farmers.
Demeter Biodynamic Certified Zucchini Seeds
Permaculture is not used, but in growing plants they adhere to the principle of “mixed plantings” - for example, tomatoes are planted together with peppers, because All nightshades require similar growing conditions. And basil, planted next to pepper, improves the taste of the latter.
There are also animals, but for now they are more “for themselves” and not for sale: pigs, chickens, sheep, a ram that makes sounds that are completely unrealistic for the urban ear, geese, guinea fowl, goats and a goat that allows you to pat itself on the top of its head.
Bolotovsky chickens
Small pigs for me, as a vegetarian city dweller, are of exclusively aesthetic interest - the piglets are the size of a large Yorkshire terrier, the mother is the size of a corgi. The pretty shaggy backs and pink snouts of these piglets are a funny contrast to the appearance of the wild boar with its tusks, black wiry bristles and huge carcass. You don’t want to see this on the road, either at night or during the day.
Pigs, like other animals, are still raised “in reserve” - for posterity. They are not sold or even slaughtered - the two generations that have been born are just raising them. They grow, of course, not for beauty, but it hasn’t come to the point of sale yet.
There are also a couple of horses that are mainly used for rides by the owners themselves and visiting acquaintances and tourists. They complement the picture of the Bolotovsky expanses, and besides, Pavel believes that every household should have a horse. What kind of farm is this without a horse?
Now the farm does not comply with the principles of biodynamics - it is very difficult. However, according to Pavel, they strive for this - this is largely why they got animals that play an important role in biodynamics.
Biodynamics is one of the highest levels of organics. This is a completely closed farm that feeds its animals only with what it grows itself, and fertilizes its plantings only with compost and manure from its own animals - the result is a vicious circle.
Harvesting hay, cut here in Bolotovo
But the matter is not limited to simple subsistence farming. Biodynamics is sensitive to the rhythms of nature; in field work, lunar cycles are taken into account and special fertilizers are prepared - for example, from grasses and animal horns, which must lie in the ground. On the farm, old inscriptions in Russian and German and even jars of fertilizers have been preserved, testifying to Bolotovo’s biodynamic past.
Plant fertilizers from dandelion and nettle
As we have already said, only three people are currently working on the farm, but there is enough agricultural machinery here (at least in the eyes of a city dweller) - there is a tractor, a harrow, a sprayer, a cultivator, a plow, a seeder and many more mechanisms, the name of which It’s difficult for an unprepared person to remember the first time.
Sprayer – for watering and liquid fertilizers
Pavel says that all the equipment they use is Belarusian. In Russia, he said, almost nothing is produced now, and foreign equipment is too expensive.
Potato seeder
Interesting fact: the Germans who owned the farm before published a unique collection about organic farming, “The Farmer,” a truly unique publication that describes in great detail how and what needs to be done in accordance with the organic and biodynamic approach to agriculture. According to Pavel, he had many such collections, but he gave away all the publications, and now he only has one book left, which he takes very good care of.
Inscription on the book: “German-Russian yearbook on ecological farming. Farmer. Recommendations from practice. Field growing, vegetable growing and agricultural economics. Foundation named after A.T. Bolotova.”
So far, Bolotovo requires investing a lot of effort, time and money into it for renovation and development. The owners are also thinking about creating the infrastructure necessary for agritourism - the places in the Tula region are beautiful, but there is no place to stay on a farm yet.
But vegetables - broccoli and strong white cabbage, tender zucchini, radishes - from Bolotovo can be bought at the Biostory store. On the other hand, for products, for example, goat milk, you will have to go directly to the farm. However, the owners of Bolotovo clearly do not intend to stop there, so for our part, as usual, we will keep an eye on them and wait for the range to expand.
Researchers continue to study how the closed system works
Canada is the fifth largest organic market in the world. There are about 3,732 organic farms, 870 organic processing enterprises and 245 enterprises processing organic products on the territory of the state. A biology professor from Brandon decided to study how workers at a small Canadian organic farm keep it functioning properly, writes Plant Defense. When Brandon University's Terence McGonigle heard that Ian and Linda Grossart were making a profit without using fertilizers or herbicides, he became interested in Hovpark's organic farming practices. The scientist received $140,000 in funding for industry support for research and development activities initiated by the Organic Agricultural Center of Canada.
“I was interested in studying how they achieve success without the usual costs of agriculture. We need to figure out how the owners of an organic farm make it work,” he said.
The study focuses on determining which components are vital to the success of an agricultural system. Field staff will monitor changes resulting from different types of manure applications—sampling soil to determine how much nitrogen and phosphorus is available, where it is released from, and how much is taken up by plants.
The Hovpark farm is considered an almost completely closed cycle farm, that is, it is close to self-sustaining at its own expense. It was created in 1879, but only switched to organic farming 10 years ago.
The farm grows grass for livestock feed and uses compost to feed its grain crops. The seven-year crop rotation includes alfalfa, flax, oats, clover, and wheat. There is almost no waste. Alfalfa is harvested, baled and stored for the winter for cattle. The Grossarts also use straw and flax fiber as bedding for livestock.
The last green manure legume crop in their crop rotation is used to restore nutrients to the soil. Since the Grossaerts cannot benefit from the crops at this stage, they graze their livestock here - thus returning most of the nutrients through the manure.
An alfalfa field was chosen for the scientist's research. Experimental plots, fertilized to varying degrees, are arranged in stripes. Participants will take samples from each plot and submit the soil to the laboratory for testing. McGonigle hopes the research will complement some work done at the university's Glenley research sites, which compared conventional farming with organic farming.
“The beauty of this study is that it actually takes place on a commercial farm with the farmer and his family,” McGonigle says.
The final harvest of the experiment will be harvested in September 2017, and the final report will be published around 2018.
In the EU, “organic” is held in high esteem
Every year, organic farming is becoming more and more popular all over the world. Currently, more than 30 million hectares of land are used in accordance with the principles of organic agriculture. In Europe, Italy ranks first in the number of organic farms. There are about 50 thousand biological companies located here, occupying more than 1 million 100 thousand hectares of land, which is 18.7% of the total volume of all agricultural land. Research by Italian scientists shows that reducing the use of chemicals has had a positive effect on the quality of local water.
Based on the results of 2013, the share of organic farms in Europe increased by an average of 5%. There has been a sharp increase in organic food in grocery retail chains. An international organization has emerged that supports the direction of eco-products - the International Federation for Organic Agriculture, or IFOAM ( International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements). The activity of biomarkets has led to an increase in sales, and the increase in the number of organic farms and competition between them has made it possible to reduce prices for organic products, making them more accessible to the population.
Problems of Russia
In the Russian Federation, organic farming is not widespread due to a number of circumstances. The popularity and introduction of the idea of bioproducts and the creation of biofarms to the masses is hampered by the lack of legal regulation, a certification system, poor education of the population in matters of quality products and insufficient assistance from the state. In order for Russia to catch up with the global environmental industry, it is necessary to systematically develop the market for organic products and promote environmentally friendly food among the population.
A good example of a Russian “bio-enterprise” is the “Mustard Polyana” farm and the “Naturalia” eco-holding. The natural vegetables produced there (potatoes, carrots, beets, pumpkin, cabbage, Jerusalem artichoke) and animal feed (barley, wheat, field beans, triticale) comply with the basic principles of organic farming: minimal tillage, crop rotation, only organic fertilizers, complete refusal artificial methods of soil improvement, genetically modified seeds and chemical plant protection. Meat farming at these enterprises was the first in Russia to be certified in accordance with the requirements of environmental production of the European Union. Animals eat exclusively natural food, which is grown right there. Alas, we still have only a few such farms.
Unlike Canada and the EU, in Russia organic agriculture is currently the exception rather than the rule. The development initiative comes from a small circle of individuals, Russian scientists show almost no interest in studying such farms, and there is no unified system for labeling organic products and proper legislation in this area.
Further study of both organic farming technologies and organic markets is needed. The experience of foreign countries in this area must not only be blindly implemented, but also adapted to the specific conditions of the regions of Russia.