The organic sector in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic: Comparison of economic aspects and potential development

Summary

This paper analyses the current situation as well as the previous and potential development of the organic sectors in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. Concerning domestic productions and consumptions, permanent grassland areas have been most prominent, and consumers prefer fresh products in organic quality. In all countries, a mix of legal, financial and communicative policy instruments is currently being applied to stimulate both the organic markets’ supply and demand side. On the basis of this support, the sector has established and achieved noticeable market shares in Germany and especially in Austria so that these countries highly depend on imports to cover their domestic demand for organic foods nowadays. However, the organic sector’s development in the Czech Republic has slowed down due to both the general economic crisis and lacking stimulation of consumption, which is why particularly demand boosting political instruments should be intensified here. For the future support of organic farming, national policies should continuously be improved and targeted at consumers’ interests. Moreover, stronger international cooperation, especially on the political level, could contribute to a promising development of the European organic sector and help to put successful scientific work into practice.