Der Öko-Landbau als Objekt der Politik

Summary

Organic farming has been developed by a social movement without government support and intervention. This situation changed in the EU during the last decade since around 1990 when subsidies for organic farmers were introduced, the defining power on the term „organic farming“ was taken over by the European Commission, and a system of government led certification and control has been established. The paper argues that this has been an unavoidable development whose consequences have not yet been fully understood neither by the organic farming sector itself, nor by the government authorities involved. It is suggested that the organic sector strongly increases its lobbying activities and that the European Commission adopts a more unified policy approach to organic farming which puts specific stress on marketing aspects.