„Ökologische Modernisierung“ durch Biologischen Landbau in Österreich?

Summary in the original language of the document

Organic farming is finding increasingly widespread acceptance. The paper tries to examine whether the growth of organic farming is also connected with a transformation of economy and society under the heading of “ecological modernisation”. We use the example of Austria which is the EU-country with the highest percentage of organic farm area. The results of a survey undertaken in the frame of the EU-Project „Further Development of Organic Farming Policy in Europe, with Particular Emphasis on EU Enlargement“, EU-CEE-OFP are interpreted along the grid of ecological modernisation (GIBBS, 2000). The analysis suggests that the impact of organic farming was so far moderate and only towards a weak form. However there is a certain future potential in the combination of organic with regional development.