Germany’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) has announced two major new initiatives that support the country’s decision to make organic its “model for sustainable agriculture”.
In December Germany’s new Federal Government, led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, set a goal of having 30% of all farmland in the country under organic systems by 2030 – 5% higher than the EU’s 25%-organic-by-2030 target.
The week, German agriculture minister, Cem Özdemir, announced two new major organic research projects to help the country meet its ambitious target and underline its decision to formally designate organic as its long-term model for sustainable agriculture.
The first aims to help build stronger regional organic value chains, to reflect growing public demand for local and regional food production and distribution. The second will focus on supporting development of high-yield and resistant crop development through plant-breeding programmes.