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The second Professional Day “Promoting organic food in Catalonia” was presented at the 30th edition of BioCultura Barcelona, held at the Palau Sant Jordi. A professional meeting organised by OCAS, the Joint Office for Sustainable Food (comprising the Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona City Council and the Barcelona Metropolitan Strategic Plan). This professional day, held on Thursday 9 May, featured a talk on the position of the sector and related public policy, delivered by Isidre Martínez from the Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda. This was followed by a round table discussion on the opportunities and challenges currently facing the organic agri-food sector, with the participation of Ferran Berenguer, head of Organic Agriculture and Livestock Farming at the Unió de Pagesos, Daniel Amella, CEO de Casa Amella and member of the board of directors at Asobio, and David Mas, coordinator of the NaturaSI project. The session was moderated by Oriol Urrutia, co-editor at Bio Eco Actual.

“Organic food needs to be supported by public policy”

The meeting began at 5 pm, with the presentation of the agenda for the day by Montse Escutia, head of the technical and training department at the Vida Sana Association (which organises BioCultura), and Lidón Martrat, coordinator at the Joint Office for Sustainable Food.

The first part of the event, which included a talk by Isidre Martínez, head of organic agri-food production at the Generalitat de Catalunya’s Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Action, gave an overview of the current production situation. Some interesting findings are worth highlighting. It was interesting to see that the primary sector is on the way up, but that this is not the case for the secondary or tertiary sectors. There was also a discussion on how the wine industry has opened the door to organic certification, and the key importance of the cereals sector.

Among the challenges to be faced, Martínez underlined the need to make as much arable land available as possible. Another challenge, in this case one facing the organic fruit sector, is he need to compete with high-value, high tech production by the traditional sector, and finally, there is the need to see organic livestock farming truly flourish once again, as the data indicates a fall of 12% this year (2024).

The head of agri-food production also reviewed the policies implemented by his department since 2018, with the aim of raising awareness of the organic sector, gathering participatory proposals, responding to the European Action Plan and involving other government departments and units, such as education, industry and land. These initiatives include the celebration of the Bio Week event, which despite having reached its 12th edition this year still faces the challenge of developing further and securing a broader commitment within the sector. He also mentioned the School, Agriculture and Organic Food Awards, which promote initiatives in schools as well as supporting farmers and food sovereignty.

“In the face of climate change, the only option is organic”

Next on the agenda was the round table discussion between Amella, Berenguer and Mas, moderated by journalist Oriol Urrutia, which highlighted some of the concerns of the sector in recent months. One of these is how small producers may be impacted by the emergence of large-scale consumption in the organic sector. There was also talk of the excessive administrative demands made on farmers by public authorities, the difficulty of working in a global market, and the repercussions of the various crises (droughts, wars, energy price hikes, etc.) on the sector, which show that it needs to be ever more autonomous and resilient.

For their part, the participants also suggested possible ways forward, highlighting the public purchase of local organic production, market regulation to promote organic production, the creation of a round table involving the entire sector, including politicians, to raise awareness of the importance of organic production, and a firm commitment to encouraging consumers education, starting in schools.

The challenge of educating society was discussed and supported by all: Berenguer defended the need to talk about ‘degrowth’ and to recover culinary knowledge in order to optimise organic production; Mas called for social change, prioritising a model of land use in which the irrigation of fields is prioritised over the filling of swimming pools for the tourist industry. He also expressed the need for a more pro-activism within the industry, citing the example of the French Biocoop supermarket, which does not stock fruit and veg that is out of season, meaning that produce such as peppers and tomatoes can no longer be found on its shelves all year round.

The overarching conclusion at the conference was that in the face of climate change, one of the greatest challenges facing the world, the only sustainable option is organic. To give an example, 75-80% of aquifers in Spain are compromised by slurry or pollutants, making it clear that whether due to drought or to pollutants, there is a major problem with water. The only answer is for farmers, industry and organic commerce to work together, moving forward with shared objectives that benefit people, the land and the planet.