Report casts doubt on value of organic farming
The European Union requires an area the size of Germany to make up the difference between its production and its imports of agricultural products, according to a report being circulated in Brussels as an argument against organic farming and in favour of making more use of land.
Researchers worked out the land required for every tonne of imported food, animal feed and biofuels, which was not balanced out by an export, and found that over 2007-8 it amounted to almost 35 million hectares outside the 27 EU countries.
"That's an astonishing figure – almost equivalent to the entire territory of Germany," said Professor Ettore Capri, director of the OPERA Research Centre in Milan, which organised the study.
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