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| 2010-02-12 |  | | | New figures from German statistics office ZMP reveal that every Dane spent EURO 106/ DKK 790 on organic goods in 2007. This means that the Danes have overtaken the Swiss and are now spending more on organic foods than any other nation in the world. Organic success in Denmark is due, among other factors, to the fact that all parties of the organic sector in this country appreciate the importance of cooperation and pulling together.
Another factor that helps to explain the prevalence of organic products in Denmark is that consumers are increasingly aware of environmental and health issues.
“The figures speak for themselves. A broad-based movement among Danish consumers initiated back in the 1990s is now really gaining ground. This is clearly a movement, not merely a short-lived trend or fashion," says Henrik Hindborg, who is Market Manager at Økologisk Landsforening (Danish National Organic Association).
World-class organic policy
Recent research has shown that the success of organics in Denmark is to a great extent due to the organic policy in this country, which focuses on increasing both supply and demand. This is a political strategy, which Økologisk Landsforening hopes will be applied to the Danish government’s new Green Growth Plan.
“Organic success rides also on Danish organic policy. As work on the Green Growth plan continues, it is hoped that the government will maintain and develop organic policy in this country. Bearing in mind excellent results in financial and environmental terms, increased focus on organics would seem to be an obvious step to take in the Green Growth context. The politicians have to keep the ball rolling”, says Økologisk Landsforening’s Director, Paul Holmbeck.
Researchers at Aarhus University have compared Denmark with Sweden, the UK and USA. And Denmark stands out from the crowd.
“In Denmark, organic growth rests on twin pillars: On the one hand, we have sought to increase the supply of organic products by encouraging farmers to produce them and, at the same time, we have introduced a number of initiatives to promote sales. The State has lent support to reorganising agricultural production, public campaigns, research and product development, and marketing promotions. There is close cooperation between the public food authorities and interest groups, such as Økologisk Landsforening,” says Carsten Daubjerg, Professor at the Department of Political Science at Aarhus University, the institute responsible for the study.
In 2007, Denmark was followed by Switzerland with EURO 105 per capita, Austria with EURO 89 per capita and Germany with EURO 64 per capita. And organic consumption in Denmark is still growing. I 2008 sales of organic foods increased by up to 30 percent. Økologisk Landsforening estimates that average organic consumption in Denmark increased to about EURO 135 in 2008. Økologisk Landsforening is working to achieve a target which will double this figure to EURO 270/DKK 2,000 per Dane in 2013.
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