Ecological farming lacks “clout”

ALTHOUGH 14 percent of crop farming in the Balearics is eco-friendly, it lags behind the bulk of agricultural production and lacks a solid commercial, marketing and distribution base, the Balearic Council for Ecological Farming (CBPAE) claimed yesterday.

Antonio Forss, one of the Council's technicians explained that the majority of crops grown ecologically in the Balearics (around 90 percent) are exported to other countries, mostly those in Northern Europe where they are more widely consumed. Forss revealed that ecological agriculture on Majorca goes to make up around 11.1 percent of the whole, whilst on Minorca the figure is down at 2.7 perccent and on Ibiza and Formentera it is of minimal significance (0.2 percent.) In Spain as a whole it accounts for no more than 1 percent of all produce consumed.

He claimed that the low impact of ecological farming was partly due to inadequate commercialisation and marketing. Ecological farming, he said, implied local production sold directly to the public without the need for wholesalers.