Organic tops in Austria

With 14% of all cow milk now produced in Austria officially registered as organic the Alpine Republic has built-out its position as EU leader in this field. The latest figures, for 2010, indicate that organic milk output there has increased by 277% in the last 12 years to an annual 381 million kg. Minister of Agriculture in Vienna, Nikolaus Berlakovich announced that on a turnover basis, 10% of all fruit yogurts in Austria were now made with organically produced milk, seven per cent of all cheese and 13% of drinking milk. Berlakovich stressed that Austrian consumers actively supported the move towards more organically produced foods by purchasing more of the products than their opposite numbers in other European countries. He said that in 2010 the average Austrian consumer spent EUR89 on organically produced food and drinks.

Organic dairy Sobbeke from Munsterland in northwest Germany takes another step towards carbon-neutral production by planting around 20,000 trees as a CO2 balancer for its yogurt packaging lines. The 60 m kg/year family concern that has processed organically produced milk since 2003 already utilises biogas for heat production in its main plant. The trees now planted will absorb an average of around 200 tonnes of carbon a year, it is estimated.