kathmandu, 19 july BRUSSELS, 18 JULY 2023 – Today, the finalists for the annual EU organic awards have been announced. 24 are shortlisted for 8 awards in 7 categories, such as best organic farmer (male/female), organic food processing SME, organic food retailer, organic restaurant/food service, bio-district, region, city (see below). The finalists come from 11 different Member States and were selected from a pool of almost 100 submissions from 26 Member States. This year marked a higher presence of applicants from Central European and Baltic countries.
Jan Plagge, IFOAM Organics Europe’s President, said: “I am proud to get to know the finalists of the EU Organic Awards. This year marks another inspirational selection of candidates who showcase the European organic movement’s contributions to the European Green Deal. The increasing number of heatwaves, droughts and heavy rainfalls show that the EU should prioritise farming methods that preserve the climate, biodiversity, soil and water. This new selection for the EU Organics Awards is an example of how individuals and companies in Europe are already making a change.”
Eric Gall, IFOAM Organics Europe’s Deputy Director, added that “The EU Organic Awards are an important ceremony to give visibility to farmers, companies and public authorities who are leading the transformation of our food systems with organic farming practices and principles. These transformative initiatives are relevant for all farming systems and demonstrate that opposing nature protection against agriculture is a mistake.”
The winners of the eight awards will be announced at the official awards ceremony in Brussels on 25 September, as one of a range of events and activities to mark the annual EU Organic Day on Saturday 23 September. Are you organizing something on EU Organic Day? Share it with us and we might take it up on our website and in our online communication.
Ends.
Contact
Eva Berckmans, Communications Manager
+32 2 416 27 62, eva.berckmans@organicseurope.bio
or visit www.organicseurope.bio
Meet the finalists in each category
Best organic farmer (female)
•Małgorzata Pucer (Pasiekapucer) – Barciany, Poland
•Céline Clenet (La Casseline) – Cassel, France
•Clara Benito Pacheco (Entrelobas) – Serrada de la Fuente, Spain
Best organic farmer (male)
•Roberto Giadone (Natura Iblea) – Ispica, Sicily, Italy
•Thomas Moschos (Moschos Farm) – Kastoria, Greece
•Mikhaylo Haliv (Tomelloso) – Ciudad Real, Spain
Best organic region
•Dordogne, France
•Centre-Val de Loire, France
•Burgenland, Austria
Best organic city
•BioStadt Bremen, Germany
•Hajdúnánás, Hungary
•Stadt Wien, Austria
Best organic “bio-district”
•Bio Região de S. Pedro do Sul, Viseu district, Portugal
•Idanha-a-Nova, Beira Baixa, Portugal
•Biodistretto della Via Amerina e delle Forre, Civita Castellana, Italy
Best organic food processing SME
•Fürstenhof GmbH – Finkenthal, Germany
•The Merry Mill – Vicarstown, County Laois, Ireland
•Ekološka kmetija Kukenberger – Trebnje, Slovenia
Best organic food retailer
•Valle y Vega Cooperativa Agroecológica de Granada – Churriana de la Vega, Andalucia, Spain
•Gut Wulksfelde– Tangstedt, Hamburg, Germany
•NaturaSì Conegliano – Conegliano, Veneto, Italy
Best organic restaurant/food service
•Luftburg – Kolariks Freizeitbetriebe GmbH – Vienna, Austria
•Trnulja Country Estate – Ljubljana, Slovenia
•Biohotel St. Daniel – Štanjel, Slovenia
Further information about the candidates, the selection criteria, and the awards in general are available on the EU organic awards webpage. If you have any questions about the awards, please address them to the
organizers responsible for each category:
•Best organic farmer (female) EUorganicawards@organicseurope.bio and best organic farmer (male) EUorganicawards@copa-cogeca.eu
•Best organic city, region, or bio-district: EUorganicawards@cor.europa.eu
•Best organic SME, food retailer, or restaurant: EUorganicawardsEESC@eesc.europa.eu
About this topic
Why these awards?
The European Commission identified organic as playing a key role in achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal, the Farm to Fork strategy and the Biodiversity strategy. For this reason, the Commission has defined a target of 25% of EU agricultural land under organic farming by 2030 and a significant increase in organic aquaculture. In support of that target, the Commission adopted the Action Plan for the Development of Organic Production in March 2021. This Action Plan takes the approach that, to stimulate organic production, consumer demand for organic products should grow. This requires, amongst other things, increased public awareness of the characteristics and benefits of organic production.
For this purpose, the Action Plan includes the launch of annual awards recognizing excellence in the organic value chain. They aim to reward the best and most innovative organic actors, contributing to the reduction of agriculture’s impact on the environment and climate, and to the achievement of EU Biodiversity and Farm to Fork strategies. It will be awarded for the first time in 2022.
How did we go about?
Entries were invited from any actor or institution along the organic value chain with an excellent, innovative, sustainable and replicable project contributing to greater accessibility and affordability of organic products in the EU. The jury will select the winners in each category by judging their projects against the horizontal award criteria and also considers the organic principles of health, ecology, fairness and care.
The awards are jointly organized by the Commission, the European Economic and Social Committee, the European Committee of the Regions, COPA-COGECA and IFOAM Organics Europe. The jury for the awards consists of representatives from these organizations, as well as representatives from the Council of the EU and the European Parliament.
Useful links
•All information about the EU Organic Awards is available on the EU Commission’s website and IFOAM Organics
Europe’s website
•EU Organic Awards – Finalists press release published by EU Commission
•www.euorganic2030.bio – Initiatives transforming food and farming (not the same as the EU Organic Awards, broader in scope)
Do you have an initiative that does not fit the awards but is transforming EU food and farming? Consider submitting it to Organics Europe’s www.euorganic2030.bio, showing initiatives that are transforming food and farming.
© IFOAM Organics Europe 2023
IFOAM Organics Europe is the European umbrella organization for organic food and farming. With almost 200 members in 34 European countries, our work spans the entire organic food chain and beyond: from farmers and processors organizations, retailers, certifiers, consultants, traders and researchers to environmental and consumer advocacy bodies.
