Luxembourg has watered down its’ target for the amount of land it will aim to dedicate to organic farming, after failing to meet a previous goal of using 20% of farmland for organic produce.
The Grand Duchy will aim to farm 15% of its land organically by 2030, the agriculture ministry said on Monday as part of a new plan – PAN-Bio 2030 – to increase organic farming.
Under the previous plan, the Grand Duchy had wanted to use 20% of farmland for organic agriculture by 2025, but acknowledged at the start of 2024 it said it would fail to meet this target.
“While PAN-Bio 2025 has not fully achieved its ambitions, it has nevertheless played a crucial role in structuring the sector, raising public awareness, and professionalising the supply chains,” the ministry said in Monday’s press release.
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Under the new plan, Luxembourg will try to increase agricultural land for organic produce by 1% each year, in a bid to reach 15% by the end of 2030.
The plan will offer a training programme to help farmers convert part of their land for organic farming, as well as looking at whether it might be possible to totally convert some farmland for organic farming.
As part of the plan, 80% of food used by school and institutional catering service Restopolis will be produced in Luxembourg by 2030. Some 30% of this food will be organic, the ministry added.
“At the same time, targeted actions will be implemented to increase the supply of local and organic products in all institutional food service establishments,” the press release added.
The transition to organic agriculture has been slow in the Grand Duchy; in 2022, only 5% of its farmland met requirements. And while this number grew to 7% in 2023, the pace is not showing signs of picking up.
Under the EU’s Farm-to-Fork strategy, the bloc aims to cultivate 25% of its farmland organically by 2030.