European organic ambassadors recommend organic food in schools and in public catering

The EU Organic Ambassadors discussed current issues in the development of organic farming. They agreed that an effective way of development is to have a mandatory share of organic food in schools and public catering. Professor Jan Moudrý from the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice addressed this topic in his contribution. In particular, he presented ways of including organic food in public catering so that the impact on the final price is minimal. In this context, countries that have already introduced mandatory representation of organic food shared their experiences. These include Denmark, Sweden or Slovenia. In the next session, representatives of companies presented their experience with trading in the field of organic products, including the strategy of not wasting food, which has been implemented, for example, by the supermarket chain Albert. Here, the experts shared their experiences, especially on the use of private labels, logos, etc. 

Another topic was research. As in all areas of agriculture, it is important to follow the latest scientific and research findings and to put them into practice. Representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Czech Technology Platform for Organic Agriculture spoke about the state of Czech agricultural research. Mojmír Baroň, Ph.D. from Mendel University in Brno presented his contribution on carbon sequestration in wine production and Michal Brabec from EKOVIN presented the methods of carbon management in vineyards, leading to the storage of carbon from the atmosphere into the soil.
Throughout the day, experts discussed important topics. The opinions of the individual Member States and the European Commission will be used to guide the whole sector towards further development and to prepare new European legislation. 

Vojtěch Bílý
Spokesperson of the Ministry of Agriculture