Published: 11/11/2008 - Updated: 07/18/2016
While no one can deny the growth and development of organic agriculture in Spain, you cannot overlook some of the problems that affect this mode. When we talk about the specific case of Catalonia , no doubt, organic agriculture, developed with sustainability criteria, gaining space on the map but Catalan agricultural show two major obstacles before to consolidate its growth a weak domestic market, and the use of transgenic that threaten their existence.
Weakness of Domestic Market
According to a report "The Triangle", in the Països Catalans, the development of organic agriculture is facing in one hand, the disadvantage of still having a weak market. And this is a new sector and emergence of relatively recent and has not been able so far to create a powerful distribution and production structure.
Since the "Som which sembrem" (We are what we sow) explain that the majority of what is produced in Catalonia is exported. Claims "If the Administration would have more support for rural development by encouraging the establishment of new business and marketing channels, it would be another story."
Using Transgenic
Moreover, the organization "Som which sembrem" is an advocate of popular legislative initiative to declare GM Catalunya space. The idea is to "look forward to the opportunity to generate another model of agrofood" since it is considered that Data on the use of transgenic grow gradually . In contrast, elsewhere in Europe, GM crops have fallen slightly. So, although there is a further development of organic farming, it has suffered severe blows because of genetically modified crops then. The spokesman of "Som which sembrem" Josep Pàmies reports that unfortunately in Catalunya there are more acres of corn than the other 24 countries of the European Union .
And the numbers are astounding: In the EU there are about 108,000 hectares of transgenic, of which 79,269 are in Spain, and of these, almost half in Catalunya. The other 50% divided between Castile-La Mancha and, above all, Aragon. The second country in Europe then modified crop is the Czech Republic, which is 8400 hectares.
While we already known and have been found the harmful effects of using transgenic on the health of consumers, there are those who argue that the coexistence between transgenic and organic farming produces no ill. Proponents of this idea argue that a 25 meters distance from the harmful effects of planting modified disappears. For its part, the spokesman says that " to 850 meters and is 35% of contamination," is that GM does not only have an impact on organic farming, "conventional soil also could be harmed because everything is just contaminated."
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Stacy
I’m not quite sure if this article really made a distinct point, or provided enough information to sustain any one-sided argument, but from what I have gathered it is presenting the “negatives” to organic farming, but the fact that food is seen as an industry in the first place is a problem. If people have room to grow grass ,they have room to grow their own food, which is why “the market” should not come into play at ALL when considering health and sustainability.