ORGANIC FARMING AND THE GREENING OF THE COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY MADE WALLOON AGRICULTURE BECOME MORE ENVIRONMENT FRIENDLY IN 2015

Philippe  BURNY; Dacinia Crina  PETRESCU; Ruxandra Mălina  PETRESCU-MAG

Authors

Philippe BURNY Senior Researcher, Walloon Centre for Agricultural Research; Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, Gembloux, Belgium. Email: burny@cra.wallonie.be. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0093-4359
Dacinia Crina PETRESCU Senior Lecturer PhD, Faculty of Business, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Email: crina.petrescu@tbs.ubbcluj.ro. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5716-9793
Ruxandra Mălina PETRESCU-MAG Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Email: malina.petrescu@ubbcluj.ro. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7048-4598

Keywords:

Wallonia, organic farming, green payment, ecological focus areas

Abstract

In Wallonia, organic farming continues to increase its share of agricultural activities, the number of organic farmers exceeding for the first time 10% of the total number of farmers in 2014, with 8.6% of the total agricultural area. Meadows represent 83% of the organic areas, general crops 15% and vegetables, 1%. The number of cattle heads is still increasing, while poultry and laying hen recorded a significant progress during the last years. Organic products consumption is also increasing and the market share of organic products in food products reached 2.3% in 2014. On the other hand, the implementation of the new Common Agricultural Policy, and particularly its green payment, obliges 50% of Walloon farmers to practice crop diversification and 46% to have at least 5% of ecological focus area within their arable land in 2015, which represents more than 24,000 ha. So, organic farming and ecological focus areas do have today a significant share of the Walloon agricultural area, leading to a more sustainable agriculture.

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