Going organic
The wine industry in Utiel-Requena is the largest contributor
ORGANIC farming is on the up in the Valencia region.
Regional councillor for agriculture and the ecological transition, Mireia Mollà reported this week that the sector had generated €518 million for farmers in 2019, which was an increase of €66 million on the previous year.
Sra Mollà, who hails from Elche, explained that the coalition government in Valencia will introduce their second ‘ecological production plan’ this year to give organic farming an additional boost.
Setting out an overview of the sector, she reported that the number of organic farms had gone up by 37% since 2016, rising from 2,354 to 3,265.
They are operating on 127,909 hectares of land which is free of fertilisers.
At the same time the number of companies involved had increased from 456 to 701.
“This is important because it shows that farmers are changing their production methods to adapt to the market,” she said.
Sra Mollà added that it was ‘logical’ that produce should be distributed at a local level so consumers can eat food which has not been transported long distances.
President of the regional ecological farming committee (CAECV), José Antonio Rico said organic production was helping to encourage young people to go into farming.
While Valencia province has 59,066 hectares of organic production and Alicante 35,427 hectares, the largest increase last year took place in Castellón which nearly doubled its figure to 33,415 hectares.
Sr Rico noted that the largest contributor is the wine industry in Utiel-Requena, with its grapes occupying 46.1% of the total organic land in Valencia province.