History
Organic agriculture began with biodynamic farming in the 1930s in Norway, but didn’t experience substantial growth until the 1970s and 1980s when growing interest in environmental issues began. In response to rising certification demands in Norway in the mid-1980s, the private organic certification body Debio, began to take up certification activities. Until today, Debio certifies all organic products on the Norwegian market. The number of organic farms has been on the rise ever since. Debio certifies according to governmental order on organic farming, processing, import and marketing of organic agricultural products, which corresponds to the EU regulation 2092/91.
Production base
In 2009, 56,713 hectares were under organic agricultural management; this constitutes 5.6 percent of Norway’s agricultural area (Røsnes 2010). Compared with 2008, this is an increase of five percent; compared with 2000, this is nearly a trebling of organic land. About 80 percent of organic land was fully converted. There were 2,702 organic farms in 2008 (Eurostat 2010).
Norway’s cold climate determines agricultural production, limiting products such as vegetables (Norfelt 2008). Eighty percent of agricultural land is used for arable crops, however, the largest part is used for green fodder (34,000 hectares), followed by cereals (9,000 hectares). Vegetables and potatoes are grown on 700 hectares. Eighteen percent of agricultural land is grassland
and the remainder is used for permanent crops – mainly apples, followed by berries and plums (Eurostat 2010). There has been an increase in organic production of most commodities from 2008 to 2009. Only grain production decreased, reflecting adverse weather conditions in 2009 (Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food 2009).
Important for developing organic livestock farming is organic grain production. Important grains include barley, oats and wheat. A known bottleneck in development is lack of cereals for feed.
The number of organic laying hens in 2009 doubled since 2007. A similar positive development was seen with sheep and lamb, showing an increase in 2009 of over 20 percent since 2007 and dairy cows showing an increase of over 4 percent. In contrast, the number of slaughter pigs decreased by nearly 25 percent in 2009, but this was due to a disease breakout at the main producer (Røsnes 2010).
Government support
Norway is currently lagging behind most European countries in terms of availability of organic products. In response, the Norwegian government voted in 2005 for organic farming production goals that increase the production and consumption of organic food to 15 percent by 2015; in the meantime, the government voted again in October 2009, extending the date to 15 percent by
2020 (Norwegian Agricultural Authority website). While the basis for this production goal is a balanced development in various sectors, covering organic livestock and a diverse selection of organic foods, both Norwegian and imported foods are included in the goals for consumption (Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Norwegian Action Plan).
The first direct payments for organic farming in Norway were established in 1990. Since then, organic agriculture has become an increasingly important part of agricultural policy. The Norwegian Agriculture and Food Production Board developed its first action plan for the development of organic agriculture in 1995, with the current action plan being the fourth consecutive action plan in progress.
The market
The retail sales value for organic food was estimated to be worth approximately 114 million euros in 2009, constituting a share of the food market of around 1.2 percent (Røsnes 2010). The average per-capita-consumption was estimated to be 27.7 euros (FiBL and AMI 2010).
The main limiting factor for organic market expansion in Norway is expected to be a shortage of many organic products in the coming years (Norfelt 2008). The import of organic foods will, however, significantly complement the Norwegian production and ensure access to foods that are not produced in Norway (Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food 2009b).
Imports and market requirements
Currently, Norway imports approximately half the food they eat (Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food 2009a). According to the Nielsen Conference on key trends in Norway’s retail grocery market, environmentally-friendly, organic, fair trade and healthy products are a growing segment of the Norwegian retail grocery market. These trends may offer opportunities for organic exporters wishing to penetrate the Norwegian market (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada 2009).
Certain organic products consumed are with certainty of Norwegian origin, such as eggs (100 percent) and most dairy and meat products (90 percent). With other products, such as baby food, it is known that 100 percent is imported. Grain import numbers are based on distribution chain figures (based on grain trader orders), but even here, the share of imports greatly varies from year to year based on Norwegian climate conditions. In 2009, because of bad growing conditions in Norway due to cold weather and too much rain, imports were around two-thirds.
Norway has a custom tariff-based import protection for agricultural products from the World Customs Organisation (WCO). Import protection is for products that can easily be produced in Norway, such as eggs, milk, grains, meat, potatoes and some fruits and vegetables. With a few exceptions, such as allowances for reduced tariffs on certain processed organic vegetables, juices and baby foods, Norwegian organic products have the same tariff protection as conventional products, therefore the same customs tariffs are charged. This, along with problems of miscoding regarding country of origin, makes it difficult to estimate the total amount of organic products being imported into Norway (Røsnes 2010).
