Slovenia, the European Union, and the debate over sustainable agriculture.

• Author: Feffer, John
• Position: Economics Reconsidered

"There is no other way for Slovenian agriculture except sustainable agriculture."--Marta Hrustel Majcen, State Undersecretary of Agriculture, Forestry, and Food, Republic of Slovenia. [1]

Slovenia might seem like the merest thorn in the side of agribusiness. It is a small, mountainous country on the western edge of the Balkans, half covered in forest and without much arable land. Only 6% of the population of 2 million is involved in agriculture. [2] The average farm is only 5.5 hectares, [3] a far cry from the US average of approximately 176 hectares [4] or even the European Union [EU] average of 18 hectares. [5]

But Slovenia, which became a member of the EU in May 2004, may have an outsized impact on European agriculture. In 2003, Slovenian organic farmers and their counterparts in four neighboring provinces of Austria [Carinthia, Styria] and Italy [Friuli Venezia-Giulia, Veneto] declared what they hope will become a showcase for organic farming: the world's first organic bioregion. The members of this new "Alpe-Adria" bioregion have declared themselves free from all genetically modified organisms [GMOs], and the initiative's planners are pushing organic farming as the future of agriculture.

Europe's agricultural strategy

If agriculture were a boxing ring, Europe and the US would be locked in a heavyweight bout for market domination. Despite some similar tactics such as using massive subsidies to effectively undercut agriculture in the developing world, the two contenders have very different approaches. European agricultural subsidies have a large environmental component while the US government favors the largest operators. [6] The EU takes organic agriculture very seriously while the US government ignores the subject.

In 2003, this transatlantic battle moved to the World Trade Organization [WTO], where the US is arguing that Europe's cautious approach to GMOs constitutes a barrier to trade. Although the EU lifted its ban on new GMOs in 2004, the US has refused to withdraw the WTO challenge, and is considering a second suit over Europe's new regulations on labeling GM products and implementing a rigorous system of traceability. A US victory would anger Europeans, most of whom consider GMOs dangerous and more than 90% of whom want to know exactly what they're eating. [7]

Meanwhile, the EU's proactive approach to organic is at the heart of an EU effort to produce more "environmentally friendly, quality products." Land under organic cultivation in the EU rose rapidly, from 1% in 1995 to nearly 3.5% in 2002, an annual increase of nearly 30%. Consumer demand--particularly for dairy products and baby foods--is behind the 8% annual growth rate in the organic food retail sector. [8] In the United Kingdom, seven of the top supermarket chains are supporting a massive increase in organic...