For Malta, organic farming is an excellent example of a viable business opportunity within a strategy that hinges around quality rather than quantity. This message is not new. Since joining the European Union, we have continuously been told how our agricultural competitivity should rely on value and quality.

In organic farming, this competitive advantage is given by the label. The logo – the widely recognised Euro-leaf – provides distinction in the market. The organic label represents trust in a system that is heavy on regulations and controls. These are all brand elements that most businesses are willing to pay for as part of their commercial strategy.

Organic farming delivers food that a growing segment of consumers want, as it comes wrapped in the guarantee that it is free from certain residues. Compared to 2015, the EU organic retail sales almost doubled in 2020, and the area under organic farming grew by 41 per cent. It is not to say that in organic farming no pesticides are used, as the use of certain substances is permitted.

In its basic form, organic farming is a step backwards, towards a system that is more respectful of nature and its cycles. It is one of the solutions to the problems of modern agriculture, with its greenhouse gas emissions, erosion of soil quality and biodiversity, and the intensive use of artificial inputs. The four principles of organic agriculture – health, ecology, fairness, and care – are fundamentals for any type of sustainable production, while many of the methods used in organic farming – crop rotation, use of natural predators, etc. – are not at all different to those used by our farmers in traditional agriculture since antiquity.

Does pest management remain a problem? Yes, but then, how is pest management not a problem in conventional farming? While it is true that outside organic farming, farmers can turn to novel technology, including a wider choice of pesticides and pest-resistant varieties from genetic modification and the more recent New Genomic Techniques, the risks of crop failure remain. I have met farmers who lost the entire harvest of their vineyard during the organic transition period, but I have also met others who have switched to organic farming simply because they tried an ‘organic pesticide’ and it worked.

Sonya Sammut, Malta's Ambassador for Organic and Sustainable Food.

For Malta, the EU’s Green Deal target to have 25 per cent of EU agricultural land under organic farming by 2030, was a trigger for action. We seized the opportunity to “support organic operators in a tailored manner” and calculated the new funding. Today, the rates of financial compensation we are offering our farmers through the national Strategic Plan as an incentive to transition to organic farming – €492 and €362 per tumolo per year, for arable crops and trees respectively – are some of the highest across the EU, and up to 3.6 times the rates in previous programmes.

What about yield? Our own funding is based upon an average organic yield gap of 35 per cent. This comes from studies by De Ponti, Tomek, Bert Rijk, and Martin K. Van Ittersum covering 362 datasets and 43 countries worldwide, showing that organic yields of individual crops are on average 80 per cent of conventional yields, with a standard variation of 21 per cent, coupled with the fact that Malta ranks in the lower quartile vis-à-vis other European countries in terms of conventional horticultural output per hectare. With time, this organic yield gap is expected to decline.

Nurturing our tomorrow.

Our vision to transform our food and agricultural systems and to make organic a viable choice is led by the need to offer consumers high quality local organic food whilst driving sustainable income for Maltese and Gozitan producers. Malta’s first national action plan for organic food puts in place the infrastructure that is needed to implement this vision. With its 10 objectives and 18 actions, Malta’s plan addresses the challenges around access to land, finance, knowledge, and infrastructure, and builds three pillars of support, creating the right set of conditions for organic producers, policy makers, and markets to function better.

Our plan is ambitious. We aim to substantially increase organic agricultural land in Malta from 0.6 per cent to five per cent, representing a near ten-fold increase in just seven years. To do this, we took a bold decision, choosing to view the EU target as an opportunity for financing change rather than as a burden and an obligation. We took courage from those 28 certified organic producers who continue to pass the audits and deliver organic food every year. It is not impossible to have organic farming in Malta. Is it difficult? Yes, but then again, that is general farming for you, with its constant struggle against the harsh elements of nature.

We are not putting all our eggs in one basket; organic farming is one of the solutions to the decline in agriculture and a possibility for the diversification and celebration of the local product.

Let’s not forget that according to the latest Census of Agriculture for 2020, 67.5 per cent of our utilised agricultural land is not producing food for humans.

Let us look towards a future where agriculture is seen as a viable economic opportunity rather than a burden passed on from father to son.

Let’s not forget the shift to organic farming is voluntary, but we can work together using our small size and our resilient and resourceful nature for agility and adaptability.