German retailer Alnatura and ecological association Bioland have marked a successful 30-year partnership. It offers German organic farmers a more guaranteed market and customers a growing supply of organics. Currently, 121 Alnatura products are certified organic.
With a higher demand for organic produce than organic farming in Germany can supply, one of the partnership's long-term initiatives is financial support for farmers converting to organic farming. The condition is that they join an ecological association and comply with organic criteria. Almost half of the 25 farmers availing of this initiative so far, cultivating around 3,600 hectares, fulfil the strict organic criteria.
Robert Poschacher, regional product manager for Alnatura, commented on the partnership with Bioland, "In an agricultural sector dominated by destructive agro-culture, we must, and want to, strengthen organic farming. Through joint initiatives with Bioland, we give our organic farmers the necessary marketing perspectives, thus making a contribution to the preservation of healthy soils and biodiversity."
German biological supermarket Alnatura was established in 1984 by its current managing director, Götz Rehn. Alnatura employs 2,560 people, including 170 trainees.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Martha Sparrius. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
