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Today, 24 November 2009

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No other European nation has taken to organic food like the Germans, so much so that wholesale suppliers say the country could be just weeks away from a shortage of additive-free pork and potatoes.

"We are out of oats... there are no more organic eggs to be had in Germany and France and when it comes to potatoes, nobody knows how we are going to keep the customer satisfied past mid-January," said Ulrich Hamm, the head of the agriculture and food marketing department at Kassel University.

Pork and poultry stocks, as well as vegetable supplies, are also running low, he added.

Shops said they were not yet feeling the pinch though they have been warned by their suppliers that problems lie ahead.

"We have been told that we are facing a shortage and we have noticed that the prices have gone up, but for the moment we are still fine," said a spokesman for Viv, a chain of organic food shops in Berlin.

The shelves in the organic section of the supermarket chain Kaisers are still well-stocked, but a spokesman for parent company Tengelmann told AFP: "There is a drop in available stocks even if we have not run out of anything so far."

The very fact that mainstream supermarkets now sell ‘bio’ food, as it is known here, attests to a strong increase in demand in Germany for fruit, vegetables and cereals grown without pesticides and livestock raised without antibiotics and growth hormones.

In 2005, the organic food market grew by 15 percent despite sluggish domestic consumption in most other spheres.

Germany and the United States are the world's biggest organic eaters and the Germans lead the way in Europe, with the Italians and French coming in second and third respectively.

Industry sources say demand may have received a boost from a series of food scandals, notably a recurring problem with rotten meat, which have helped to drive home the importance of buying fresh produce even if it costs a little more.

The entry of big supermarket chains into the organic market also explains why producers were finding themselves overwhelmed, said Robert Erler, a spokesman for the Bio Company chain, which sells natural produce.

"Many have jumped onto the bandwagon and begun selling organic produce, and therefore supply has not been able to keep up with demand," he said.

He points out that, by its very nature, organic farming cannot be hurried.

For a start, its takes time and money to switch from conventional to organic agriculture.

Would-be organic farmers must wait at least two years for pesticides to be flushed out of their soil before they can plant apples, cabbages or carrots, the latter being the brand leader when it comes to organic food with 19 percent of all carrots sold in Germany now being produced organically.

Once producers have made the switch, it still takes a while for a pig raised to organic standards to mature before becoming bacon or ‘Leberwurst’.

"None of this happens overnight, hence the squeeze in supply nowadays. It is logical," Erler said.

Kassel University's Hamm said Germany's organic food suppliers may have to fall back on imports from Latin America or Canada but for many fans this runs contrary to the philosophy of using seasonal foods grown close to home and in harmony with nature.

AFP