Initiated by Alfons Piatti, the “Loosdorf Summer Talks” with Federal Minister Totschnig took place on 17 July. Following a keynote talk by Professor Dr Hülsbergen, which essentially set out the ecological added value of organic farming (carbon sequestration and reduced pressure on the environment, quantifiable at €750 per hectare), there was an intensive discussion on how organic farming could, on the one hand, increase its productivity (without ecological losses) and how, on the other, the economic position of organic farms could be improved.
The following points were discussed:
- Nature restoration as an opportunity for organic farming
- Abolition of organic farming’s status as “green by definition”
- Food security and safeguarding the food supply
- Agroforestry and the circular economy
