The number of organic farms in the Czech Republic has risen to around 4,000. However, organic products make up only around 1% of all products sold on the market, Fresh Plaza reports. Most supermarkets offer a small choice of organic produce, but the price still keeps most consumers from buying those. Organics are seen as luxuary goods and the price premiums reflect this. While it is in some cases at about 10 – 30% in Germany or Austria, it is often at 100% or more in the Czech Republic.

The vast majority of people who do not buy organic or only very rarely said the main reason was the high price of goods which they could ill afford. Agriculture Minister Marian Jureèka admits that it will be a long time before the Czech Republic can catch up with Germany or Austria in the range and price of organic food on offer. The ministry’s autumn campaign in support of organic farming failed to make a significant difference, Fresh Plaza reports. (Picture: a farm shop in Prague)
 
About a fifth of organic goods sold in the Czech Republic are dairy products, followed by fruit and vegetables and meat, which is quite expensive. One organic farmer has complained that the game salami he has sold for 100 Czech crowns has been sold for three times as much by the supermarket chains he has delivered it to. Consequently, he is now trying to sell his own produce. Sixty percent of Czechs who buy organic produce go to afarmers’ market or rely on an organic farmer in the neighbourhood for price reasons. Mobile phone apps are more and more available, with which the closest organic farm with information about its offer or the closest farm with the particular product sought can be found.

Source: Fresh Plaza