Bio agricultural products market in Romania and Europe

• Author: Balasescu S.
• Pages: 265-272

Bulletin of Transilvania University of Braşov

Series V: Economic Sciences • Vol. 9 (58) No. 1 - 2016

Bio agricultural product market in Romania

and Europe

Simona BLŞESCU1

Abstract: The general objectives of this paper are to obtain an overview of the present

market for organic agricultural products in Europe in general, and in Romania in particular.

Organic agricultural production represents a small part of Romanian agricultural

production and the development potential of organic agricultural production Romania is

infinitely greater than what is done today. European consumers know little about the

Romanian bio agriculture and even less about the huge potential of this sector. Organic food

market is growing both in Europe and in Romania due to the increased interest of consumers

to live healthier and improve the quality of life.

Key-words: organic product, sustainable consumption, organic farming, organic food

market

1. Introduction

Food consumption has been identified as an area of key importance if the world wants to

progress towards more sustainable consumption (Carlsson-Kanyama and Gonzalez,

2009). In the past, several marketing studies have been conducted to identify consumer

segments where market share can be increased (Aertsens et al., 2009).

The term “organic” was first used in relation to farming by Northbourne

(1940) in his book Look to the Land. According to him, “the farm itself should have

a biological completeness; it must be a living entity; it must be a unit which has

within itself a balanced organic life (Chopra, 2013).

Organic food consumption is part of a more sustainable diet that benefits

social and environmental systems as well as human health (Lang and Heasman,

2004). Organic farming is defined as a holistic production management, which

promotes and enhances agro-ecosystem health and avoids the use of synthetic

materials to fulfil any specific function within the system (Madar and Neacşu, 2013).

Organic farming claims to have the potential to provide benefits in terms of

environmental protection, conservation of non-renewable resources, improved food

quality, reduction in output of surplus products, and the reorientation of agriculture

1 Transilvania University of Braşov, simona_balasescu@unitbv.ro