engleski

Enforcing Local Economy Through Organic Agriculture

The main purpose of the paper is to point out the importance of organic agriculture in enhancing local development. Organic agriculture is a concept that integrates three main goals: economic profitability, social equity and environmental health. The transition to organic agriculture is a process that requires many changes and commitments at different levels: consumers, producers, institutions, policy–makers, scientific institutions, etc. In the last forty years community-supported agriculture (CSA) is considered as an alternative, locally – based model of economic development based on sustainability criteria. The paper analyses the process of transition to organic agriculture as an important factor of local development taking Croatia as a case study. It gives a theoretical background, the analysis of the process of development of organic agriculture in Croatia and the role of groups of CSA in fostering local development. The research presented in this paper indicates that organic agriculture could be a reliable factor of enhancing local development. Although Croatia has different possibilities of development of organic agriculture, it is faced with numerous problems (e.g. small plots, low level of farmers’ educations, underdeveloped market for organic products, low level of consumer consciousness, etc). The 16 CSA groups operating in Croatia could be taken as good examples of partnership between producers and consumers, which can enhance and support local development.

sustainable agriculture, local development, community-supported agriculture, Croatia

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