Agreed at a conference in the Danish capital on Friday, the Copenhagen Declaration marks a breakthrough for the European organic movement, according to Denmark's agriculture ministry. Organic farming is growing rapidly throughout most of Europe, with strong government backing in some countries but without the benefit of a European or specifically European Union strategy. The minister's plea was answered by seven of her European Union counterparts, representing Germany, Austria, Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, Ireland and Greece, plus ministers from non-EU members Estonia, Lithuania, Norway and Switzerland.
Cattle feed laced with blood and bone meal is linked to the spread of mad cow disease.
Ifoam and European green NGO umbrella group the European Environmental Bureau. The organizers have left deliberately vague whether an action plan would have formal status in the European Union, but it is clear they would like this to be the case. Detailed recommendations from the meeting are to be handed to the European Union's current Swedish Presidency, and EU farm ministers will discuss the Copenhagen Declaration next month, according to conference organizer and Danish agriculture ministry official Flemming Duus Mathiesen. Mathiesen also stressed the importance of German Agriculture Minister Renate Kuenast being among the declaration's signatories. Having taken on the job with a promise to address the root causes of Europe's recent food scandals, Kuenast has targeted 20 percent organic agriculture within ten years.