European Organic Awards 2023

What are the European Organic Awards?

The annual European Organic Awards are dedicated to rewarding European actors who greatly contribute to enhancing, developing, and stimulating the organic value chain. Aimed to reward European organic excellence, the EU organic awards scheme comprises 7 categories and 8 awards:

  • Best organic farmer (female and male)
  • Best organic city
  • Best organic region
  • Best organic bio-district
  • Best organic food processing SME
  • Best organic food retailer
  • Best organic restaurant / food service

The 8 winners of the EU Organic Awards 2023 have been awarded on 25 September during a ceremony at the European Commission and are:

  • Best organic farmer (female): Clara Benito Pacheco (Entrelobas) – Serrada de la Fuente, Spain
  • Best organic farmer (male): Thomas Moschos (Moschos Farm) – Kastoria, Greece
  • Best organic region: Burgenland, Austria
  • Best organic city: Stadt Wien, Austria
  • Best organic “bio-district”: Idanha-a-Nova, Beira Baixa, Portugal
  • Best organic food processing SME: The Merry Mill – Vicarstown, County Laois, Ireland
  • Best organic food retailer: Gut Wulksfelde– Tangstedt, Hamburg, Germany
  • Best organic restaurant/food service: Luftburg – Kolariks Freizeitbetriebe GmbH – Vienna, Austria

You can watch the recordings of the awards ceremony or browse through the biographies and pictures of the winners on the European Commission’s website. Also, you can re-live moments of the ceremony on Twitter/X using #EUOrganic.

Curious to learn about the 24 finalists? Read more about them in our news item from 18 July.

2022 EU Organic Awards

You can see impressions of last year’s awards ceremony in this album and on all social media platforms using #EUOrganic and #EUOrganicAwards. Check out who won on last year’s dedicated page.

The awards are jointly organised in the European spirit by the European Commission, the European Economic and Social Committee, the European Committee of the Regions, IFOAM Organics Europe and COPA-COGECA.

Why EU awards for organic food and farming?

Making an impact…

Organic food and farming have direct positive effects on our climate, the environment, biodiversity, and animal welfare and are rooted in four principles: care, health, ecology and fairness.

Recital 1 of Organic Regulation (EU) 2018/848

In support of this, any increase in organic production contributes to lower use of fertilizers, chemical pesticides, and antimicrobials. Due to the reduced or non-existing input, organic food and farming enhances biodiversity compared to conventionally managed fields. At the same time, organic  sustains the health of soils and plants, building ecological and sustainable cycles whilst reducing the environmental impacts and ensuring fairness with regard to the common environment and life opportunities.

… as recognised in the EU Green Deal & strategies realising it

Organic production has also been identified as playing a key role in the achievement of the objectives of the European Green Deal, the Farm to Fork strategy and the Biodiversity strategy. For this reason, the Commission has defined a target of 25% of EU agricultural land under organic farming by 2030 and a significant increase in organic aquaculture.

Moreover, to stimulate organic production and consumer demand for organic products the Commission has adopted the Action Plan for the Development of Organic Production in March 2021, aiming at increasing public awareness of the characteristics and benefits of organic production.

For this purpose, the Action Plan includes the launch of annual awards recognising excellence in the organic value chain. They aim to reward the best and most innovative organic actors, contributing to the reduction of agriculture’s impact on the environment and climate, and to the achievement of EU Biodiversity and Farm to Fork strategies.

How can I apply?

Applications for the 2023 edition closed on 14 May 2023 23:59:59 CEST.

Application to the EU Organic Awards was open for all projects who developed and implemented, or are still implementing, an excellent, innovative, sustainable and replicable project for organic production in the EU.

Visit the European Commission’s website, for more information about the awards and the different categories.

You checked the Commission’s website but still have questions or inquiries? Contact the organising partners for the category you fall into:

Post about the organic awards on social media using #EUOrganic. Subscribe to our newsletter, and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram to stay tuned.

Privacy Statement

When submitting your information to the EU Organic Awards, us and the other organising partners will have to collect and process some data. Read the privacy statement explaining why and how your personal data will be used in the context of the awards. This document is specifically intended for applicants in the Best Organic Farmer (female & male) category.

This statement is available for each application category in the respective application forms.

For our privacy policy and GDPR compliance, continue reading on www.organicseurope.bio/cookies-gdpr.

 
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