Organic farming had its origins in the UK in the 1940s, with Lord Northbourne (who was the first to use the term in his 1940 book Look to the Land) and Eve Balfour (who founded the Soil Association and wrote The Living Soil in 1943) the early champions. It emerged shortly after biodynamic farming. This was based on a series of lectures by Rudolf Steiner, but its practice was worked out during the 1930s by Ehrenfried Pfeiffer and others at the Goethe Institute, and this work went on to influence Northbourne and Balfour. In the US, JI Rodale, who went on to form the Rodale Institute, was the key leader. But while organic has become global and is a concept understood by consumers, biodynamic has remained niche and largely restricted to farmers in central Europe. It has, however, taken off in the wine world since the 1970s (Nikolaihof in Austria was the first biodynamic winery, beginning in 1971). This being said, only high involvement wine consumers have any idea of what biodynamic means.
The vineyard area farmed organically has increased massively over the last 20 years, especially in wine regions with low growing-season rainfall. Overall, globally 562,000ha of vineyards are farmed organically, which makes up 8.3% of the total vineyards worldwide. Of these, 490,000ha under organics are in Europe (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture, 2022).
The biggest challenges for organic vinegrowing are the twin fungal diseases of powdery and downy mildew, a under-vine weed control. Downy mildew in particular is a huge problem whenever there is significant rainfall in the growing season, and the only organic products that will keep it at bay all contain copper, which is toxic for soil health.
In food retail, organic products often have their own space and attract a price premium. Oddly, organic wine’s green credentials don’t resonate with shoppers in the same way: they are rarely grouped together in wine retail and attract no price premium. The same goes for biodynamic wine. There is also little consumer awareness of sustainability certifications, even if they are often proudly displayed on back labels.
However, the benefits of farming organically or biodynamically open up new channels in retail. Some retailers specialise in organic and biodynamic wines and deal exclusively with them. Then there are the retail outlets and restaurants/wine bars that specialise in natural/low-intervention wines. Not all organic/ biodynamic wines are natural, but for a wine to be considered natural predicates careful farming, which begins with an organic or biodynamic approach.
It will be interesting to see whether ‘regenerative’ has any traction with consumers now that there are a handful of regenerative certifications, some of which require organic farming, though others don’t. It’s still early days for regenerative, but some big corporations in food production have taken it on board and are using it to advertise their products. Currently, the only green credential with wide consumer recognition is organics.
