“With a better understanding of the sector’s evolution, individual operators will be able to define their objectives more effectively.”
We analyse along with Marcos Sanso, Associate Professor and researcher in the Economic Analysis Department of the Economics and Business Faculty of University of Zaragoza, what it could mean to agricultura and ecological operators to become a specific subsector within the agricultural sector.
What are the aims of this study?
Agricultural sector in Aragón has worked as an employment niche between 2007 and 2019. Likewise, it has been satisfactorily productive and profitable. In principle, these features could describe it as a sector with future potential.
However, there is not enough information to valuate organic farming in that way. Being able to valuate this is the aim of the study, and to do so it is necessary to overcome the main barrier, which is the lack of statistical information.
If this information is available the examination and featuring of the Organic Farming in Aragon, i.e, identifying its distinctive features, its past dynamics, as well as future prospects and challenges.
To do so, the following stages are aimed at being covered:
1.- Economic delimitation of Organic Farming in Aragon sector
2.- Systematization of the information available in the Ministry of Agriculture and in CAAE’s records
3.- Using data from a list of national companies of organic farming selected in SABI (Sistema de Análisis de Balances Ibéricos) [Iberian Balances Analysis System].
4.- Designing, making and using a survey to CAAE registered operators as a basic source of statistical infomation to characterise the subsector. Obtaining the basic subsector magnitudes.
5.- Characterisation of Organic Farming subsector business structure and GDP quantification, compared to its Spanish equivalent and to the Aragon farming sector as a whole.
6.- Aragón Organic Farming subsector’s prospects.
7. Policy advice.
How could the Organic Farmic subsector in Aragón and Spain be delimitated in terms of economy?
Basing on the ruling norms the first list of requirements to define a production as organic could be obtained. This is the first level. The second one will be the identification of the kind of activities on which in Aragón is mainly focused.
What does not having a specific CNAE (Spanish Standard Industrial Classification) class mean?
It means that there is no statistical information regularly collected by INE (Spanish Institute of Statistics) or any other public organisations. Should there be this information, it would be considered a subsector of the farming sector to all intends and purposes with specific information and indicators.
What is, in your view, the importance for organic farming of becoming a specific sector?
First of all, it would be a room where to show all its virtues. It colud be the object of much more defined and accurate policies, because its advantages and disadvantages will be better known.
What would be the advantages of this step for organic operators and organic farming?
With a better understanding of the sector’s evolution, individual operators will be able to define their objectives more effectively and, consequently, plan better their future. As well as to collective farmers’ entities.
Within the agricultural sector, what has the evolution of productivity and profitability has been like?
From what has been said above it must be concluded that nothing can be said about these two indicators due to this lack of information. Once the study has been done, what we aim is to give an initial answer to this question and diagnose the situation compared to the farming sector in general.