This week Russia approved the draft federal law developed by
the Ministry of Agriculture on the production of organic products.During the approval process, Dmitry Medvedev, who chaired the process, noted the world market of organic products is experiencing rapid growth and Russia can take 10 to 25% of this market.
The bill introduces the basic concepts, determines which
products have the right to be called organic, as well as the principles of production, and the powers of government bodies and local government.
The Minister of Agricultural, Alexander Tkachev, said "Over
the past 15 years, the world organic food market has grown almost five times to
$100 billion, and today it is 10% of the total world food market. According to experts' forecasts, by 2022 the
market of organic products will exceed $200 billion."
He also said "We have a sort of natural competitive
advantage because in the 1990's, fertiliser applications significantly
decreased, and part of the agricultural land has completely ceased to be
processed. A considerable amount of land has been formed, which meet the
requirements of organic farming. In fact, Russia is a world bank for
ecologically clean land."
Even so, presumably that land would still need to be determined
to be eligible to produce products that have the right to be called organic by,
for example, a two-year conversion period?