The drought has caused a feed shortage - now organic cattle in several countries must be given conventional feed.

The European drought has hit the harvest hard, and in several countries, feed reserves have now become so low that an EU provision has been activated, allowing for exemptions from organic feed rules. In early August, the agricultural authorities in the German state of Baden-Württemberg made it possible for organic farmers to apply for exemptions from feed regulations. Food & AgriBusiness reports that organic livestock farmers can now submit an application to the control authorities, who will then assess the availability of organic feed. In addition to Baden-Württemberg, the German state of Bavaria has also been severely affected by the drought and has therefore opened up the same type of exemption, reports Agrar Presseportal. The situation also applies to other countries. On August 24, the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture, Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft, decided to allow organic farmers across Switzerland to cover up to 20% of their feed needs with conventional roughage due to the significant harvest losses. According to the Tyrol Chamber of Agriculture, the Austrian state of Tyrol is also in a disaster situation and is now opening applications for the use of conventional feed to mitigate the extensive feed shortage. No prospects for the same situation in Denmark Although the drought has severely affected parts of Europe, the situation in Denmark, according to cattle advisor Erik Andersen from Organic Advisory Denmark, is not yet as critical. "It has been a pressured year, and there are definitely some who are more pressured than others. But overall, I don't think we will end up in the same situation as down south, where exemptions for feed are being granted." Although the situation is not as severe in Denmark at present, challenges could still grow in the long term. "We will manage this year, but a large part of the feed reserves are, of course, used up. Therefore, we should aim for a better 2027 so that we are not in a pressured situation next year," Erik Andersen tells Organic News. Trouble with dairies over exemptions Denmark has previously faced a similar situation as Germany and other countries. In 2018, the drought was so severe that the Danish Agriculture Agency approved exemptions for the use of conventional feed. However, Arla decided that milk from organic farmers who used the exemption would be sold as conventional milk, resulting in a 22 øre lower price per kilogram of milk. The price difference was so high that, according to Seges, it was not profitable for organic farmers to use the exemption. As a result, many organic farmers chose not to utilize it. A helping factor was that the requirement for the roughage share was lowered from 60% to 50%. Rules on exceptions during drought are part of the EU Organic Regulation. These rules allow for temporary permission to use non-organic feed when a drought is recognized as a catastrophic event and there is a shortage of organic feed. The member state must also inform the EU Commission and other member states.