Organic Vegetable Production in Iceland

Abstract

This paper analyzes the contemporary development of organically certified commercial vegetable farms in Iceland within the regulatory context of the European Economic Area. While Iceland boasts one of the lowest rates of pesticide use among farmers throughout Europe, the percentage of agricultural goods produced in Iceland which are certified organic is among the lowest of any country in the EEA. Findings based on research among farmers and food system actors in Iceland in years 2021 and 2022 show that organically certified vegetable production for the domestic fresh produce market is at a low point in the country. Several explanations are offered, including the disconnect between regulatory policy developed at the European regional level and the application of these policies within the particular biophysical, political economic, and cultural context of Iceland. What follows is a deep dive into the ethics and practicalities of fertility management in Icelandic commercial vegetable farming. In this context, the philosophical underpinnings of “organic” are examined as they are understood in different geographies and insofar as organic certifications also meet or fall short of the guidelines of agroecology. In the race to certify 25% of all agricultural land as organic by 2030 in Europe, will the comparatively stringent European organic certification regime make compromises on a slippery slope toward unsustainable practices? Or is the current regime inadvertently making the perfect the enemy of the good in holding farmers in peripheral member states like Iceland to the same region-wide standards for organic certification as other European farmers?