Conversion to integrated or organic production – a prognosis

In the year 1994, 124 farmers in the cantons of Basel-Stadt and Basel-land were interviewed to know which were their reasons of changing to methods of production compatible with environment. The results prove that many of the obstacles expected being opposed to a change to methods of production compatible with environment have been assumed with no reason or broke down these last years. For organic agriculture we know obstacles that have not been dismissed up to this day. While integrated production is becoming the standard method of agriculture in the near future, organic agriculture will still be found on less farms these next years. From the information collected in the interviews of 1994 we can expect about 60 to 70 % of farms using methods of integrated agriculture while for organic farmers we think of approximately 10 to 15 % for a medium-term.