Explaining organic farming through past policies: comparing support policies of the EU, Austria and Finland

The present paper argues that the growth of organic farming correlates with the past support policy decisions. Not the recent direct organic farming payments are of importance, but rather the extent to which the past policies focused on rural development. Building on the OECD positive policy principles, the paper assesses the support policies of Austria, Finland and the EU. The policy appraisal was based on 16 distinct assessment criteria, with 1960–1994 as the timeframe. In addition to the largest organic farming sector, Austrian support policy demonstrated the highest rural development orientation. The CAP framework enabled but did not enforce rural development, whereas the rationalisation tendencies were strongest in Finland.