Public support for organic food and Production, Promotion and Action Plans in Spain

Organic farming has received very limited public support in Spain in the past. This was used for promotion and supporting partly a semi-public control. The Andalusian Organic Action Plan (OAP) formulated in 2001 was the first broader policy supporting Organic farming in Spain. After this initiative the Spanish Central Ministry for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries (MAPA) has also presented a National Organic Action Plan in 2003, before the approval of the EU Organic Food and Farming Action Plan by the European Council in 2004. In the last years several regions in Spain have announced or approved OAP´s, currently in progress in different regions. This paper is presenting and analysing all this Regional and national Organic Action Plans and other organic support policies, stakeholders participation, conflicts and synergies with National and EU Action Plans and evaluation indicators, contributing to the ORGAP project. Finally the paper is discussing the potential use of some evaluation tools (ORGAPET) proposed by the ORGAP.