The environmentalists from Greenpeace Bulgaria, who organized several days ago an environmental forum in Sofia, focused their attention on Europe’s addiction to pesticides.

The participants concluded that the farmers who use environmentally-friendly practices need urgent support, in order to continue their business activities. Organic farming has many advantages - it preserves biodiversity and healthy food, can be grown in an environmentally-friendly way, etc. Bio farming contributes to the development of science, innovation and the modernization of the agricultural machinery, activists of Greenpeace claim.

The drawbacks of the industrial farming are linked with the use of pesticides and other soil-polluting fertilizers, young Bulgarian farmer from the city of Montana Pavlin Antov contends. His farm covers over 15 hectares of land. Pavlin grows organic apples. Five years ago he was surprised by the fact that the soil in Northwestern Bulgaria is clean and suitable for the cultivation of organic fruit and vegetables. This is due to the fact that there aren’t any large industrial factories in the region of Montana and that the polluting factories were closed some twenty years ago.

In Pavlin Antov’s view, organic farming is not merely a business. It is rather a hobby and a vocation. The process of planting and growing fruit in an environmentally-friendly manner is not easy at all, the young Bulgarian farmer contends and adds:

“The main difficulty comes from the fact that the number of Bulgarian farmers who grow organic food is still very low and we have limited opportunity to exchange experience. There are some new farmers who are also trying to deal with organic farming and search for advises from the experienced ones. I am ready to support them, because if we stay united we can achieve more. In my view, the cultivation of organic produce is a philosophy and a way of life. It is not merely a quality certificate, or a regulation. Our desire to take care of peoples’ health and the cleanliness of the soil keeps us in that business. If we want to grow healthy fruit we have to take care of their food and water. This is my concept about bio farming. The rest comes with experience gained over the years and the use of various innovative methods. I decided to grow apples, because this fruit is very healthy and delicious. It is widely consumed by the Bulgarian people. Moreover, the soil and the climate in Bulgaria favor the cultivation of various fruit and vegetables. Unfortunately, people are not aware of that fact. Currently there are many ways to clean polluted soil. The process is not that complicated. Besides, there is enough water resource and many sunny days and practically people have everything necessary to develop organic farming. ”

2015 was a good year for the local producers of organic food. The humidity of the soil and the warm and sunny summer favored the yield of high-quality produce. The fact that demand of organic fruit and vegetables has been on the rise, is also very optimistic. The quality of our produce is very high, but due to the increasing interest in organic food we are not able to meet the market demand, Pavlin Antov went on to say. In November only he sold between 3 and 4 tons of clean and high-quality organic produce.

“Clients love our apples and prefer them to the ones produced under the conventional methods. We received orders from various kindergartens under the School Fruit Program financed by the state. Although we have been increasing the size of our farmland and our output, we are still struggling to meet the demand on the local market. Those who try our fruit want to buy it again and the price of our apples is not much higher than the one of the regular apples. We always take part at the farmers’ markets in Sofia and the countryside. This is the shortest way to our consumers. Besides, we make home deliveries of booked quantities. Our purpose is to make our clean and fresh fruit part of the consumers’ daily menu at a reasonable price”, Pavlin Antov concludes.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov