Nudging Organic
Nudging Organic is a three-year project funded by the European Research Executive Agency (REA), running from February 2022 to January 2025. The campaign is coordinated by Bionext in the Netherlands, with additional beneficiaries BioForum in Flanders, Pro Luomu in Finland, and Organic Sweden in Sweden.
Under the common slogan “Organic in Europe: part of the solution”, each national organisation aims to improve the recognition and trust of the EU organic logo and increase sales of organic food products in their country. In start, four distinct campaigns were developed, each tailored to the specific country. While visual expressions, tone of voice, and photography may vary, the core message is remains clear: organic products offer numerous economical, social and ecological advantages, and are a positive, solution-oriented choice for consumers.
Curious? Click on the national flag of each country to visit their campaign website →
Why organic?
‘Choosing organic products is good for you, and the future. And shopping for organic foods, that’s way easier than you think.’
The organic principles of health, ecology, fairness and care apply to people, all living beings and the planet’s ecosystem. Therefore, organic food and farming are part of the solution to many of today’s challenges – foremost the climate and biodiversity crises. Organic farming can reduce emissions as it builds on reduced inputs, closed nutrient cycles and fertile soils. It provides many animal welfare and environmental benefits for soils, water and biodiversity.
Nevertheless, simulating the consumption of organic products is urgently needed, given the ambition of the European Commission to dedicate a quarter of the European agricultural area to organic farming by 2030. For this reason, the EU Commission has made a subsidy available to stimulate local organic markets through a campaign for the duration of three years.
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Europe is a leader in the organic food movement, with a growing market and stricter regulations than many other regions. Over a decade, the land dedicated to organic farming has soared by more than half, with countries like France, Spain, Italy, and Germany at the forefront. EU standards for organic production are rigorous, prohibiting GMOs, ionizing radiation, and most synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. This focus on natural methods and animal welfare translates into a higher price point for organic products, but European consumers are increasingly willing to pay for the perceived health and environmental benefits.
What about nudging?
Most European countries encounter the same issue: a relatively small group of consumers seems responsible for the largest part of the sale of organic products. In addition, the price remains the biggest barrier to buy organic, as organic is perceived as expensive. As research shows, even though most consumers say they want to buy organic, they often don’t. Thus, we can speak of an intention behavior gap.
By applying ‘nudges’ in and around the supermarket the customer is subconsciously being helped in his choice, at the time and place of purchase. Previous pilots have already shown that by only changing small things on the shelf or in the supermarket, this can already make a huge difference in the sales of organic products. Therefore, Nudging Organic will focus on point of sale actions implement nudging techniques to online retail and in-store activities. Meanwhile, an ongoing online and in print publicity campaign will to strengthen the recognition of the EU organic logo and spread knowlegde on the benefits of organic agriculture and food.
Want to learn our ‘best practises’? Read our Common Nudging Report detailing the experiments and results of our national campaigns.
