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The Biolabel

Higher quality criteria

The participating producers from the member states of the European Union must run their entire agricultural operations (vegetableand animal products) on the basis of the EU-Eco Regulation. On top of this, the following additional higher quality requirementsover and beyond the provisions of the EU-Eco Regulation also apply:
  • The agricultural crop land must be planted with at least 20% legumes in crop rotation.
  • In the summer, major parts of the basic ration of ruminants must consist of green fodder. Feeding ruminants with silage fodder alone is not permitted.
  • For pigs and poultry, the following upper limits for livestock per hectare apply:
    • Stalls for porkers: 10
    • Laying hens: 140
    • Broiler chickens: 280
    • Pullets: 280
    • Fattened ducks: 210
    • Fattened turkeys: 140
    • Fattened geese: 280
    • Breeding sows: 6.5
    • Piglets: 74
  • No use of fresh, dried, or composted poultry droppings, no purchase of liquid animal excrements (slurry, liquid manure etc.) from external conventional-farming sources.
  • Use of composted or fermented household waste only upon presentation of additional organic-quality-assurance criteria.
  • No use of products or by-products of animal origin for fertilization, exceptions: hoof meal, hair meal, horn meal.
  • Purchase of organic fertilizers from external sources restricted to max. 40 kg N/ha; exceptions: horticulture and permanent crops.
  • When copper products are used, the active-ingredient volume must be restricted to max. 3 kg per hectare and year (hop cultivation max. 4 kg per hectare and year).
  • In vegetable cropping no use of soilless cultivation methods, exception: sprout production.
  • At least 50% of the animal feed must be produced on the own farm or in defined feed/manure exchange programmes (exception: small producers: livestock under 1,000 laying chickens, 30 breeding sows, 60 porker stalls, 10 horses).