During EU Organic Day on 23 September, the EESC welcomed the winners of the fourth EU Organic Awards in three key categories: Best organic food processing SME, Best organic food retailer, and Best organic restaurant/food service.

• Best organic food processing SME is Joseph Brotmanufaktur GmbH (Austria). Working with 24 smallholder families on 14 rare grain varieties, it preserves grain culture and promotes biodiversity, fair value chains, and sustainable food systems.

• Best organic restaurant/food caterer is Peskesi (Greece). Based in Heraklion, Crete, it runs its own organic farm and partners with 98% local producers under a 'Farm to Table' and 'Table to Farm' philosophy since 2014.

• Best organic food retailer is Radis&Bona eG (Germany), a Regensburg cooperative farm shop offering 100% organic products from within 80km since 2021. Its cooperative model strengthens regional farming, ensures fair prices, and promotes sustainability through short supply chains and community participation.

Over 100 applications from 13 countries were received, with 21 shortlisted. The EU Organic Awards feature six categories and seven awards recognising innovative, sustainable, and inspiring organic projects.

The remaining three categories are best organic city, region and farmer, where the winners are recognised by the European Committee of the Regions, COPA-COGECA, and IFOAM Organics Europe who organise the EU Organic Awards together with the European Commission and the EESC, with support from the European Parliament and the Council.

EESC member Stoyan Tchoukanov said: 'From large-scale organic bakeries to regional organic cooperative shops and farm restaurants, this year's winners again showcased excellent and innovative organic businesses in the EU. But in order to reach the 25% target by 2030, we need to step up further the consumption of organic products and integrate organic farming and other quality schemes into environmental, health, climate and rural development strategies.'

EU Organic Day, launched in 2021 by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, promotes organic farming. The EU supports the sector through EU Organic Day, the EU Organic Awards and EUR 14.7 billion via CAP Strategic Plans (2023-2027) to help farmers convert and maintain organic production. There are now 30% more organic farmers than in 2018, almost all Member States have organic strategies, and the EU is the world’s second-largest organic market. More actions in this factsheet (ks/fb)