For one day, Mosonmagyaróvár in Hungary became the center of organic agriculture, where nearly 200 professionals, farmers, researchers, and advisors gathered at the Albert Kázmér Mosonmagyaróvár Faculty of Széchenyi István University to discuss current issues in the organic agriculture sector and listen to exciting presentations on soil, climate, and health.
The guests were first welcomed by Dr. Dóra Drexler, director of ÖMKi, followed by Dr. Zoltán Molnár, vice-dean, and Dr. Anikó Juhász, presidential and dean’s advisor, representing the university. In keeping with tradition, this year’s professional program also began with plenary presentations. András Sáhó, organic horticulture production manager representing Kisalföldi Mezőgazdasági Zrt., presented the operations of their large-scale arable vegetable production sector, where they produce and package organic vegetables for fresh consumption, including for local retail chains. Dr. Tamás Kaibinger, head of corporate affairs, shared his thoughts on the market opportunities for organic products on behalf of Lidl Magyarország Bt. In response to the dynamic expansion of the Hungarian market, Lidl Hungary will launch an active communication campaign in 2026 to promote organic products and expand consumers’ knowledge of organic foods. Dr. Dóra Drexler gave a presentation entitled “Economic restructuring and market expansion in the domestic organic sector – prospects and opportunities”, in which she highlighted that within the Hungarian organic sector, farms larger than 300 hectares play a significant role, as they cultivate more than half of the country’s total organic farmland. With their equipment and market orientation, large farms contribute significantly to increasing the organic product base and enhancing competitiveness.
The presentations were followed by an active roundtable discussion, in which the audience participated with valuable questions and comments. Based on ÖMKi’s research of the period 2022–2024, the sales of organic products in retail chains (e.g., supermarkets, discount chains, drugstores) are growing at a faster rate than those of conventional food. In their responses, the three experts confirmed the trends regarding the dynamic growth of the Hungarian organic food retail sector. At the same time, they highlighted the significant lack of market organisation and the need for higher value-added domestic products.
After a short coffee break, the parallel sessions began, focusing on the conference’s key topics of SOIL – CLIMATE – HEALTH.
In the “SOIL – Soil Cover and Soil Quality” section, Tamás Miglécz, PhD, research project leader at ÖMKi, shared the outcome of the investigations carried out by ÖMKi with the participants on the topic of “The effect of inter-row vegetation on soil in vineyards”. Based on the presented results, maintaining soil cover whether it is sown or spontaneous for as long as possible is the most important factor in terms of humus content, but the use of herbaceous cover crops has other benefits, like increased nitrogen content. The next speaker, Ferenc Czina Jr., co-owner of the Dunasziget Vegetable Community Organic Farm, presented how they maintain favourable soil conditions on their farm. The horticultural business, which provides fresh vegetables on a weekly basis to 80 families each year, successfully combines various methods of mulching, green manuring, and composting. Gergő Somody, senior product developer at Lajtamag Kft., gave a presentation entitled “Cover crops and soil: Should I trust appearances or make a conscious choice?”. In his presentation, he drew attention to the fact that, in addition to the species traditionally used for green manuring, it is also worth using a number of other species that are better adapted to different growing locations. He demonstrated that green manuring, beyond replenishing soil organic matter, can have a wide range of positive effects on weed regulation, soil biological activity, and soil water management.
Dr. Gyöngyi Györéné Kis – ÖMKi
Marianna Pinczés – Grapoila
In the section “CLIMATE – Organic farms, consumers and the organic product market in a changing economic climate”, moderated by Katalin Allacherné Szépkuthy, head of the ÖMKi advisory group, Dr. Péter Jobbágy gave a presentation entitled “The microclimate of the organic sector: restructuring farms.” He highlighted that between 2020 and 2023, about a quarter of organic farms left the organic certification system. However, this outflow did not halt the expansion of organic farmland in Hungary due to the high number of new entrants. It is important to note that the farms that remaining certified organic in the long term are those that convert a large proportion of their land, are large enough to operate economically, and have sufficiently intensive production (with a high Standard Output (SO) value). The results, supported by statistical methods, may be useful for establishing the basis for support policy after 2027.
“Consumer segments in the domestic market for organic food” was the title of the presentation given by Dr. Gyöngyi Györéné Kis. She emphasized that, according to the results of a representative domestic consumer survey, nearly half of shoppers do not recognize organic labels and cannot distinguish between organic and non-organic foods. At the same time, a higher level of knowledge about organic foods is associated with stronger consumer commitment and a greater willingness to pay a price premium. However, the majority of respondents would be willing to pay a maximum of 10-20% more for organic products, which in practice, tends to be closer to 10%.
As a guest speaker, Marianna Pinczés, representing Grapoila, presented the company’s journey from organic markets to international chains. Although the general picture of the domestic organic sector is that 85-90% of the products produced are sold abroad as raw materials, the presentations highlighted that this situation is not set in stone. Special, high value-added processed products can appear very quickly and successfully on both the domestic and export markets. In her presentation, Marianna Pinczés showed that her company is present in both national retail chains and international markets. She discussed the opportunities and limitations of brand building, the practical necessity of contract manufacturing, and how waste-free operation (i.e., the utilisation of valuable compounds from by-products) can be achieved in food processing.
Moderated by Dr. László Mezőfi, research project leader at ÖMKi, the first speaker in the “HEALTH – Plant health risks in organic agriculture” section was Péter Hertelendy, plant protection specialist and head of Her-Ba Kft., who spoke about the effects of climate change on plant health risks. In his presentation, he pointed out that as temperatures rise, heat- and drought-favoring pathogens are becoming increasingly prevalent. As a result, we can expect to see increasing damage from charcoal rot (Macrophomina phaseolina) and stem rust of wheat (Puccinia graminis f.sp. tritici) in the future.
This was followed by a presentation by Dr. László Mezőfi entitled “The effect of inter-row vegetation diversity on the natural enemies of grape pests.” The ÖMKi’s own research results were shown that inter-row vegetation composed of flowering plants can effectively support a wide range of beneficial arthropods. In this regard, there was also much discussion about which beneficial arthropods have the potential to control the American grapevine leafhopper.
The last speaker in the section, Dr. Mária Megyeri, research project leader at ÖMKi, presented her research in which she evaluated the susceptibility of different ancient cereal species to plant pathogens and certain pests. The presentation concluded that there are a number of ancient cereal species/varieties that show a high level of tolerance to the major plant diseases affecting cereal crops, making them particularly suitable for organic farming.
Dr. Éva Borbélyné Hunyadi, head of the ÖMKi arable group, moderated the section entitled “SOIL – Possibilities for reduced tillage in organic farming,” where Dr. Judit Berényi Üveges, research project leader at ÖMKi, was the first to report on the research institute’s soil cultivation experiments, drawing attention to the positive changes in soil water management through the use of reduced tillage.
This was followed by agronomist Bálint Dankó, representing Csoroszlya Farm, who shared his thoughts on “Efforts towards regenerative farming, presentation of practices on an organic farm – experiences from Csoroszlya Farm.” In his presentation, he discussed the difficulties of mulching technology and the agrotechnical practice of using cover crops.
Dr. Gyula Pinke, lecturer at the SZE-Albert Kázmér Mosonmagyaróvár Faculty, discussed the topic “Weed flora of annual legume crops in northwestern Hungary.” He presented the weeds characteristic of each species, which were assessed by university researchers during extensive field surveys.
Dr. Tünde Takács, representing the HUN-REN ATK Soil Science Institute and the SZE-Albert Kázmér Mosonmagyaróvár Faculty, gave a presentation entitled “Relationships between cereal–legume intercropping and plant–microbe interactions.” When analyzing the effects of mixed cropping, she drew attention to the positive changes in the root zone.
Bálint Dankó – Csoroszlya Farm
In the section entitled “CLIMATE – The role of grain legumes in climate-adaptive organic agriculture” László Bene from Biohelp International compared soybean production in Austria and Hungary in his presentation entitled “Organic soybean production in Hungary and Europe.” This was followed by a presentation by Dr. Gabriella Endre from the HUN-REN Biological Research Center in Szeged entitled “Symbiotic nitrogen-fixing plants in climate-adaptive organic farming.” In her presentation, she explained how the symbiotic relationship between bacteria and leguminous plants develops and how biotic and abiotic factors can influence it.
ÖMKi’s lead researcher Orsolya Papp presented her ongoing on-farm research about alternative legume vegetable production in horticultural farms. She explained that increasingly dry and hot summers are making it more and more difficult to grow beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) in Hungary. Together with on-farm partners, production technologies of alternative legume vegetable varieties are being tested (such as Vigna species), while also applying symbiotic Rhizobium strains as inoculants in practice.
Szabolcs Lengyel – HUN-REN Ecological Research Center
Dr. Aliz Márton, head of the ÖMKi animal husbandry group, moderated the section entitled “HEALTH – Healthy animal products from healthy pastures”, where Dr. Szabolcs Lengyel from the HUN-REN Ecological Research Center, presented the LifeforBugsandBirds project and insect- and bird-friendly grazing methods to the audience. Among other things, the presentation discussed how grazing on nature conservation grasslands and veterinary products used against internal parasite infections affect the wildlife of pastures and how this is related to the presence of protected species.
This was followed by Aliz Márton’s presentation entitled “What do soil and grass reveal about pastures?”, she discussed the role of the mineral content of pasture soils in the soil–plant–animal continuum. She also addressed the factors influencing mineral uptake by plants and animals under grazing conditions, and the problems that deficiencies or excesses may cause for animal health and production.
Following the presentations, participants of the Sectoral Day had the opportunity to visit the facilities of Lajtamag Kft., the Dunasziget Vegetable Community organic farm, take part in a soil profile demonstration at the training farm of Széchenyi University – Albert Kázmér Faculty of Mosonmagyaróvár, and visit the Smart Farm experimental livestock facility.
We would like to thank all interested parties, farmers, researchers, and professional partners for joining us at the ÖMKi Sectoral Day, and we would like to thank the Albert Kázmér Mosonmagyaróvár Faculty of Széchenyi István University for hosting our conference!
The project is co-funded by the Government of Hungary and the European Union.
