Activity A successfull first Organic Policy webinar
Ivana Trkulja, Project Manager at ICROFS - International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems (DK), welcomed the participants to the first AGROECOLOGY Partnership / CORE Organic expert network organic policy webinar that TPOrganics / IFOAM Organics Europe co-organised in the framework of the new task 2.6 of the partnership that is lead by CORE Organic.
Luis Carazo Jimenez, Head of EU Agriculture and Food-Organic Unit at DG AGRI, outlined how the European Commission is intending to provide legal clarity, predictability, and certainty to continue supporting the development of organic in the EU, among others through a new EU Organic Action Plan (OAP).
Bram Moeskops, Senior Expert at TP Organics and IFOAM Organics Europe, welcomed this confirmation of continued support for organic and reiterated the statement of Commissioner Christophe Hansen that organic remains the gold standard for sustainable agriculture. The OAP puts forward the target 30% of the research and innovation actions in the field of agriculture to be allocated to topics that are specific to and/or relevant for organic. Bram outlined the extensive, bottom-up consultation process that resulted in our new Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda for Organics and Agroecology - a result of the whole sector.
Download it via tporganics.eu.
Nic Lampkin, Organic Policy Business and Research Consultancy & Thünen Institute, stressed the interlinkage of organic and agroecology. Yet, there is a key difference when it comes to standards and regulations. The standards should only be seen as a baseline, not an end point, for what organic is trying to achieve. Organic is the only legally recognised agroecological system and a unique policy tool (see, e.g., conversion and maintenance support payments). Drawing on findings from OrganicTargets4EU project led by IFOAM Organics Europe that produced 12 policy brief, the 25% target of organic farmland of the European Commission is not very likely to be achieved by 2030. There is evidence for environmental benefits of organic and a role for research to recognise these benefits, e.g. through sustainability benchmarking. "One million more professionals need to be better informed about organic." AKIS and information dissemination from research to farmers need to be strengthened, and statistics and market data are needed for research on what policy might deliver. Organic action plans are an important means to integrate public goods and market-based policies, but capacity building is needed as well.
Check organictargets.eu for more info.
Stefano Grando from the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry (MASAF), asked about realistic possibilities to be proactive and continue strengthening the green transition in the new political context. According to Luis Carazo Jimenez, organic farmers are in an advantageous position as they do not depend on synthetic fertilisers. The support for organic farming would not be diminished under the new CAP.