The European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee gave a cautious welcome on Wednesday 14 April to the European Commission’s proposals to develop organic farming.
“We will reach our target” said EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski confidently as he presented MEPs with the action plan to achieve a 25% share of the agricultural area devoted to organic farming by 2030 (see EUROPE 12686/21).
Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italy) and Herbert Dorfmann (EPP, Italy) stressed the need to increase demand and find outlets for organic produce in order to reach the target. Krzysztof Jurgiel (ECR, Poland) said that the 25% target was “perhaps too ambitious for some Member States”.
The Commissioner noted that currently 8.5% of agricultural land is used for organic farming. “If we extrapolate current trends, we will only reach between 15 and 18% of all agricultural land in organic farming by 2030. The target is therefore up to 10% higher than a ‘business as usual’ approach would achieve”.
Janusz Wojciechowski acknowledged that Member States are at very different starting points. In some countries, such as Austria, organic farming already accounts for more than 25% of all agricultural land, while in others it represents only 0.5%.
The Commissioner confirmed that the 25% figure to be achieved is an average for the EU. The growth potential of organic is, in his view, “significant in those Member States that are currently lagging behind”, such as Poland.
Increase demand. These 25% are problematic, admitted Herbert Dorfmann. “Nothing will be possible if demand does not follow”, he said.
Profitable outlets need to be found, said Ulrike Müller (Renew Europe, Germany).
Without an increase in demand, we risk damaging the value of our production, said De Castro. He also stressed the need not to forget PDO and PGI products in the product promotion policy.
Enough outlets will have to be found, said Gilles Lebreton (ID, France), who deplored the risk of distortion of competition with imported products.
Achieving the 25% target “will have an impact on our productivity, our food autonomy and on food prices”, said Anne Sander (EPP, France).
The action plan is timely, according to Clara Aguilera (S&D, Spain), but she questioned imports, especially of fruit and vegetables, from third countries.
Financial instruments. As far as financial support for the organic sector is concerned, the relevant CAP instruments include (future) eco-regimes and environmental management credits in rural development programmes, the Commissioner explained.
Krzysztof Jurgiel and Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA, Germany) suggested using funds from the Economic Recovery Plan to encourage organic production. Mr Häusling called for the resources mobilised to be “commensurate with the challenge”.
The recovery plans could include measures to support organic farming, Wojciechowski replied. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)