The European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee will discuss on Thursday 9 December the draft report by Simone Schmiedtbauer (EPP, Austria) assessing the EU’s organic action plan.
At the end of July, the Agriculture Council supported this action plan, which aims to achieve the target of 25% organic area by 2030, in line with the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy (see EUROPE 12765/4).
Simone Schmiedtbauer’s draft report welcomes the European Commission’s recognition of organic farming as “one of the important components on the EU’s path towards more sustainable food systems”. It welcomes “the ambition of increasing the EU’s agricultural area under organic farming by 2030”.
However, the target of 25% organic area is not mentioned in the draft report.
At the same time, the rapporteur recognises the potential of other sustainable farming methods to contribute to the objectives of the European Green Deal.
Schmiedtbauer stressed the need for measures to “stimulate further demand for organic food and ensure consumer trust, in order to safeguard the future profitability of the organic market and organic farming in the EU”. In addition, Member States are also asked to develop “their own national action plans with concrete and time-bound measures”.
Link to the draft report: https://bit.ly/300QxBy (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)