On Tuesday 17 October, the Lithuanian delegation, supported by the Bulgarian, Croatian, Cypriot, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hungarian, Latvian, Maltese, Romanian and Swedish delegations, asked the European Commission to organise a “strategic discussion” on the future of organic farming.
This request is contained in a document from these delegations ahead of the meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Luxembourg on 23 and 24 October.
The delegations are concerned about the recent data indicating a decline in the consumption of organic products in Europe.
They are calling for a “strategic discussion” on the prospects and support for organic farming, and for proper monitoring of changing consumption volumes of organic products.
These countries also suggest exploring ways of simplifying the rules on organic production (without reopening the basic act on organic farming) and providing flexibility in the process of modifying the national strategic plans implementing the common agricultural policy (CAP).
Between 2007 and 2022, organic farmland and the number of farmers involved in organic farming increased in Lithuania. However, by 2023, the area of certified organic farming in the country had fallen by more than 5% (from 271.3 to 257.5 thousand hectares) and the number of organic farms had also fallen, explains Lithuania.
To see the document go to https://aeur.eu/f/947 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)