If you find yourself faced with a neighbour or colleague you cannot quite get along with, you might settle for peaceful coexistence, but for organic farmers and (future) gene-edited crop growers, it is unclear whether this is even possible.
When the European Commission presented its proposal to deregulate certain new genomic techniques (NGTs) last week, there was certainly not a shortage of contention and pushback.
But among the most fervent critics are representatives of the organic sector, where many fear that the legislation could bring about a (co-)existential crisis for them.
So far, all plants produced using new genomic techniques (NGTs) fall under the strict rules of the EU’s GMO legislation.
But the Commission wants to harness NGTs’ potential as “innovative tools that help increase the sustainability and resilience of our food system” and proposed to loosen the rules for certain ones.
In practice, this means NGT-based plants deemed comparable to naturally occurring ones will be treated like their conventional counterparts, although they would still be subject to labelling requirements.
This is where the problem lies for organic farmers, who are obliged to prove their production is gene-editing free – a task they fear could become very difficult or even impossible if the Commission’s proposal goes through.
To make coexistence possible, the legislation must ensure that organic farmers still have the means to know and prove they are exclusively using seed bred without any NGT involvement.
In a statement, the organic producers and traders association IFOAM urged EU lawmakers, who now have to decide on the proposal, to “act to protect the freedom of farmers and consumers not to use or buy products from genetic engineering.”
The agriculture ministers of Austria and Germany, two EU countries with an especially long-standing organics tradition and large organic farming and processing sectors, have also called to amend the Commission proposal and enable coexistence.
But to what extent this could be guaranteed even if traceability requirements are tightened remains an open question.
One hurdle to peaceful coexistence could be the issue of cross-contamination: Even if organic farmers can ensure their own seed is NGT-free, what if their conventional neighbouring farm uses genetically modified plants? And what if these end up “contaminating” the organic production?
To put it in the words of French existentialist – although not co-existentialist – Jean-Paul Sartre: “Hell is other people” (or other farmers, in this case).
“Already now, we have big problems with contamination” when neighbouring farms use, say, synthetic pesticides that cannot be used in organic production, Green MEP and organic farmer Sarah Wiener told journalists.
While it is not a given that cross-contamination would work in the same way for NGTs as it does for plant protection, organic producers are worried they might be liable if gene-edited seeds or plants are found on their fields.
Speaking on the sidelines at the presentation of the NGTs proposal, an EU official told EURACTIV that in the most recent field trials, they were aware of, there’s never been any incident of contamination and that “farmers will just have to work together, which is fair enough.”
Meanwhile, another existential question could potentially divide the organic world: Could organic farming not just be redefined to account for the new world the European Commission envisages?
In other words: If the NGTs in question are indistinguishable from traditionally bred plants, does it even matter if organic farmers use them?
For the organics lobby IFOAM, the answer is clear: GMO-free production is part of organics’ DNA.
The success of organic farming “depends on consumers’ trust, and traceability and labelling of all GMOs are essential to protect the organic market and the reputation of organic products,” IFOAM Europe’s President Jan Plagge said.
This view is backed most passionately by – again – the German and Austrian organics sector, proud of its long anti-GMO tradition.
“The great thing is that the EU organics regulation did not come as a top-down order, but came from the inside to define something that organics associations were already doing,” Wiener, whose farm is in Austria but who also has German nationality, said.
For her, the idea of stripping organic farming from its GMO-free commitment is “laughable.”
But this view might not be unanimously shared in the EU organics sector, one EU official who worked on the proposal hinted.
Some representatives of the organics sector found the Commission’s proposal acceptable and showed openness to using NGTs, they explained, even though the sector’s main representation spoke out against it.
After all, one of the main challenges organic farming still faces is that yields trail behind those of conventional agriculture – if NGTs could help close this gap, some in the sector might be tempted.
In practice, however, it remains unlikely that the criteria for organic farming will be changed to accommodate NGTs:
The EU’s organics regulation was reformed only recently, making it unlikely to be tweaked again soon. And in its new proposal, the Commission still foresees a prohibition of using all NGTs in organic farming.
One way or the other, EU lawmakers must find a solution to the coexistence conundrum.
Because as Indian politician Jawaharlal Nehru said: “The only alternative to coexistence is co-destruction.”
By Julia Dahm
Subscribe to EURACTIV’s Agrifood Brief, where you’ll find the latest roundup of news covering agriculture and food from across Europe. The Agrifood Brief is brought to you by EURACTIV’s Agrifood Team – Gerardo Fortuna (@gerardofortuna), Natasha Foote (@NatashaFoote), Paula Andrés (@paulandresr_), and Julia Dahm (@dahm_julia)
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Agri-bites you need to know
Panicky plenary
Phewf – it was quite a plenary session this week, with the vote on the nature restoration law taking most of the limelight. To say tensions were high in the run-up to the vote is an understatement, with both sides of the debate pulling out all the stops.
Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans told EURACTIV it would be ‘almost impossible’ to reach the EU’s climate goals without the nature restoration law ahead of the vote. Meanwhile, the EPP upped their social media campaign, including the now infamous – and widely parodied – Twitter post calling on Timmermans not to kick out Santa from his house (we were as confused as you are).
The day before the vote, rival protests took to the streets in Strasbourg, even attracting the attention of environmental activist Greta Thunberg, while fellow Fridays for Future climate activist Luisa Neubauer reiterated calls for MEPs to back the law in an interview with EURACTIV.
Ultimately, the law survived the plenary – but only by the skin of its teeth. But the form of the approved Parliament position has thrown up a number of questions, including its coherence with other policies and how it may shape the direction of the future CAP. Others have queried the impact that the campaign will have on the centre-right EPP in the longer term.
With the Parliament position now fixed, trilogue negotiations on the final text between Parliament and Council are set to start on Wednesday, according to European Parliament’s environment committee chair Pascal Canfin.
But that’s not all! There was also a key vote on another key piece of legislation for the EU’s green transition: the industrial emissions directive (IED), which aims to reduce harmful emissions coming from industrial installations, including some of the largest livestock farms in the EU – although not if the Parliament gets their way.
Lawmakers voted to water down the EU executive’s ambitions to extend the law to more livestock farms by excluding cattle farms and keeping the current status quo – aka, any farm with more than 40,000 poultry, 2,000 pigs, or 750 sows – something NGOs called ‘bitterly disappointing’ but was welcomed by EU farmer’s association COPA-COGECA.
Gene editing
It may feel like a lifetime ago at this point, but actually, it was only just over a week ago that the Commission presented its long-awaited proposal to loosen rules on gene editing, and EURACTIV has been busy digging into the reactions.
The proposal was widely applauded in the European Parliament, with the notable exception of the Greens, who slammed it for being full of empty promises, going against EU law and being more political than science-based.
Meanwhile, the German and Austrian agriculture ministers can also be counted among the proposal’s opponents, sparking questions as to whether the two will form a united front against Brussels’ proposal to protect their large organic sectors.
And, as you’ve just read above in this week’s top story, a number of question marks still remain unanswered over the compatibility of the proposal with the organic sector, while there are also still no answers on concerns over patentability.
Soil
The European Court of Auditors gave their two cents this week on the EU’s action on soil – or lack thereof.
In a damning new report, the auditors slammed the bloc’s efforts to date to ensure sustainable soil management, concluding that the European Commission and EU countries did not make enough use of the financial and law-making tools at their disposal and that EU standards are “frequently unambitious”.
The report comes just as the EU executive tabled its first EU soil law, which was widely criticised for ‘lacking ambition’.
Trade
Negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) between the EU and Australia stalled this week over – yes, you guessed it – agriculture.
Essentially, Australian farmers want to have a slice of the market of more than 440 million EU consumers.
“Ultimately, our negotiations with the EU will only be concluded when we have a good deal and one that includes new market access for our agricultural products,” Aussie Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, said on Monday while visiting Germany.
A key sticking point in the trade talks is the EU’s objection to Australian food producers using terms such as feta and prosecco, protected terms as EU geographical indications.
But, EU farmers and negotiators are having none of it. However, both parties have agreed to keep negotiating in the hope of reaching an agreement before the end of the year.
CAP corner
More cash for farmers? Do EU farmers need more money in the future? Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski might think so, but it’s a firm no from Vice President Frans Timmermans.
“One should start by asking whether the funds we have — €387 billion is quite a substantial amount of money — are we spending in the right way right now? I don’t think so,” he told EURACTIV in an interview, calling for a rethink of how the money is distributed.
He also shared his view on whether the future structure of the institutions is up to the task of negotiating the next CAP reform. While he said that the silo thinking in the Commission is getting “less and less”, the Vice President shared hopes that the next president of the Commission would “drive the restructuring a bit further”.
Agricultural reserve handout. The Commission formally adopted the exceptional support package for a total €330 million for 22 EU member states it proposed last month. The sum represents the remaining funds still left in this year’s CAP agricultural reserve, which are being distributed among the remaining EU countries after two support packages were granted to Ukraine’s neighbouring states to ease the impact of grain imports on farmers.
Other agri-nibbles
Solidarity lanes. A study published by the Commission and the European Investment Bank this week suggests that the European track gauge on lines to Lviv and Chiṣinău – a strategic part of concreting the EU’s ‘solidarity lanes’ initiative – should be deployed as a first step to improving connections between Poland and Ukraine, and between Romania and Moldova.
State aid. The Commission approved a €10 million Estonian scheme to support agricultural and food producers in the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine this week. More details here.
Bird flu. European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has recommended increased surveillance in the face of the continued “extensive circulation” of avian influenza among seabirds in Europe. However, according to EFSA’s most recent report on the matter, published on Thursday, the “overall situation for poultry has eased.”
Agrifood news from the CAPitals
NETHERLANDS
Agrarian party ahead in polls. As the Netherlands face early elections in autumn following the current government’s resignation under prime minister Mark Rutte, the recently established farmers’ protest party BBB could come out on top, according to recent polls. Read more.
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
Bosnian Serb entity declares emergency over African swine fever. The Republika Srpska government, one of the two autonomous entities of post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina, declared a state of emergency in an entire northeastern region to contain the spreading of African swine fever on Monday. Find out more.
SPAIN
Spread of epizootic hemorrhagic disease affecting deer and cattle. Spain is facing for the first time an “explosion” of cases of this disease transmitted by a mosquito. It is a non-transmissible virus to humans that arrived in the country at the end of 2022 and is spreading through western Andalusia and southern Extremadura. Read more.
POLAND
Polish politicians slam Nature Restoration Law over potential agriculture consequences. The Nature Restoration Law voted on by European Parliament on Wednesday faced criticism by the ruling camp and opposition Polish politicians over the potential consequences it could have for agriculture and forestry. Find out more.
GREECE
Towards the digitalisation of the agriculture sector. Greece’s new agriculture minister, Lefteris Avgenakis, presented his priorities for his new office last Friday. Inter alia, he highlighted the need to digitalise the whole Greek agricultural sector, both for administration processes and at the production level. He also announced the continuation and reinforcement of a precision agriculture project using CAP funds in order to work towards the CAP’s goal of digitalisation. (Marianthi Pelekanaki| EURACTIV.gr)
ITALY
25-million Food Sovereignty Fund gets the nods. Italy’s body favouring the cooperation between the government and the local authorities gave the final go-ahead to a decree laying down the criteria and the implementation modalities for a Food Sovereignty Fund which aims to increase the production of some strategic supply chains for national food sovereignty, such as maize, vegetable protein, soft wheat, barley and beef. The fund has a budget of €25 million starting from this year to 2026. (Gerardo Fortuna | EURACTIV.it)
AUSTRIA
“Transparency report” to curb food inflation. The Austrian government has implemented the first measure announced previously in its anti-food inflation package: a monthly transparency report detailing the difference between the producer prices retailers buy food products at and the prices they charge consumers. By boosting transparency around food prices, the government hopes to curb food inflation. “In order to make it more transparent for consumers whether falling purchase prices are also passed on, the food transparency report is intended to shed light on the situation,” agriculture minister Norbert Totschnig said. (Julia Dahm I EURACTIV.de)
GERMANY
Minister slams EPP over nature restoration. German agriculture minister Cem Özdemir welcomed the adoption of the European Parliament’s position on the EU’s Nature Restoration Law and slammed the centre-right EPP’s push to reject the proposal. “It is regrettable that the EPP has taken a stand against the sensible principle of ‘protect and use’ and thus against its own Commission President,” the Green minister said in a statement. In order to truly ensure future food security, natural resources need to be protected, he stressed. (Julia Dahm I EURACTIV.de)
[Edited by Alice Taylor]