EU Ministers debate the future of organic agriculture

An informal meeting of the Council of Ministers for Agriculture was held on 1-2 June in Riga, where the Latvian side, representing the presidency of the European Union Council, initiated discussions on the situation in organic agriculture and its development in the European Union. 

The topic of the informal meeting held by the Latvian presidency was “Sustainability, growth and consumers’ needs before and after 2020”.

The discussion material was regarding the situation of organic agriculture and its development in the EU, points out the most significant problems the sector currently encounters.

The topics were pre-prepared by the Latvian presidency.

Ministers of the 28 EU Member States assessed which of the existing policy instruments were successful in solving different situations in the field of organic farming, and what instruments would be applicable in the future. 

Ministers also suggested a way in which the EU Member States could provide plant and animal reproductive materials required for the production of organic goods, as there is currently a deficit in the EU.

The coexisting conditions for conventional and organic farming are also crucial. The necessary changes to organic production legislation in order to ensure equal competition and exclude fraud risks were also debated by the ministers. 

“Today’s debates of ministers demonstrated how diverse solutions to possible future situations in organic agriculture, mentioned at the discussion document, prepared by the Latvian presidential office can actually be," said Janis Duklavs, the Council President and Latvian Minister of Agriculture.

"I hope the answers provided by our colleagues will be useful for all of our future work - the member states, future presidents and the European Commission."

The EU ministers also touched upon the proposal for the regulation of organic agriculture.

The council has already been working on this technically complicated regulation under three presidencies to achieve a sufficiently clear position, in order to begin a three-way dialogue with the European Parliament.

Although the Ministers of Agriculture did not directly discuss the proposal for regulation, they pointed out the importance to maintain and enhance consumers’ trust within of organic agriculture.

They also had the opportunity to informally discuss the compromise solutions proposed by the Latvian Presidency, which would allow the ministry to adopt the EU Council's position on the regulation proposal. 

A meeting surrounding the issue will be held with the Latvian agriculture ministry will be held on 16 June in Luxembourg.

The Latvian presidential office required clear indication from the ministers as to how flexible would they be in clarifying their position when adopting their proposed compromise.

Of equal importance to the presidency was discovering what specifically needs to be improved so that the Member States would give their acceptance.

The Chairman of the Agricultural and Rural Development Committee of the European Parliament, Czesław Adam Siekierski and the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission, Phil Hogan as well as officials of EU Member States and representatives of EU non-governmental organisations participated in the meeting.