The European Commissioner for Food and Farming, Janusz Wojciechowski, has urged the European organic sector to fight against the “false framing” of organic as a threat to food security.
The Commissioner’s comments came in a video address he made to participants at this week’s OPTA Political Dialogue, the latest in a series of high-level stakeholder meetings organised by the Association of Organic Processing and Trade Companies in Europe.
The EU’s landmark plan to make food production more sustainable, based on halving pesticide use by 2030 and ensuring 25% of farmland is organic by 2030 under its Farm to Form strategy, has provoked a ‘lobbying blitz’ from critics who claim that the EU’s approach will reduce crop yields and drive up food prices.
Against this backdrop, Commissioner’s Wojciechowski’s comments will be welcomed by the organic sector, which is has been increasingly frustrated by poor progress from some Member States towards meeting Farm to Fork targets.
In his keynote speech, Commissioner Wojciechowski said: “We need to rephrase this frame, because it is false. In fact, I believe that organic creates the best balance for productivity, sustainability and health.”
OPTA president Stefan Hipp warned that the 25%-organic-by-2030 target would not be met if last minute attempts to alter to the direction of the agriculture and climate policies push implementation off course.
• A summary of the full OPTA Political Dialogue can be seen here.