Welcome note September 2021 newsletter
Dear readers,
I would like to welcome you back to our first newsletter after the summer break. I hope you have had a restful few weeks and were able to gather strength and energy for the rest of the year despite the ongoing health crisis. We have been keeping busy during the summer, so expect a newsletter full of updates!
EU Organic Day
I would like to take the chance to highlight an important day for us as the European organic movement. After successful advocacy efforts towards the European institutions, they instated EU Organic Day on 23 September – a chance for us as a sector and movement to be even more visible. On 23 September 2021, the European Parliament, Council of the European Union and European Commission signed a Joint Declaration officially instating 23 September as EU Organic Day. Jan Plagge, President of IFOAM Organics Europe, was present at the signature ceremony with other representatives from the agri-food sector the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of Regions. Of course, as a movement we also celebrated extensively and Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn using #OrganicEU and #EUOrganicDay.
The plans for next year’s EU Organic Day are still under construction. As European organic movement, we will liaise with our our members and internal bodies to communicate about national events and other efforts in September and on 23 September. We will share more information with our members about next year’s event once it is available. In the meantime, please start preparing your communications and share your activities with [email protected].
CAP vote & Member States’ development of national Strategic Plans
At political level, the CAP reform continues. Technical discussions continued during July and the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development approved new consolidated CAP Regulations early September. The European Parliament is expected to vote new CAP Regulations during a plenary session late November 2021.
From now on, the focus is at national level. EU Member States are currently drafting their national CAP Strategic Plan, which must be submitted by 31 December 2021 and that will play a huge role in reaching the 25% organic land target by 2030. To support our members’ national advocacy, we published ‘Organic in Europe – Prospects and developments for organic in national CAP Strategic Plans‘. The report highlights potential targets for organic land at the national level, and how much of the national CAP budgets would need to be dedicated to organic farming in all Member States to reach these national targets and the EU Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies’ average target of 25% organic land by 2030.
What lies ahead in the last months of 2021
In the coming months of this year, three important events are taking place.
On 30 September and 1 October, the Organic Food Conference will happen live & online in Warsaw, Poland. Together with policy-makers, organic retailers, processors, traders, certifiers and other organic stakeholders we will talk about ‘the future of organic food’. We will be live tweeting on Twitter using #OFC2021 and #OrganicFoodConference.
On 30 November and 1 December, TP Organics organises the 7th edition of its Organic Innovation Days ‘Better inputs for organic farming’. For this year’s edition, TP Organics partners with two Horizon 2020-funded EU projects RELACS and Organic-PLUS – aiming at reducing the use of contentious inputs in organic farming systems. Participants can meet members of TP Organics, network with EU stakeholders and decision-makers, as well as discuss and exchange with the RELACS and Organic-PLUS project partners. Register now!
Last but not least, we will host the 4th edition of IFOAM Organics Europe meets business – Bringing the organic food industry together. On 9-10 December, IFOAM Organics Europe’s members and companies involved or interested in organic will meet to exchange on the new EU Organic Regulation and other policy-related issues. The event be held virtually.
I would like to thank our members, office staff and organic stakeholders for their dedication to continue making Europe more organic. Together, we can make our Vision 2030 of transforming food and farming a reality.
Organic regards,
Eduardo Cuoco
IFOAM Organics Europe Director