The agriculture committee of the European Parliament wants to give European farmers time to switch to more organic farming. Insisting on at least 25% organic farming will only lead to food surpluses if the demand for organic food does not increase.
Therefore, the Farm to Fork strategy must be introduced gradually, according to the provisional compromise response of the AGRI committee to the European Commission's organic action plan.
Austrian EPP MEP Simone Schmiedtbauer has spent the past months as rapporteur holding discussions with all political groups in the Agriculture committee to develop a common position on the EU commissioners' organic plans. Her interim report, presented Wednesday, is at least supported by the Christian Democrats and the conservative, liberal, and right-wing (ECR) groups.
Schmiedtbauer also pointed out that politically motivated guidelines can cause overproduction. “You must not break the fragile balance in the organic market,” also warned Dutch MEP Bert-Jan Ruissen (SGP).
For some EU countries like Austria, reaching the 25% target for organic farming is not a problem, but on average it must roughly triple compared to the current 8% to achieve the EU Commission’s goal. Schmiedtbauer does not want to include a mandatory 25% in her report. In contrast, Social Democrats, Greens, and United Left want to stick to the 25% target.
Dutch MEP Anja Hazekamp (PvdD) noted that the European Parliament has already supported and enshrined this 25% target of the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy.
The Agriculture committee will vote at the end of March on rapporteur Schmiedtbauer’s report on the organic farming action plan. In May, it will be voted on in a plenary session of the EU Parliament.