European Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming Nutritional challenges Entrepreneurship opportunities Best Practices in the sector of Organic Products 9 March 2007, Thessaloniki Development organic farming Steady growth continues (/2005) Consumer demand on the rise, signs of undersupply Globalisation, diversification Major new third country market players (India, China, Brazil) 2 1
At a cross roads Impressive growth since regulation sector in 1991 From small scale independent farms to larger scale and corporate enterprises From direct sales or specialised channels to global trade and supermarket sales Need to ensure further development of the sector 3 Development organic farming EU third biggest producer worldwide 4 2
Development organic farming % Organic Area within the EU countries 2003-2005 16, 00% 14, 00% 12, 00% 10, 00% 8,00% 6,00% 2003 2005 4,00% 2,00% 0,00% Au stri a Be lgiu m Cy pru s Czech Rep. Den ma rk Es ton ia Finla nd France Germany Greece Hun ga ry Irela nd Ital y Latvia Li th ua ni a L ux em bu rg Ma l ta Netherlan ds Pola nd Portuga l Sl ovak Repub Sl o ve ni a Sp ain Swed en U K 5 European Action Plan Public benefits recognized environment animal welfare rural employment European Action Plan enhance market improve legal frame 6 3
Commission s view Overall strategic vision for the future needed European Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming Adopted in June Conclusions of the Council in November : Implement the EAP on the basis of concrete measures Assure simplification and overall coherence Bring forward proposals in the course of 2005 7 Commission s view Acting upon other Community policies and studies EU sustainable development strategy Lisbon strategy Simplification and better regulation Community research on organic production Communication on sustainable development aquaculture 8 4
European Action Plan The organic food market Information and promotion Collection of statistics Public support Rural development Fruits and vegetables producer organisation support Research Legal framework Render public benefits explicit, simplify, complete, reinforce 9 European Action Plan Information led development the market Legal instruments; Objectives and principles stated (absent before!) Common logo Collection statistics (EUROSTAT) EU commissioned information campaings Information and promotion campaigns Research Market data Public data base standards 10 5
European Action Plan Make public support more effective Fruit & Vegs reform; top-ups organic producer groups Rural development measures; Increase awareness; webbased menu on measures Recommend more coherent use in Member State programs Strengthen research 11 European Action Plan Improving legal framework Defines objectives of organic production Renders public goods explicit (objectives!) Reduces the level of detail Aligns sector with other policies (controls, fair competition) Completes and further harmonises existing rules 12 6
European Action Plan - scoreboard Market development Legal base campaigns - created Multi-annual campaign - launched Expert group promotion - created Legal base stats collection - final stages Farm structure survey - ongoing Eurostat groups - ongoing Common logo - final stages Definition organic farming - final stages Research market data - completed Database standards - almost ready 13 European Action Plan - scoreboard Legal framework Revision of rules - final stages Organic aquaculture final stages Deadline derogations fixed; = non-organic breeding animals - done = conventional feed - done Animal product rules - fixed Expert panel - to be started Public support Top up producer groups proposed Website rural development ongoing Rural development program ongoing Research completed or ongoing 14 7
Rural Development Legal requirements reformed (Council Reg. EC N 1698/2005) Budget increase Programming cycle 2007-2013 ongoing Organic Farming No specific measure, but; Agri-environment/animal welfare costs incurred, income lost Support for participation in schemes and for promotion Investment, training, marketing 15 Opportunities Strong market development Increasing policy support in view of public goods 16 8
Challenges Upscaling of production; Specialisation and intensification of farm production Principles of organic production should be respected! Transition to mainstream market Globalisation, multiple certification Compliance with standards, fraud prevention 17 9