September 2020 Newsletter

Dear readers,

On behalf of the European organic movement, I would like to welcome you back after the summer break. I hope that you were able to recharge your batteries for the rest of the year despite the challenges we are still facing in Europe and around the world due to Covid-19.

However, these should and will not stop us from working towards making Europe more organic. Together we have already achieved that organic takes a key role in the EU Commission’s Farm to Fork strategy and we have intensively worked to have the implementation of the new EU Organic Regulation postponed from January 2021 to January 2022, which is likely to happen. Both achievements are highly relevant for all of our members. The probable one-year postponement of the new Organic Regulation is crucial, as without it the organic sector would have faced an unrealistic timeline for implementing the new rules. These successes were only possible because of your tireless efforts and support, and I would like to express a heart-felt ‘thank you’ to everyone for their contribution. This shows the strength of uniting as organic movement and sector at EU level.
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Political hotspot
State of the Union, CAP negotiations and green recovery 
 

September marks the start of many things: the new school year, Autumn, or, if you frequent the EU bubble, the State of the Union speech.

This American tradition was brought to the EU for the first time by Mr Barroso in 2000, and Commission Presidents after him followed suit. In 79 minutes and 8.179 words, Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen outlined her first, rather broad in scope, State of the Union speech on 16 September.

 
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News
Policy
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
EU Parliament and Council close to adopt their position on CAP regulations
 

Are we entering the final stretch of the CAP negotiation process? After more than two years since the Commission published its proposal, both the Parliament and Council might finalize their positions on the three legislative texts in the next weeks. This in turn would allow institutions to begin trilateral negotiations, the so-called ‘Trilogues’. But several key issues still need to be solved beforehand, such as the integration of Farm to Fork targets into the CAP strategic plans regulation (including the 25% organic land target by 2030).
 
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Call for a transformation of Europe’s agriculture: Share your picture!
 

After a diverse and empowering mobilisation in 2018 and 2019, the Good Food Good Farming campaign calls for a third wave of campaigning activities in 2020.
 
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Organic Regulations
Postponement of the organic regulation & Organic Action Plan consultation

On 4 September 2020, important steps on two important Commission’s files were taken. Firstly, the EU Commission submitted a proposal to the EU Council and the EU Parliament to postpone the application of the New Organic Regulation (EU) 2018/848 by one year.
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GMOs
Reveal of a detection method for a gene-edited rapeseed – What is the significance and why is there a controversy?
 

A regulation is only worth so much as it can be enforced. This is why on 7 September, an open source detection test was announced for the first gene-edited crop on the market, SU Canola, developed by US company Cibus. The test was published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal, Foods. The work was funded by a consortium of NGOs (including Greenpeace) and non-GM industry food companies.
 
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Seeds
LIVESEED workshop on vegetative propagating material – Why organic vegetative material has a long way to go compared to organic seeds

Vegetative propagation material such as seed potatoes, rootstocks and cuttings were in the spotlight of a LIVESEED workshop on 10 September.
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Climate change
Help protecting our forests by demanding deforestation free supply-chains – Together4Forests
 

Forests and other ecosystems are under pressure worldwide: A total of 13 million hectares are deforested each year and almost all of it is happening in tropical forests (96%). The main driver of deforestation is expansion of agricultural land that is needed to meet the global demand of certain products (80%).
 
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Food policy
In case you forgot after the summer break: Key points of the Farm to Fork strategy

As we reported about in our previous newsletter, the European Commission unveiled its Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy and EU Biodiversity strategy on 20 May 2020.
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Research and innovation 
Research and innovation advocacy / TP Organics
TP Organics and other European Technology Platforms propose joint research & innovation priorities for a sustainable food system
 

The European Technology Platforms (ETPs) TP Organics, Plants for the Future, and Food for Life have jointly published a policy brief with Research & Innovation (R&I) recommendations addressing our food system’s most pressing challenges on primary production and consumer aspects.
 
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Knowledge for organic
Identifying the needs and knowledge gaps in organic fruit growing – Last days to fill out BIOFRUITNET’s questionnaire – Deadline 30 September

Protection against pests and diseases is a big issue for organic fruit growers, as fruit is a very sensitive produce. Many organic farmers in Europe have adapted their own practices and techniques to successfully deal with the challenge of organic plant protection.

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OK-Net EcoFeed joins the EIP-AGRI animal welfare communication campaign

In July 2020, OK-Net EcoFeed joined the agricultural European Innovation Partnership (EIP-AGRI) communication campaign on animal health and welfare. It highlighted outcomes of EIP-AGRI related activities, inspirational ideas and research needs.The campaign kicked off with a social media campaign on animal welfare #EIPagriAnimal and it was followed by a dedicated newsletter.
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Farm gate nutrient budgets in organic agriculture

The RELACS project partners issued practical guidelines informing farmers about assessing the main nutrient flows in and out of their farm with a dedicated Excel tool. The tool reveals whether farms have a nutrient surplus or deficit. Based on the results, farmers are enabled to adjust their nutrient flows to achieve a balanced nutrient budget.
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Replacement of copper in organic farming – First results of RELACS experiments conducted by ÖMKi

Copper is currently used as a plant protection product (PPP) and/or leaf fertilizer in organic and conventional farming in several European countries. However, its use is controversial, which is why the European research project RELACS (Replacement of Contentious Inputs in Organic Farming Systems) is looking for alternatives.

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Organic farming and the Internet of Things (IoT): synergy or conflict?

It is common thinking to consider organic farming and technology playing in opposing fields. A frequent reaction when presenting the Internet of Things (IoT) applications within organic farming is a sort of: “What? You are using high-tech as well? Isn’t organic a happy old times way of farming?”.
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Stimulating digital innovations – The SmartAgriHubs’ RESTART and EXPAND calls are still open!

As Europe continues facing the Covid-19 crisis, it must further stimulate the development of digital innovations which can tackle the challenges currently faced by the agri-food sector.
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Organic wine and fruit propagation in Germany and Switzerland

Experts from seed companies, organic farmers, farmer advisors, researchers and agricultural trainers can now read a report on a virtual cross visit to Germany and Switzerland on organic wine and fruit propagation.
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IFOAM Organics Europe developments
In case you missed it: IFOAM EU continues growing as IFOAM Organics Europe (and has a new website!)
 

It has been more than 15 years since we started our work of making Europe more organic. Since then, we have grown significantly alongside the organic movement and sector and we have witnessed the increasing interest, visibility and relevance of our organisation.
 
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Develop your own vision and strategy using our member-only toolkit

By 2030, the organic movement wants fair, environmentally conscious, healthy and caring food and farming systems across Europe. That is the vision set out and shared by the European organic movement.
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Civil Dialogue Groups – New members + new space on the extranet!

As the voice of the European organic sector, IFOAM Organics Europe is in contact with EU institutions through different channels. One of these are the Civil Dialogue Group meetings.
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Making Europe more organic using the EcoLocal Market app
 

Get inspired by a Spanish app! To make the organic value chain fairer and more transparent, two women developers have created the EcoLocal Market app. This app helps minimise the carbon footprint generated by the everyday consumption of food and beverages and enhance dialogue between all value chain actors.
 
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Saying goodbye to our colleague 
Carolina Ana Ferreira

Carolina started as volunteer in 2018 in the event and membership unit. After one year of volunteering she became Finance and Office Assistant. Carolina did a great job improving office equipment, especially IT equipment, and improving work environment.

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Welcoming our new colleagues
Julie Goeseels

Julie is a Belgian national with a Bachelor’s Degree as Travel Agent. She brings more than seven years of experience as an administrative assistant and travel agent to IFOAM Organics Europe. Julie is oriented toward quality service to customers, suppliers, and colleagues. She is used to work in an international and multicultural environment.
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Our new volunteers

IFOAM Organics Europe is excited to welcome its new volunteers. They joined our team in September and will work with us until July 2021.
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Events

Member of IFOAM Organics Europe find an overview of all upcoming internal and external policy events on the landing page of the member extranet. Scroll down to ‘Network: next meetings and events’ to consult it.
Preview of events


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Review of past events


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Calendar of events

1-31 October 2020
#GoodFoodGoodFarming European Action Days
On- and offline (see the map of actions)







25-26 January 2021
Improving sustainability and welfare in organic poultry and pig production - Joint conference OK-NET EcoFeed, PPILOW, POWER, FreeBirds
Online

23 March 2021
ReMIX final conference
Brussels, Belgium

6-10 September 2021
Organic World Congress
Rennes, France

24-25 November 2020
Organic Innovation Days 2020, LIVESEED Final Conference for Stakeholders & Policy-makers, and LIVESEED European Workshop on Organic Seed Production & Use
Online


17-20 February 2021
BIOFACH
Nuremberg, Germany







April 2021
IoF2020 final event
To be determined

8-9 December 2020
IFOAM Organics Europe Meets Business 2020
Online








8-10 March 2021
EUCARPIA-LIVESEED Conference -Breeding and seed sector innovationsfor organic food systems
Cēsis, Latvia



April 2021
XF-Actors final event
To be determined
Making Europe more organic -
Support IFOAM Organics Europe
IFOAM ORGANICS EUROPE KEY SUPPORTER 2020
IFOAM ORGANICS EUROPE MEDIA PARTNER 
 
Help us to make Europe more organic
 

The contributions of sponsors allow IFOAM Organics Europe to focus on its most important work – representing organic stakeholders. This funding is a means to co-finance IFOAM Organics Europe events, projects and publications and is a highly valued contribution to our work.

Are you interested in getting visibility in IFOAM Organics Europe’s communication? Contact supportus@organicseurope.bio.
 

© IFOAM Organics Europe 2004 to 2020

Please send any comments or contributions to the newsletter to communication@organicseurope.bio.

For further information contact your national Council member or the office in Brussels.
Editors: Eva Berckmans, Eric Gall. With the contribution of Gaëlle Cau, Verena Mitschke.

This newsletter is co-financed by the European Union under the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME). The sole responsibility for this communication lies with IFOAM Organics Europe. The EASME is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information provided.

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