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March 2023 Newsletter

Dear Readers, 

Welcome to the March edition of our newsletter! We are excited to share with you the latest news and updates from the organic sector and movement. 

As you may recall, we sent a special, multilingual edition with an outlook on 2023 in February. Did you miss it? You can still catch it up here in EN, CZ, DE, ES, FR, HU, IT, LT, NL, PL, PT, RO.  

This is why in the current edition we cover news and events from the end of 2022 and the first three months of 2023, an especially busy period for our organization.  
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Political hotspot

After a postponement in November 2022, on 22 March 2023 the European Commision's proposal for a Directive on substantiation and communication of explicit environmental claims (Green Claims Directive) has been published. While we welcome the withdrawal of prevalence of the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) in the text, we are still calling for caution when it comes to the mention of Life Cycle Assessment. 
 
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News
Policy
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
All CAP Strategic Plans approved and Parliament’s report on long-term vision for rural areas adopted
 

On 13 December, the European Commission approved the last national Common Agricultural Policy’s (CAP) Strategic Plan and the European Parliament approved its own initiative report on the Commission’s long-term vision for rural areas.

 
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Organic Regulations


 
GMO & Seed
Successful GMO petition handover to the Commission
 

On February 7, environmental, agricultural, and consumer rights organizations gathered in front of the European Parliament in Brussels to officially hand over a petition to the European Commission demanding to keep the new generation of genetically modified organisms 'regulated and labelled'. The petition ran from April to November 2022 and received 420.000 signatures.  
 
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GMOs – An easy breakdown on common myths

Global grassroots organization Slow Food International has recently published a short myth-busting article with the most common, but wrong and misleading assumptions about the promises of New Genomic Techniques (NGTs or new GMOs).

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New year, old narratives – Why genetic engineering is (still) not the solution to food security

The European Commission kicked off 2023 by publishing a report on the drivers of food security, recognising the value of organic farming for biodiversity and supporting the transition towards less pesticides’ dependency.
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European Court of Justice decision on ‘in vitro’ mutagenesis strengthens 2018 ruling subjecting gene editing to EU GMO Directive

The recent ruling by the European Court of Justice, published on 7 February, closes a 2015 case brought forward by the French small farmers’ association Confédération Paysanne, together with eight other environmental organizations.
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EU Environmental Ministers give clear signal to Commission to maintain precautionary principle & risk assessment for NGTs

On 16 March, the Council meeting of environmental ministers sent a decisive message to the European Commission as a large majority of ministries that took a stance on New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) sided with the concerns of environmental and organic NGOs.
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Food policy
EU Organic Awards 2023: Apply before 14 May!
 

Organic operators can apply for eight awards within seven categories, including best organic farmer female, best organic farmer male, best organic region, best organic city, best organic “bio-district”, best organic food retailer, best organic food processing SME, and best organic restaurant/food service, which has been renamed to allow for more participants to apply.  
 
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Promotion policies 2023: How can the organic sector make the most of this opportunity? – Member-only webinar 

Our member-only sessions ‘Let's Discuss Organic’ are back! Take part in our monthly online live sessions in which you, our members, can actively engage with experts, deepen your knowledge or exchange on specifically chosen topics. 
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Large share of EU funds available to promote sustainable agriculture in 2023 

On 16 December, the European Commission has adopted the 2023 Annual Work Programme on the promotion of agricultural products. To help realise the European Green Deal’s shift to more sustainable food systems, the European Commission earmarked a big share of the 2023’s EU promotion budget to sustainable agriculture. 
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Biodiversity, soil and water
Agreement on new deforestation law

EU consumption is responsible for around 10% of global deforestation. In the beginning of December, the Council and European Parliament reached a provisional deal on a new law on deforestation-free products, which should ensure that no products are sold from land subject to deforestation or forest degradation in the EU.
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What the Global Biodiversity Framework means for agriculture

Two years later than initially planned, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, world leaders adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). It was agreed upon at the UN Biodiversity conference held in Montreal, Canada from 7-19 December, chaired by China.
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Plant healthcare
The Sustainable Use of Pesticides Regulation (SUR), moving forward but slowly
 

The legislative process of the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Regulation (SUR) proposed by the European Commission back in June 2022 is moving forward but slowly.  
 
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Promoting recycled fertilizers in Europe: IFOAM Organics Europe position paper & outcomes policy workshop on closing the nutrients’ cycle
 

On 28 February, IFOAM Organics Europe has published a new position paper on the Commission’s Integrated Nutrients Management Action Plan (INMAP), expected to be adopted in Spring 2023. 
 
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Knowledge for organic
New project on intercropping for agrifood value chains & ecosystem services: IntercropValueES

As IFOAM Organics Europe, we are taking part in the new Horizon Europe project, IntercropValuES. With 7.4 million EUR funding, the project will promote intercropping for diversified, resilient, and environmentally-friendly cropping systems, sustainable for the entire the agri-food chain.

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BIOFRUITNET project ending: Stronger networks in organic fruit growers

Knowledge sharing is the key for bringing together organic actors, share innovative ideas and identify the best practices in organic farming. Over the past 3 years BIOFRUITNET strengthened organic fruit grower networks and evaluated and selected locally known strategies and best practices from organic farmers over 18 European countries making them easily accessible across Europe. 
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IFOAM Organics Europe developments
Exciting news: We have moved to a new office, the Organic House!

We are thrilled to share with you that IFOAM Organics Europe’s office has moved to a new location early March. Don’t worry, we haven’t moved far away from our current location. After 20 years we said goodbye to Rue du Commerce 124, and we usher in a era of the Organic House at Rue Marie-Thérèse 11. 
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Saying goodbye to our colleagues
Kalle Köster

Kalle Köster has been part of IFOAM Organics Europe’s policy unit from September to December 2022 as trainee through the Leonardo programme.
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Bérénice Cau

IFOAM Organics Europe says goodbye to Bérénice, our great team member. Bérénice coordinated our flagship project on pesticide contamination.
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Martin Sommer

We also say goodbye to our colleague Martin. With his educational background in both international relations and biology, he was the perfect fit to join the policy team.
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Marie Filippovits

Since September 2022, Marie Filippovits has supported the Research & Innovation unit at IFOAM Organics Europe (TP Organics and the Organic Farm Knowledge platform), as well as some policy and projects-related tasks.
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Hannah Gläser

Hannah played a huge role in our fundraising efforts towards private foundations, and she even helped develop two new proposals. Along with Marie, our R&I volunteer, she also put together a document outlining the key arguments we want to use with foundations.
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Did you know that, as IFOAM Organics Europe member, you can receive push notifications when we upload member-only news on the extranet? Follow these simple steps:

  • Download the SharePoint app to your mobile device (& allow notifications)
  • Visit our member extranet on the same device
  • Open the menu in the top right corner & click on 'Follow'

Are you an IFOAM Organics Europe member and you do not have access to the member extranet yet? Or do the steps above not work? Please check our FAQ or contact membership@organicseurope.bio.
Events
Review of past events
 


 
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“Being Organic in EU” project events in Biofach
 

The BEING ORGANIC in EU project is a promotion campaign proposed by FederBio in cooperation with Naturland co-financed by the European Union under EU Regulation No. 1144/2014., which aims to increase and strengthen the consideration of European organic farming in the Italian and German markets by raising awareness and recognition of EU organic farming practices and the EU organic logo.

 
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Calendar of events

16-17 April 2023 
Natural & Organic Products Europe 
London, UK 

18 April 2023
Let's Discuss Organic - Members only webinar
Online

22-23 May 2023
Organic Food Conference
Italy

7-8 June 2023
Organic Food Iberia
Madrid, Spain

15-16 June 2023
Sustainable Foods Summit
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

21 June 2023
IFOAM Organics Europe General Assembly (member-only governing event)
Brussels, Belgium
Making Europe more organic
IFOAM ORGANICS EUROPE KEY SUPPORTER 2023
YEAR OF ORGANIC PARTNERS
MEDIA PARTNERSHIP
ORGANIC REGULATION GUIDE GOLDEN SPONSORS
IFOAM ORGANICS EUROPE PARTNERS
 
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 2023

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

For further information contact your national board member or the office in Brussels.

Editors IFOAM Organics Europe newsletter: Eva Berckmans, Emanuele Busacca & Eric Gall. With the contribution of Elena Fazio

This newsletter is co-financed by the LIFE programme of the European Union, under the under the Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). This publication only reflects the views of the authors and its sole responsibility lies with IFOAM Organics Europe. CINEA is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information provided.

IFOAM Organics Europe

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