Large share of EU funds available to promote sustainable agriculture in 2023 

On 16 December 2022, 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. 

28 million EUR for campaigns targeted towards promoting organic farming 

The European Commission wishes to focus on sustainable agriculture, including organic production, to increase awareness and recognition of sustainable production methods. To achieve this, 48 million EUR are dedicated to the promotion of sustainable production, EU quality schemes and organic production.  

Of these 48 million EUR, 28 million EUR are explicitly targeted towards promoting organic production and products.  

Using the opportunity promotion policies offer is crucial 

The budget allocation has changed over the years: in 2021, 49 million EUR were explicitly targeted toward promotion organic production and products. During the previous years, the budget allocated for organic promotion has not been fully used because of a lack of high-quality proposals, which explains this decrease. Therefore, the European Commission has allocated less funding.  

The organic movement will play a role in shaping the budget allocation for promotion policies in the following years by deciding on whether or not to apply and get mobilised on this issue. The call for proposals have opened on 19 January, have a look at the indicative timeline.  

Additional information for IFOAM Organics Europe members 

The Annual Work Programme for 2023 in the framework of promotion policies is available on the Commission’s website. We will keep you updated in the following months of our actions to provide you support on the programmes. Information on this topic will appear on our member extranet. 

For more information, you can already have a look at the Commission’s infographic about the life cycle of promotion programmes, discover the European Commission’s presentation on promotion policies, and the REA’s website dedicated to promotion policies. 

What are promotion policies? 

Promotion policies were implemented in 2008 to:  

• Enhance the competitiveness of the EU agricultural sector;  
• Raise awareness among consumers of EU agricultural products and their methods of production;  
• Increase market opportunities for EU companies.  

These campaigns are either run directly by the European Commission, e.g., to develop trade relations or by proposing organisations such as European trade or inter-trade associations or producers’ organisations. There is a budget of 185.9 million EUR for 2023, split between promotion in the EU internal market with 83.3 million EUR and in third countries with 83.1 million EUR.   

If you want to know more, check our members only webinar out – Promotion policies 2023: How can the organic sector make the most of this opportunity?

Do not hesitate to contact [email protected] with any questions you may have. 

Please do note that we prioritise our members’ requests.