Listen to first episode of the #Food4EU podcast with IFOAM Organics Europe President Jan Plagge on the European Union’s role in shaping the organic market

IFOAM Organics Europe President Jan Plagge spoke during the first episode of the new podcast series on food and farming “The Food for Europe podcast”, launched by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development.

The first episode “Organics: The European Union’s role in shaping the market” focused on introducing organics. Hosts Paul Anderson and Patrick Delfosse interviewed European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski, Irish farmer Trevor Harris and IFOAM Organics Europe President Jan Plagge. Together they discussed the definition of organic, traced the journey of the organic sector and shared their experiences and concerns for the development of the organic sector in the future.

Jan Plagge stated that, “we [do] have not a level playing field for farm decisions. One example is the implementation of the [Common Agricultural Policy] CAP rural development measures in pillar 2. Organic farmers often get less money for better performance than conventional farmers who reduce pesticides, while organic reduce to zero and have 10-20 other benefits. Policymakers need a fair system of indicators showing which farming system delivers best ecosystem services, climate protection and animal welfare in the long term.”

Listen to the entire episode in English, French or German.

This European podcast series will consist of 5 episodes focusing on organic farming as a key part of the Farm to Fork strategy with its 25% organic land target in the EU by 2030. New episodes are released every two weeks in English, French and German and are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and SoundCloud. Stay tuned for further contributions from the European organic movement!