Organic in Action! Ten take-aways & evaluation of the European Organic Congress 2020

Thank you for participating in the European Organic Congress 2020 – we hope you enjoyed the experience! 

We would like to ask you to help us to improve by taking few minutes to fill in the Congress evaluation form and give us your feedback on the programme & format of the event. 

Furthermore, below you will find the ten key take-aways from the Congress, as well as the sessions recordings and other relevant information on the event.

1. High-level speakers from the European Commission, European Parliament and German Presidency of the Council of the European Union agree that organic farming is a part of the solution to tackle the biodiversity and climate crises, and to make our food system more resilient.
2. Covid-19 is a tiny rehearsal for much bigger crises, such as the climate and biodiversity crises. A transition to an agricultural system that also provides resilience and mitigates its effects on the environment, and not just produces food is needed.
3. A Common Food Policy – for which the Farm to Fork Strategy is a good first step – is crucial to ensure coherence across our environmental, health, social and trade policies to transition to a fair and sustainable food system in Europe.
4. To reach the EU’s 25% organic land target laid out in the Biodiversity and Farm to Fork Strategies, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should require Member States to set national targets for organic land in their CAP Strategic Plans, to provide sufficient funding for the maintenance of and conversion to organic farming and to ensure a fair remuneration of farmers providing public goods.
5. The new European Organic Action Plan needs to build on lessons learnt and best practices of previous plans to promote organic farming and food production across Europe. The European Commission will launch a public consultation after the summer break.
6. A 1-year postponement of the application of the new organic regulation – from 1 January 2021 to 1 January 2022 – is needed to ensure a smooth transition and to allow organic operators, control bodies and competent authorities to get properly ready. Such initiative would be broadly supported by IFOAM Organics Europe, other EU Agri-Food Federations, the EU Member States and the Committee on Agriculture of the EU Parliament. The European Commission is currently assessing the possibility to postpone.
7. Many farmers, food processors and retailers are already making Europe more organic through inspiring initiatives that enhance organic production along the entire value chain – from farm to fork. Check them out on http://www.euorganic2030.bio.
8. Around 1,000 participants from all over Europe attended this digital congress, which would not have been possible without our sponsors and supporters. The three most frequently mentioned keywords of our audience at the end of this congress were cooperation, hope, and inspiration!
9. Did you miss the chance to participate or do you want to relive the congress? Watch the congress videos, go through our Twitter Moments, and revisit #EOC2020.
10. Thank you to our members, speakers, participants, technical consultants, co-organisers, sponsors, and media partners! You made this congress possible and exciting.

Stay tuned about the date and location of the next edition of the European Organic Congress by visiting organic-congress-ifoameu.org and following @OrganicsEurope on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. IFOAM Organics Europe will post updates about the congress with #EUOrganic2030 and #EOC2021.

Feel free to contact [email protected] if you have any questions about the congress.

Best regards, 
IFOAM Organics Europe  and BÖLW    
[email protected]
organic-congress-ifoameu.org