Upcoming vote on the Regulation on Statistics on Agricultural Inputs and Outputs (SAIO) in AGRI Committee

On 2 February 2021, the Commission published its proposal for a Regulation on Statistics on Agricultural Inputs and Outputs (SAIO), which should provide updated data to effectively monitor the implementation of the Farm to Fork strategy, including the targets for reducing the use of pesticides, fertilisers and antibiotics. For IFOAM Organics Europe, this legislative initiative has been an opportunity to highlight the need to produce useful, precise and relevant statistics on organic production and in particular on its approach to agricultural inputs.

We are pleased to see that some of the 300 amendments tabled by the Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI) on the Commission’s proposal introduce relevant improvements, such as the:

• Addition of a disaggregated statical level to specify whether the data are from organic or non-organic farms;
• Creation of statistics on the transition to minimal use of chemical inputs by collecting data on integrated pest management and other indirect measures – which could be a first step in considering the whole plant health strategy implemented by farmers;
• Extension of the scope of data collected to veterinary medicinal products (in addition to PPPs and fertilisers).

The tentative planning announces a vote on the SAIO Regulation in COMAGRI in October. We will continue to follow the developments on this legislative dossier closely.

Please contact [email protected] for questions on pesticides and natural inputs. Do note that we prioritise our members’ requests. For information about what you can gain from being a member, read our membership page and contact [email protected].