Welcome Note December 2023

Dear readers,

December is the time when we usually draw conclusions and think about New Year’s resolutions. If you could choose one word to describe the year 2023, which one would it be? For us at IFOAM Organics Europe, the 2023 key word is “teamwork”. Teamwork with our members, specifically our Board and Council, but also our many interest and expert groups. Representing the organic movement with the EU institutions requires us to work in a complex political scene, and this type of work is best done as a team.

I would say that it is timelier than ever to have a strong and united advocate in Brussels to transform food and farming. As you might have seen in the news, there was a disappointing vote in the European Parliament’s Plenary in which MEPs voted down pesticides reduction. This goes against the calls of more than 1 million EU citizens who want to save bees and farmers. We protested in front of the European Parliament to remind them about society’s demands for sustainable food system law and joined our Belgian and Dutch members to demand a Europe in which old and new GMOs continue to be regulated.

Earlier this week, many national Ministers of Agriculture highlighted the need to respect the choice of organic producers not to allow new genomic techniques (NGTs) in organic production. Several Member States’ representatives also insisted that this should be practically possible through traceability, labelling and coexistence measures (including for so-called NGT of category 1). As Organics Europe, we welcome this as well as Ministers’ acknowledgement of the need to protect European breeders and farmers from patents and monopolisation of genetic resources. You can read more about the recent policy process in our in-depth articles and our political hot spot.

But, before you continue reading on about policies, I want to remind you that we also had times for being together and highlighting inspiring examples. In September we did so in an intense week in which there were the EU Organic Day on 23 September, the EU Organic Awards ceremony on 25 September and our annual European Organic Congress 26-28 September. If you want to get inspired by the movement’s activities on and around EU Organic Day and the award winners, please check out the dedicated articles.

Of course, we continued these connections after September. More recently the Brussels office met old and newer, value-driven organic practitioners during our 2-day staff excursion. We also welcomed many representatives throughout the supply chain at the meetings of our Interest Groups on Organic Processing (IGOP) and Certification and Integrity (IGOC) and at IFOAM Organics Europe Meets Business. Moments like these where we connect in-person with actors from along the value chain allow us to build lasting connections and have an impact.

So, instead of making a New Year’s resolution, I want to assure you that the IFOAM Organics Europe team and I will continue to be the voice of the entire organic value chain in Brussels. We need to ensure your voice is heard in the coming months before the EU elections – in which many legislative files are being negotiated – and after the EU elections.

You can read how in our next newsletter. It will be a special edition in which we will look at the year ahead and which we will make available in a few European languages. This will enable you to carry on this knowledge to your national members, network and/or policymakers.

Don’t panic, the future is organic!
Eduardo Cuoco
IFOAM Organics Europe’s Director