Developing Organics project on Pesticide Use and Contamination
IFOAM Organics Europe’s Pesticide Use & Contamination project came to an end in December 2022. However, our activities on the management of residues continued in 2023.
The main objective of the project was to agree on a common approach of the organic sector and movement on how to deal with pesticide residue findings before 2025, when the Commission will issue the report on implementation and a possible legislative proposal for harmonisation.
To achieve that, the project had four purposes:
- Understanding the level of pesticide presence and contamination affecting food and farming sector, with a focus on organic, and the environment;
- Understanding how competent authorities, control bodies & authorities, and organic operators are dealing with pesticide presence and contamination;
- Reaching a fair and harmonised legislative framework for the organic agri-food sector with harmonised procedures for operators, control bodies & authorities in case of residue findings;
- Better integration of the IFOAM principles of organic farming into EU legislative frameworks (Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 on Plant Protection Products) and stronger coherency of indicators in the framework of the application of the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive (SUD) 2009/128/EC.
In the project context and thanks to the collaboration with FiBL, the following deliverables and scientific reports were produced:
- A scientific article on pesticide presence in the environment including surface water, ground water, air, soil, wild plants and post-harvesting activities. The article titled “Presence of pesticides in the environment, transition into organic food, and implications for quality assurance along the European organic food chain – A review” was published in the scientific journal Environmental Pollution;
- A policy brief based on the article was published on the Swiss journal Agrar Forschung Schweiz;
- A report on contaminants on food products based on a comprehensive survey broadly circulated to organic stakeholders and analysing 130 replies from 21 EU and non-EU countries;
- A report based on a questionnaire sent to 220 Control Bodies & Authorities illustrating the decisions taken by control bodies & authorities in Europe. In the questionnaire six hypothetical residue cases were presented;
- A pilot study on spray drift on 5 small vineyard organic farms in Switzerland.
In the context of the project, a specific Task Force was established. It was composed by experts from all over the EU and covering all the supply-chain as well as control and certification actors.
Two workshops have been organised on 29 June and 20 October 2022, with experts and organic stakeholders, to discuss the deliverables and the possible solutions for harmonisation.
Finally, IFOAM Organics Europe contributed to the establishment and participated to the meetings of the so-called RESCUE group, a group created to exchange information and project results with other EU initiatives, projects and organisations working on residue management in organics.
As final outcome of the project, IFOAM Organics Europe’s Position Paper has been published in May 2023, based on the outcomes of the project and on internal processes with our membership. The Position Paper represents a milestone and a guide that was expected from many organic stakeholders both in and outside the EU. It was distributed to EU Policy Makers, organic stakeholders, and non-organic actors as well.
Advocacy activities on the Organic Regulation and on horizontal regulations related to plant protection products, such as the Regulation on Agricultural Inputs and Outputs (SAIO) and the future Regulation on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides (SUR), have never stopped and still continue today.