Food policy

European farming practices are influenced by a variety of European policy areas. These include the Common Agriculture Policy; legislation governing the marketing of seed and plant propagating material, water and soil use, the use of GMOs in food, feed and farming, animal health and welfare; as well as consumer-related policies, such as food information and labelling. In each of these areas, IFOAM Organics Europe works with like-minded organisations to advocate for a legislative framework promoting environmentally positive farming practices. 

Silvia Schmidt

Policy Manager

silvia.schmidt@organicseurope.bio

In December 2019, the European Commission unveiled its European Green Deal (EGD). It aims for Europe to become the first carbon-neutral continent and is a “new growth strategy that aims to transform the EU into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy where there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases in 2050 and where economic growth is decoupled from resource use”. The EGD comprises several strategies, including the Farm to Fork (F2F) Strategy and the EU Biodiversity Strategy, unveiled on 20 May 2020. 

The Farm to Fork Strategy is at the heart of the European Green Deal and “addresses the challenges of sustainable food systems in a comprehensive way, recognising the inextricable links between healthy people, healthy societies and a healthy planet”. The F2F is notably characterised by setting certain targets meant support to transition towards sustainable food systems, such as reaching 25% organic land or reducing the use and risk of pesticides by 50% by 2030.  

However, the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine have contributed to a shift in political priorities towards focusing on EU competitiveness and the simplification of EU rules.  

The European Commission’s Vision for Agriculture and Food sets out a strategic direction for the EU’s agri-food sector through to 2040. Published on 19 February 2025, the document aims to provide clarity and ambition for the sector in the aftermath of geopolitical events and widespread protests from farmers. It seeks to balance multiple objectives: improving competitiveness, ensuring food security, simplifying regulatory burdens, encouraging generational renewal, and promoting sustainability. Central to the Vision is the idea that innovation can drive the transition toward more sustainable food systems, enabling what the Commission calls a “win-win” for farmers, nature, and consumers alike. We regret that this Vision takes a primarily agricultural perspective, with less attention to the broader food supply chain or dietary transformation. 

However, organic farming receives specific and relatively positive attention. Organic is described as a growing sector that contributes to environmental benefits and is increasingly attractive to younger generations entering agriculture. The Commission explicitly recognises the value of organic practices in delivering ecosystem services, maintaining healthy soils, and contributing to the sector’s vitality. It commits to continued support for organic farming and plans to reduce administrative burdens through a legislative simplification package that includes organic-specific considerations.

IFOAM Organics Europe’s members find a more detailed breakdown of what the Farm to Fork Strategy had put forward on organic, the CAP, fertilisers, pesticides, and much more on the IFOAM Organics Europe member extranet. A similar briefing can be found on the Vision for Agriculture and Food for members here. 

For more information about membership and access to the extranet, contact membership@organicseurope.bio. 

IFOAM Organics Europe President Jan Plagge participated in the Strategic Dialogue on the future of agriculture. This process was launched by Commission President von der Leyen during her state of the Union speech in September 2023. The Strategic Dialogue brought together several stakeholders across the supply chain – NGOs, farmers, retailers and trade organisations – with the objective to develop recommendations aimed at addressing the current challenges farmers are facing. The members of the high-level forum comprised of presidents and directors of the different stakeholder organisations and they were directly invited by Ursula von  der Leyen. The Strategic Dialogue counted overall 29 members (e.g. COPA-COGECA, CEJA, Greenpeace, Birdlife, FoodDrinkEurope, EuroCommerce and many more. 

On the 4 September Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented the report which was adopted by  consensus by all participants of the Dialogue. The outcome should now feed into the Vision for agri-food that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced for the first 100 days of her second mandate. 

Key take aways from the report 

• Clear recognition of organic farming as the leading legally regulated sustainability systems (with several actions to strengthen organic: promotion through marketing and public procurement, CAP to support the conversion and maintenance of organic, advice and training, education, research and development and animal welfare labelling). 
• Creation of a legal framework for the recognition of sustainable certified agricultural systems (such as organic) in the fulfilment of specific regulations and their implementation rules (‘tailored approach’). 
• Strengthening farmers position in the supply chain with several approaches to ensure decent revenues from the market to avoid selling products systematically below production costs. 
• Reconciling supply and demand of sustainable products. 
• Establishment of a governance structure for the continuation of the high-level dialogue format in the form of a European board on agri-food (EBAF). 

What is in it specifically for organic? 

The report recognizes the important role of organic as the only legally regulated sustainable agricultural system. Many aspects of the report are certainly relevant for organic farming, but the report also includes a specific chapter (2.2.3) on how to strengthen and reinforce the organic sector with the following measures: 

• Ensuring a balanced development of supply and demand by stimulating demand for organic products, such as through sustainable public procurement; 
• A revision of Directive 2014/24/EU on Public Procurement should include a framework for Member State targets to progressively increase the procurement of sustainable food, including minimum standards for organic products (Chapter 2.1.2). 
• Strengthening the organic market by investing in promoting the European organic logo in the EU and third  countries and supporting retailers and processors with more coherent requirements and less burdensome rules and controls; 
• Ensure adequate funding through CAP to support the conversion and maintenance of organic farms; 
• Enhance funding for organic research within European innovation partnerships and upcoming EU research programmes; 
• Establish policies and funding mechanisms for knowledge creation and dissemination, and mainstream education to organic farming and agroecology in agricultural training at all levels;  
• Foster the growth of organic farming networks and advisory services at national and EU levels. 

The ‘tailored approach’ should support farmers who are engaged in certified sustainable farming methods and voluntarily comply with certification schemes. Holding a recognised certificate would demonstrate that the farmers are compliant with generic measures and obligations stemming from a certain legislation and would therefore reduce the administrative burden and lift certain generic requirements. Furthermore, in the context of a revision of the animal welfare legislation, the Commission is asked to propose a comprehensive multi-tiered EU-wide animal welfare labelling scheme. Organic farming is manifested as the gold standard for animal welfare and should be featured as the highest level within the animal welfare labelling. In the context of rural development, bio districts are highlighted as a structure to be promoted.

An important tool to further develop the organic sector is a comprehensive and well-designed action plan for organic production in the EU, Organic Action Plan (OAP) in short. 

On 25 March 2021, the Commission published the 2021-2027 Organic Action Plan, aiming at balancing increases in both production of and demand for organic products. We developed a comprehensive infographic summarising how this new OAP can transform European food and farming through concrete steps to boost organic. IFOAM Organics Europe was delighted to see many points we advocated for were included in the new OAP. We particularly welcome: 

• Minimum mandatory criteria for organic in public procurement; 
• Ringfencing of at least 30% of Horizon Europe’s budget to topics relevant to the organic sector; and  
• Actions on taxation and the real cost of food.  

Furthermore, action 14 of the OAP states “The Commission will (…) encourage Member States to support the development and the implementation of ‘bio-districts’”. Have a look at our page on the CAP & rural development to learn about bio-districts. 

Interested readers can have a look at our extensive ten-pager with the European organic movement’s main suggestions for the new OAP prior to its publication, as well as our leaflet with the ten priorities to boost both organic demand and production. 

Food policies like Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) and promotional policies also play a big role in further promoting organic. You can read more about SPP in the next section. IFOAM Organics Europe’s members can read all about applying for promotional policies to promote organic and sustainable products on our member extranet.

More and more institutional bodies are recognizing the potential of public procurement to improve the sustainability of many economic sectors. Beyond reducing the environmental impact public sector consumption causes, sustainable public procurement of food can generate many positive externalities at the social and economic level, by creating new markets for producers. Member States, regions, or cities are looking at Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) of food to stimulate innovation in environmental technologies, products and services. Some examples of implementation are particularly successful, showing that sustainable public procurement is a low-hanging fruit, delivering many benefits across Europe while being cost-effective.  

Among the positive examples are the city of Copenhagen. They reached almost 90% organic public procurement in its public canteens, all by reducing food waste and with no effect on expenditure. The French city of Mouans-Sartoux, co-leading the BioCanteens project is another one of those examples. For the past 20 years, Mouans-Sartoux has managed to distribute fully organic and local food daily. The drastic reduction of food waste and adapted menus compensated the higher cost of switching to organic products. 

Institutions sourcing organically is a lever for change

Sourcing organically is one example of how institutions can advance their sustainability and promote the development of environmentally friendly and sustainable agriculture and food practices. Organic public procurement is a strategic lever to sustainable and systemic change. IFOAM Organics Europe advocates for organic’s recognition as sustainable alternative in public procurement. We are doing so by transmitting best practices and initiatives, and shedding light on the benefits of organic, plant-based and healthier meals in sustainable public procurement –  fewer CO₂-emissions that can go up to 50% less food waste on plate, less pesticide exposure for children, and less costs on public health.﷟  

IFOAM Organics Europe is a member of the Food Policy Coalition (FPC) and co-leads the FPC’s public procurement task force. We coordinated and contributed to the Paper “Sustainable Public Procurement of Food: A Goal Within Reach”, making the case that school public procurement is a low-hanging fruit in terms of policy options, and should be driving systemic changes. The paper also demonstrates sustainable public procurement of food are successful across Europe, can be cost-effective and should be further taken up at the local and regional level. We also contributed to the elaboration of the FPC’s policy recommendations on food public procurement. 

Furthermore, IFOAM Organics Europe is a core member of the Buy Better Food Campaign (BBF Campaign), a Europe-wide coalition of more than 100 members (local and regional governments and NGOs), calling for public procurement rules that work for the environment, consumers, and workers, and that provide healthy food to all European citizens in public places such as schools, hospitals and elderly care homes.  

IFOAM coordinated and contributed to the Manifesto for establishing minimum standards for public canteens across the EU, a document produced within the FPC’s Task Force on Public Procurement, where we advocate for the inclusion of seven mandatory minimum criteria for public canteens, namely:  

• healthy food;  
• at least 20% of organic food;  
• small-scale farmers support;  
• climate action;  
• social economy and labour rights;  
• fair trade, and  
• animal welfare standards.  

The Manifesto is endorsed by several expert organisations, and local and regional governments from around Europe. The Manifesto is also available in Spanish, French, German Italian and Slovak. 

Sustainable Public Procurement in EU policies

Public Procurement rules in the EU are regulated through 3 Directives:  

• Directive 2014/23/EU on the award of concession contracts 
• Directive 2014/24 EU on public procurement 
• Directive 2014/25 EU on procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport, and postal services. This framework regulates public procurement for all sectors, including food.

The European Commission announced in 2024 that it will revise the three Directives for public procurement. The proposal is expected for Q4 of 2026. While this framework advocates more on the general rules of public procurement, i.e., focusing on how to buy rather than what to buy, IFOAM Organics Europe believes this revision should be an opportunity to create an enabling environment that facilitates the purchasing of sustainable products for local authorities.

The European Commission’s Vision for Agriculture and Food sets out a strategic direction for the EU’s agri-food sector through to 2040. Published on 19 February 2025, the document aims to provide clarity and ambition for the sector in the aftermath of geopolitical events and widespread protests from farmers. The Vision mentions the importance of public procurement and proposes to come forward with a legal proposal to strengthen this public policy tool. Specifically, while the Vision does not link directly public procurement to the sourcing of organic products, it does acknowledge that public procurement should pursue a “best value” approach in order to reward quality and sustainability efforts made my European farmers.  

The report of the Strategic Dialogue on the future of EU Agriculture, this process launched by Commission President von der Leyen during her state of the Union in September 2023 and bringing together several stakeholders across the supply chain – including IFOAM Organics Europe- does recognize the clear link between public procurement of food and the development of the demand for organic products. Indeed, it advocates for stimulating demand for organic products, through sustainable public procurement.  

The European Commission explicitly recognised the role of organic in this respect when publishing the Organic Action Plan in March 2021. The Organic Action Plan cites public procurement as a key tool and recognised the need for a greater uptake of organic products in public canteens. 

The main actions foreseen by action 3 of the Organic Action Plan included:  

• Integrating organic products into the minimum mandatory criteria for sustainable food public procurement, to be developed by 2023 as part of the legislative framework for sustainable food systems; 
• Analysing the current situation as regards the application of 2019 EU GPP criteria, based on national action plans on organic farming, coupled to a call on Member States for an increase in the use of GPP by public authorities; 
• Preparing specific events for public administrations in charge of public catering. 

In October 2019, the European Commission published voluntary EU Green Public Procurement (GPP) criteria for food, catering services and vending machines.  Some of the key objectives of this EU GPP criteria-set are: 

• Increasing the share of organic products; 
• Avoiding the consumption of fish and marine products from depleted stocks; 
• Promoting an increased offer in plant-based menus; 
• Avoiding food waste and improving the overall management of waste; 
• Avoiding the use of single-use items; 
• Reducing energy consumption in kitchens and vending machines; and 
• Reducing water consumption in kitchens. 

The labelling of food, including of organic food, informs consumers about the vision behind the production of a given food product. Special attention needs to be paid to ensuring consumers are not misled. 

Organic provides a holistic approach to the environment, society, animal welfare and sustainability and covers wide range of qualities. 

IFOAM Organics Europe monitors the development of different food labelling legislative initiatives in the EU with aim to: 

• Harmonising development of different initiatives on origin labelling and quality logos for as wide a range of products as possible; 
• Securing that the organic logo is the only eco-label for food and organic production, representing the highest standards for animal welfare; and 
• Ensuring that nutritional value labelling does not mislead consumers with regard to the true nutritive quality of products. 

Sustainability labelling

Read IFOAM Organics Europe position paper on sustainability labelling.

Political developments

Ongoing legislative processes

The Commission also proposed a Directive on substantiating green claims based on the product environmental footprint (PEF) on 22 March 2023¸ led by Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV). This legislation is currently in trialogues between the three institutions. 

The substantiating green claims proposal was originally based on the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology. IFOAM’s advocacy work has greatly contributed to the postponement of the Directive and the adjustment stemming from it, i.e a far less prominent place of the PEF methodology in the Directive. However, although the PEF is not as present in the proposal as it used to be, it is still a tool that the Commission aims to develop on the European market. As think tank IDDRI shows, the calculation method behind a sustainability label is a political decision of whether to support or not a transition towards more sustainable food systems. Methods strictly based on a life-cycle analysis, such as the PEF, support sustainable intensification, not a transition of the current food system towards agroecological practices. 

The Product Environmental Footprint (PEF)

The Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) is a methodology that aims to evaluate the environmental impact of a certain product, food, and non-food. This tool is based on a life cycle analysis (LCA) and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Environment has been developing it for about 10 years. 

While this method works for manufactured goods, it is not capable, as per its conception, to account for the environmental impact within the complexity of agri-food systems. The main concern is that the PEF does not adequately account for the environmental impact of food products when it comes to externalities such as the impact of pesticides, the impact on biodiversity or animal welfare.

The PEF can differentiate the environmental impact between food categories, but not within food categories. This is because the PEF does not differentiate well between the impact of different methods of production. For instance, free-range or organic eggs with the least environmental impact and a high level of animal welfare will score the same as eggs from caged hens

Generally, given that the PEF does not consider externalities well, it tends to reward more intensive methods of production. IFOAM Organics Europe has summarized this and other concerns about the PEF in its position paper and in its technical briefing that highlights the limitations of its methodology. 

The PEF methodology applied to food products has been criticised by civil society, farmers and an increasing number of retailers and processors.

The Planet-Score

There are few existing initiatives that go beyond life cycle analysis (LCA) and also support the agroecological transition, in line with the Farm to Fork strategy objectives. An example of one of these initiatives is the Planet-Score that was developed in France and is currently being tested in several Member States. While the Planet-Score is still broadly a work in progress, it more accurately evaluates the true environmental impact of food products compared to other existing methodologies, as it better considers externalities such as biodiversity, use of pesticides, and animal welfare.  

The Planet-Score is mobilizing elements of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), with two fundamental modifications that are going beyond LCA methodologies:  

1. An updated method when it comes to certain indicators 

2. A series of additional key performance indicators to reflect those externalities that are not sufficiently taken into account in the LCA methodology (pesticides, climate, biodiversity, and animal welfare) through a bonus/malus system, which considers elements such as deforestation, agricultural practices, GMOs, pesticides, antibiotics, origin, and carbon sequestration.   

Nutrition labelling

Read our position paper on nutrition labelling.

To transition to a more sustainable food system, push and pull measures and policy support to boost both organic production and demand are needed. A summary on the new Organic Action Plan’s main actions as well as IFOAM Organics Europe’s priorities and suggestions for transforming food and farming are in the above section ‘Reaching 25% organic land in Europe by 2030: Organic Action Plan and other initiatives’ which mainly focuses on the new EU Organic Action Plan.  

Read IFOAM Organics Europe’s position on sustainability labelling, and IFOAM Organics Europe’s position on nutrition labelling.  

Targets for organic land and consumption, combined with a new EU Organic Action Plan and adequate CAP support, will ensure a balanced growth of both organic production and demand, and develop the entire organic supply chain through a push-pull approach. In short, the EU organic movement’s priorities are:  

• Linking the Farm to Fork strategy’s objectives and other policies such as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). We believe that 70% of the CAP budget across its two pillars should be earmarked for environment and climate action, to allow full use of agri-environmental measures under rural development (pillar 2) and of innovative mechanisms like eco-schemes (in pillar 1);  
• Setting a mandatory and progressive EU target of 20% of organic products in public kitchens by 2022, which would increase to 60% by 2030, because a push-pull approach is needed. Denmark’s example proves that policy plays key role to create a market for increased organic production, through Green Public Procurement (GPP) and promotion policies. This is an effective way to develop the organic production chain (retailers, traders, processors…) and give local authorities a prominent role in the Farm to Fork strategy; 
• Establishing systemic, transdisciplinary research & innovation as well as effective advisory services to leverage organic and agroecology’s potential to transform our food and farming systems; 
• Researching organic approaches to plant health and animal production; 
• Setting-up well-funded farm advisory services independent from economic interests, like companies selling inputs, and aimed at helping farmers to transition to agroecological production systems – which are knowledge-intensive rather than input-intensive; 
• Including taxation measures in the Farm to Fork strategy to help Member States make organic products more affordable and shift away from pesticides. The national context should indicate which measures would be most effective; 
• Informing, consumers about food production’s negative and positive externalities, the EU organic logo and the benefits of organic production for the environment and animal welfare. 

The EU Food Policy Coalition

IFOAM Organics Europe is part of the EU Food Policy Coalition. This coalition was created informally in 2019 and works towards policy integration and alignment at the EU-level to facilitate the transition to sustainable food systems. It brings together civil society and organizations working towards refining and advocating for a shared vision of sustainable food systems at the EU level. Partners include NGOs from a broad spectrum working on food systems, grassroots social movements, farmers organizations, organizations of fishers, trade unions, think tanks, scientific and research groups.

We support shifts to more sustainable diet with more plant-based products, less intensive animal production, and innovative governance models for the Farm to Fork Strategy. We believe food policy at all levels should give a prominent role to civil society and local authorities.

Buy Better Food – Sustainable food on the public plate

IFOAM Organics Europe co-leads the Buy Better Food – Sustainable food on the public plate campaign, which aims to raise awareness on sustainable public procurement of food in Europe. This campaign’s main objective is including mandatory criteria for public food procurement in the Sustainable food systems framework initiative, that will be published in 2023.

To achieve its goal, this advocacy campaign will amplify good practices and challenges in public food procurement, demonstrating how it can contribute to sustainable, healthy and fair food systems the EU Farm to Fork Strategy and UN Sustainable Development Goals put forward.

Find out more about the campaign on the official website.

The city of Copenhagen is using green procurement to foster sustainable diets. A combination of forward-looking green procurement policy and a determination to transform food culture are the recipe for success when it comes to increasing organic in public institutions. As of 2017, the share of organic ingredients in meals in public canteens in Copenhagen has reached 89%, and this transition has reshaped the public food system as well as the meals that are served to the citizens of Copenhagen. Read more about this initiative on euorganic2030.bio.

‘Steps to Organic’ is a Finnish voluntary programme for all private and public kitchens. Its purpose is to help increase the use of organic products as part of sustainable development. Consumers can also find restaurants that offer organic food on the programme’s website. For more information, visit euorganic2030.bio.

The work of IFOAM Organics Europe on this topic is co-financed by the LIFE programme of the European Union, under the Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). This page only reflects the views of the authors and its sole responsibility lies with IFOAM Organics Europe. The CINEA is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information provided.