M3.5 ‐ Organic plant breeding in a systems‐based approach and integration of organic plant breeding in value chain partnerships

Developing organic breeding is a key challenge for the organic sector. It is necessary to better adapt varieties to the specific needs of the organic sector (disease resistance, taste, weed suppressing ability, etc). It is also important to enable the organic sector to face the requirements of the New Organic Regulation (EU 2018/848). From 2036, exemptions to the use non‐organic seeds will not be granted any more (Article 53, Regulation 2018/848). The active participation of breeders, farmers, processors, retailers and traders is crucial to develop organic breeding. They all play a critical role and share the responsibility in upscaling organic plant breeding and ensuring future food security, food quality and climate robust agriculture as well as integrity of the value chain. Even consumers could take part in supporting organic plant breeding with informed purchases. On the 12 of February 2019, IFOAM EU, the Louis Bolk Institute (Netherlands) and FiBL Switzerland co‐organized a workshop ‘Organic plant breeding in a system‐based approach and integration of organic plant breeding in value chain partnership’ as part of the Horizon 2020 project LIVESEED. The workshop took place at the largest organic trade fair at Nürnberg Messe biofach to reach out to different actors of the organic sector. The main objective of this workshop was to gather interested stakeholders across the value chain to discuss the responsibilities and their potential concrete engagements in facilitating organic plant breeding. Organized as a world café workshop 1, the participants had the opportunity to discuss three main issues: - Why should different value chain actors support organic plant breeding? - The advantage of organic plant breeding for the value chain (farmer, processors, traders). - The advantage of organic plant breeding for consumers and society (local and global). This report describes in detail the main conclusion of the discussions held during this workshop

Seeds in the new organic regulation. What will change the new organic regulation regarding seed?

Presentation about what will change in the new organic regulation regarding seeds

Preventing GMO contamination

Organic farming in Europe is on the up. In 2012, organic farms covered 11.2 million hectares in Europe, of which almost 10 million hectares was in the 28 EU Member States (EU-28). Among the ‘old’ Member States, the so-called EU-15, Spain, Italy, Germany and France were the countries with the biggest organic farming sectors, while Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania were the biggest among the ‘new’ Member States or EU-13. Per capita spending on organic products in Europe in 2012 was €34.7, while total retail sales were around €22.7 billion. And the future continues to look bright: experts estimate that the market will double by 2020 (Meredith, S., Willer, H., 2012). But there are still a number of factors that could hold back this expected growth, not the least of which is the threat of contamination. In the EU, conventional food and feed containing GMOs have to be labelled, although Regulation 1829/2003 does allow for the adventitious and technically unavoidable presence of a GMO in a given ingredient, provided it remains below 0.9%. By definition, organic products are free from genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The EU regulation for organic food and farming specifically states that “GMOs and products produced from or by GMOs shall not be used as food, feed, processing aids, plant protection products, fertilisers, soil conditioners, seeds, vegetative propagating material, micro-organisms and animals in organic production” (European Community, 2007; article 9)

Practical guidelines: How to avoid GMOs contaminations

After an overview of the different legal texts to consider regarding organic farming and GMOs, these guidelines provide specific recommendations to farmers and food & feed processors

Les plantes tolérant les herbicides attaquées au Conseil d’État : la CJUE sera consultée

Depuis 2010, une partie de la société civile française s’est mobilisée pour contrer le développement des variétés rendues tolérantes aux herbicides (VrTH). En 2015, plusieurs organisations ont déposé un recours devant le Conseil d’État pour mettre sous les projecteurs ces OGM cachés et l’inaction du gouvernement dans ce dossier. Un an plus tard, le Conseil d’État montre un intérêt tout particulier pour la question. Une première victoire pour ces structures ! Au cours de l’audience, qui a eu lieu le lundi 19 septembre, la rapporteure publique a proposé au Conseil d’État d’interroger la Cour de Justice de l’Union européenne (CJUE) sur la conformité de la directive 2001/18 par rapport au principe de précaution. Le 3 octobre, le Conseil d’État a décidé de suivre les conclusions de la rapporteure et renvoie le dossier à la CJUE

National Report for Spain: How to improve the production and the use of organic seeds? National recommendations for Spain

This report presents the results of a national level workshop held in Madrid on the 8th of April 2019, under the Horizon 2020 funded LIVESEED project 1. The overall aim of LIVESEED is to boost the production and use of organic seed across Europe. This report was prepared as part of Work Package 01 of the project titled ‘Regulation & policy framework regarding production, use and transparency of organic seed’. The Workshop was co-organised by our LIVESEED partners Society for Organic Farming & Agroecology (SEAE) and Ecovalia