EU Agriculture ministers will once again discuss and possibly reach a political agreement on the proposed Council regulation on organic production – adopted by the European Commission a year ago – during the upcoming Agriculture Council of Ministers’ meeting scheduled to take place between 19 and 21 December in Brussels. Organic production – a method which aims to grow agricultural products in an environmentally-friendly and sustainable way with the minimal use of pesticides and artificial fertilisers – has seen a relatively impressive growth in the EU since the adoption of the first-ever Community framework for organic farming and food production (EEC) No. 2092/91.
Nevertheless, statistics show that it still represents a tiny share of the whole EU farming activity and in 2001, the Swedish Presidency invited the Commission to propose a European Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming (EAP) which led to the proposal for a new regulation to amend the present one. The new regulation should also be viewed in light of the 2003 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), primarily designed to cut over-production and which also seeks to improve the integration of environmental considerations as part of its second pillar – the rural development policy – of which organic farming is a full part.
The new regulation, proposed to apply from 1 January 2009 aims to improve clarity for both consumers and farmers by being simpler and clearer and by allowing a certain amount of strictly regulated flexibility taking account of regional differences in climate and conditions. It explicitly covers organic production and not just labelling, defining the objectives, principles and basic labelling, controls, imports and production rules which are completely revised.
As originally proposed, the new regulation leaves it up to the organic food producers whether to use the EU organic logo which is therefore not mandatory. If they choose not to, their products must still be labelled as “EU organic” given that at least 95 per cent of the final product is organic. However, during the last agriculture Council meeting in October, a majority of ministers accepted the approach proposed by the Finnish Presidency on the labelling of organic products which established three categories of labelling depending on the amount of organic ingredients in the final product: a “golden standard” labelling for products containing at least 95 per cent organic ingredients with mention of the sales denomination, the EU logo and the ingredients; “emphasised labelling” for foodstuffs containing at least 70 per cent organic ingredients including the percentage of organic foodstuffs, sales denomination and list of ingredients; and “ingredients labelling” for products containing less than 70 per cent organic ingredients which should include a list of ingredients. Additionally, the Presidency suggested that the indication of origin for farm produce should only appear on labels if the EU logo is used – hence for first category products – except in the case of processed products.
The new regulation also excludes products containing GMOs from being labelled as organic except for those containing just up to 0.9 per cent of GMO content through accidental contamination. This issue however is still to be addressed given some differences over which labelling should be applied on organic products in the event of accidental GMO contamination.
The preparation and sale to the final consumer of meals in large-scale kitchens such as restaurants and hotels is also excluded from the new regulation but it does cover unprocessed agricultural products regardless of their final use while processed agricultural products are proposed to be covered for as far as they are intended for human and animal consumption namely feed, processed plant, livestock and aquaculture products.
As regards imports, the new regulation proposes that as from 1 January 2007, single-product access to the EU market will be granted either on the basis of compliance with the EU standards or on the basis of equivalent guarantees certified by control bodies that have been approved by the European Commission, meaning that there will be an approval mechanism for third country certification bodies.
Controls will be also made simpler but more effective with organic inspection being incorporated into the regular public food inspection, implying major changes in the current inspection and certification system which in the end improves the free circulation. Apart from this, for imports from third countries it would not be compulsory to put the logo or the origin on the label. However, the indication of origin would be compulsory if the operator uses the EU logo.
In Malta, prior to EU accession, the organic farming sector was almost non-existent with just a small group of farmers claiming to be using methods of organic production. But both certification and legislation were absent at that time and in 2004 thus, a new legal notice (LN237/2004) – also known as the Organic Farming Regulations – was published in order for Malta to transpose the EU organic regulation.
The Organic Farming Unit was also set up and together with the Malta Standards Authority established a certification system, with the first certificate being awarded in December 2004. Additionally, organic farmers are currently being given a payment of e600 per hectare on an annual basis under the Promotion of Organic Farming scheme which falls under the Agri-Environment Measure as part of the Rural Development Plan for Malta for 2004-6.
Regrettably, participation from local farmers remains low with only eight approved and certified producers currently under transition to organic farming who altogether farm just 13.6 hectares of agricultural land. Moreover, the market is still not well organised with most growers selling their products on the vegetable market with the “normal” products. On the other hand, some supermarkets may be interested in the idea of selling organic but unfortunately farmers are not organised enough to furnish the demand on regular basis. Hopefully, with more awareness, support and organisation, there will be an increase in farmers who recognise the environmental and animal welfare benefits from growing organic especially now that thanks to the proposed new regulation, it will supposedly be easier for consumers to distinguish organic products while producers will be bound by easier, simpler and more transparent rules.
Ronald Mizzi is research analyst at Forum Malta fl-Ewropa
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