EU to Expand Organic Farming

European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski holds a news conference on the EU's action plan "For the development of organic production: on the way to 2030", in Brussels, Belgium, on March 25, 2021. Yves Herman/Pool/Reuters

BRUSSELS—The European Commission on Thursday said it would expand financial and policy support to help achieve a goal for a quarter of Europe’s farmland to be organic by 2030.

Organic farmland, which restricts chemical pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and genetically modified organisms, has expanded by more than 60 percent over the last decade in the European Union, to nearly 9 percent of the bloc’s agricultural area.

A hen is pictured at an ecological chicken farm in Tiefenbach near Landshut, southern Germany, on Jan. 11, 2011. Michaela Rehle/Reuters

The Commission on Thursday outlined plans to speed up this expansion and stir demand for organic products. Reaching a 25 percent organic share of farmland this decade would protect bees and biodiversity, the Commission said.

European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski holds a news conference on the EU's action plan "For the development of organic production: on the way to 2030," in Brussels, Belgium, on March 25, 2021. Yves Herman/Pool/Reuters

The EU will spend 49 million euros ($57.94 million) on promoting organic products this year, 27 percent of its total budget for promoting EU agricultural products at home and abroad.

The Commission said the EU’s farming subsidy programme, which is being reformed, will offer farmers 38-58 billion euros over 2023-2027 for eco-schemes, including organic production.

European Union flags flutter outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on August 21, 2020. Yves Herman/Reuters

Organic food and farming organisation IFOAM welcomed the EU plan as “a new era for the transformation of our food systems.”

Farmers’ association Copa-Cogeca said in a statement further policies and product innovation would be needed to ensure organic farmers can fend off weeds and pests.

The EU is developing mandatory sustainability requirements for the public procurement of food, which could integrate organic products into school meals or public canteens.

Brussels said national measures, such as removing reduced tax rates on pesticides, could also make organic food less expensive relative to non-organic food.

($1 = 0.8457 euros)

By Kate Abnett