New EU organic farming rules will benefit us all
THE European Parliament recently adopted a new organic farming regulation.
The new rules will benefit farmers and consumers and guarantee food quality, animal health and environmental protection.
The existing rules were seriously out of date, having been adopted in the 90s. The organic sector has grown hugely since then so new simplified rules were needed.
One change that I very much welcomed was that all organic imports to the EU will now have to meet the same high standards as EU produce.
This will ensure that our farmers can better compete but it also gives confidence to consumers that when they choose organic food they are getting exactly what it says on the label.
Other changes include allowing traditional seeds and farmers own varieties to be sold. This should help the organic sector to grow and develop in a way that meets challenges like climate change.
Nurturing soil to cultivate healthy plants is essential and under the new rules plants will have to be grown in soil. There was pressure to allow intensive greenhouse production using artificial substitutes but MEPs did not agree that this was acceptable.
A few countries already practice out-of-soil growing but this will be phased out over the next 10 years.
Parliament has also asked the European Commission to investigate how to avoid contamination of organic farms by pesticides. The new rules mean that more data will be collected on this so by 2025 a lot more will be known and appropriate measures taken.
I welcome the progress made on supporting organic farming and I’m sure many in Wales will too.
At a time when trade negotiations are very much in people’s minds, it is good to have more certainty. Leaving the EU would have a very negative affect on Wales. Staying in the Single Market and the Customs Union would at least secure our largest export market.
That is what Plaid Cymru continues to call for because, next to staying in the EU, it is in Wales’ national interest.