IFOAM Organics Europe welcomes progress for organic seeds but regrets limits to farmer’s seed exchanges
After more than three years of negotiations, policymakers reached a final agreement on the new Regulation for the production and marketing of plant reproductive material (PRM) yesterday in a final trilogue. IFOAM Organics Europe recognises progress in several areas and looks forward to the development of the secondary legislation of the text.
“Biodiversity is essential to make our farming systems more resilient, and the organic movement welcomes that the new PRM legislation will provide organic farmers and breeders with access to more genetically diverse cultivars”, said Eric Gall, Deputy Director of IFOAM Organics Europe. IFOAM Organics Europe acknowledges several positive outcomes of the negotiations. In particular, it welcomes that organic heterogeneous material (OHM) will remain regulated under the Organic Regulation, the adjusted registration protocols for organic varieties, and adapted rules for conservation and locally-adapted varieties. IFOAM Organics Europe looks forward to the adoption of implementing acts for establishing adjusted DUS examination protocols per species for organic varieties.
At the same time, the organic sector is concerned that farmers’ seed exchanges could be restricted by the new legislation. “While we welcome the exclusion of gene banks from the scope, we regret that the exclusion was not extended to all work done for the purpose of conservation of genetic resources and to farmers’ seed exchanges”, added Eric Gall. The organic sector raises concerns that the provisions on farmers’ seed exchange could result in varied implementation across Member States, with some defining strict quantity and geographical restrictions limiting their practical feasibility. “The agrobiodiversity we benefit from nowadays originates from the dynamic management and selection practices carried out by farmers and conservation networks. Limiting these practices runs counter to the objective of protecting agrobiodiversity and farmers should be allowed to access suitable seeds for their local conditions and agricultural practices”, he continued. IFOAM Organics Europe also expressed concerns regarding the extension of the mandatory Value for Sustainable Cultivation and Use (VSCU) tests to potatoes and vines as it risks hampering the development of new varieties.
Finally, the organic movement is concerned that legal progress on PRM allowing more breeding for agrobiodiversity will be offset and jeopardized by abusive exclusive appropriation of plant genetic resources through patents on seeds and on NGTs, and calls on MEPs to vote in plenary on 17 June in favor of amendments to protect breeders and farmers from patents and to safeguard the European model of innovation in breeding.
