Aurora Abad is the Secretary General of the Organic Processing and Trade Association (OPTA). She has been living in Brussels for 20 years working in European Public Affairs, has developed the greater part of her career in the European trade association representing wine companies and is an expert in food safety, consumer issues and environmental sustainability.
Are the European policies being developed consistent with the goals set for 2030?
The share of organics in the EU is steadily increasing, but not sufficiently to meet the 25% target by 2030. One of the main breaks to the growth of organics is that the different EU policies are not aligned to favour food products with better environmental credentials in terms of soil and water pollution or biodiversity. Which is the way forward? Many relevant measures have been identified in the EU organic action plan to boost demand, such as integrating organic products into school meals and workplace canteens through public procurement, communication campaigns to explain their beneficial attributes to consumers or support to companies exporting organics to third country markets. In our views, these are the keys to increase the share of organics.
How does OPTA Europe address the ethical and environmental concerns associated with new genomic techniques?
We stand firmly against gene edition in organics, in line with the principles underlying organics and with consumer’s expectations. But this has to come along with the necessary tools for organic operators to fulfil it, namely mandatory traceability and labelling of all products obtained from NGTs, so that each actor at every step of the supply chain is duly informed if NGT material is involved. For organic companies, the worst-case scenario is a ban of NGTs in organics without the means to effectively accomplish it.
«Drawing lessons from the unfortunate precedent of pesticides contamination, we request fair coexistence measures from a supply chain perspective»
What should be considered for an adequate approach to coexistence?
Drawing lessons from the unfortunate precedent of pesticides contamination, we request fair coexistence measures from a supply chain perspective. Namely, NGT manufacturers to share the economic burden of additional measures to prevent and monitor NGTs in the organic supply chain as well as a compensation to organic operators in case of unintentional presence.
Which elements of labelling and green claims should be reviewed?
As a starting point, OPTA Europe strongly supports the efforts to fight greenwashing and to empower consumers to choose truly sustainable products. For the Green Claims proposal to be sound and workable for organic companies, we need simple and coherent rules and a fair access for small operators. This is: consistency with related rules (for example the recently adopted Directive Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition) as well as minimal red-tape and cost procedures. Without these elements, organic companies will see reduced their capacity to participate in the ‘sustainable’ food market in favour of players with higher resources for regulatory screening and administrative activities.
«While sustainability is a much larger conversation than organic, organic should definitely be a cornerstone of the sustainability equation in all EU policies»
OPTA Europe advocates for a more supportive regulatory environment. On what grounds should it be established?
The environmental, social and economic benefits of organics are well substantiated. OPTA Europe advocates that the myriad of policy developments taking on the challenges of climate change and sustainable food (Green Taxonomy, Green Claims, Coalition of Trade Ministers on Climate, Sustainable Food Systems, etc.) should better embrace organic. While sustainability is a much larger conversation than organic, organic should definitely be a cornerstone of the sustainability equation in all EU policies.
How to get policymakers more involved?
There are around 90,000 organic processing and trading companies in the EU. They are the backbone of the organic system, as they buy some 70% of all agricultural produce and allow to translate the increase of organic agricultural land into an increase of organic foodstuffs. By conveying their voices and putting their faces and stories to the policy discussions in Brussels, OPTA Europe works to get policymakers closer to the reality of those entrepreneurs who walk the talk when it comes to sustainable food system.
Author: Oriol Urrutia, Co-Editor.
Article Originally Published in Bio Eco Actual International Yearbok 2023 – Trends 2024.
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Read the Bio Eco Actual International Yearbok 2023 – Trends 2024
