ECOFI welcomes EU Strategic Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture
24 January 2024
The European Consortium of the Organic-Based Fertilizer Industry (ECOFI) welcomes the Commission’s decision to launch their Strategic Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture as an important step towards a reality where European farmers are empowered to ensure both our food security and sustainability.
We welcome the fact that plant nutrition has a voice at the table (through the invitation of Fertilizers Europe). However, considering the critical importance of organic matter to soil health and providing farmers with access to a variety of complementary tools, ECOFI hopes that the Commission will consider involving other appropriate organisations, including ECOFI, in the rest of the dialogue process.
We offer the following suggestions for enhancing the EU’s Strategic Dialogue and look forward to participating in future sessions:
1. Ensure policy coherence to achieve political visions. Although the EU Fertilising Products Regulation had the stated aim of promoting cross-border trade of organic-based fertilisers in Europe; this is yet to materialise due to regulatory blocks in the circular economy, particularly the animal by-products regulation. EU regulation needs to enable EU policy objectives, not establish additional obstacles to them.
2. Farmer competitiveness depends on equal access to an ever-expanding toolbox. Farmers need the freedom to choose the options that are best suited to their soils, climatic conditions, customer and consumer preferences, and many other factors. Today, there is no Single Market for many organic-based fertilising products, and this needs to change.
3. Unleashing innovation within the EU. European agrifood industry needs a political Union that is supportive of innovation to be able to foster a resilient agriculture sector. Unfortunately, too many of our most innovative and circular products do not yet have access to the Single Market, meaning that farmers from different countries are not operating on a level playing field.
ECOFI hopes that the Strategic Dialogue helps foster a constructive conversation between a variety of stakeholders about how the EU can best empower Europe’s farmers to deliver sustainability and food security while ensuring their work provides them with a fair standard of living.
About ECOFI
ECOFI, the European Consortium of the Organic-Based Fertilizer Industry, represents European producers of organic fertilisers, organo-mineral fertilisers, and organic soil improvers.
www.ecofi.info | X: @organiCarbon | LinkedIn: European Consortium of the Organic-Based Fertilizer Industry (ECOFI)
ECOFI Welcomes Strategic Dialogue Press Release PDF