The vote of the European Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Affairs Committee (IMCO) on Thursday, 13 July, was an important step was the creation of a single market for organic fertilizers, organo-mineral fertilizers and organic soil amendments. ECOFI’s support most of the amendments approved by IMCO; however, we call on Member States to address such technical details that need improvement.
Recent media reports claim that a half million Dutch dairy cows could be culled this year because of the excess manure they produce. But this meaningless waste could be prevented if there were a single European market for organic fertilizers.
A new brochure and infographic from the European Commission gives a non-technical overview of “Why Organic Matter Matters”. It was produced by DG AGRI’s European Innovation Platform (EIP-AGRI).
Issues around the use of animal by-products are a major obstacle to the development of a European Single Market for many organic-based fertilizers. This is the key message from Benoît Planques (Italpollina) in a video interview recorded by European Biostimulants Industry Council (EBIC).
In March 2016, the European Commission published its long-awaited proposal for a regulation on several families of “fertilising products”, including biostimulants. In its announcement of the proposal, the Commission expressed its ambition for the regulation to “create new market opportunities for innovative companies while at the same time reducing waste, energy consumption and environmental damage.”
ECOFI welcomes the Commission’s publication of the much-anticipated revision to the Fertilizers Regulation, and the positive step it represents in recognizing the value of organic-based fertilizers in contributing to the Circular Economy. In its press statement, the European Commission points out that the reuse of raw materials now disposed as waste are one of the key principles of the Circular Economy, and organic-based fertilizers are central to this principle.
ECOFI welcomes the Commission’s recent publication of its Roadmap for the Revision of the Fertilisers Regulation and the recognition of the barriers currently preventing organic-based fertilisers from having access to a single European market.
ECOFI attended the Sustainable Phosphorus Platform workshop Data On NUtrients To Support Stewardship (DONUTSS) held in Ghent, Belgium on 3-4 September 2015.
Organic fertilisers, organo-mineral fertilisers and soil improvers are central to the Circular Economy and are among the innovative tools that can help EU agriculture become more sustainable.
The European Commission will be conducting a workshop on “Regions at Work for the Bio-Economy” on 7-9 July 2014 in Rennes (France). The workshop is a joint initiative of DG More…