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The EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy aims to ensure food security while also reducing the environmental and climate footprint of food production. The target of 25 per cent organic production by 2030 will mean changes in the sector, but Sweden is at the forefront. However, there are conflicts between the objective of increasing organic farming and the desire to use new biotechnologies in order to reduce dependence on plant protection products. A number of suggestions are discussed in this report.The EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy is part of the European Green Deal, which aims to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. Focusing on the food system, this strategy aims to ensure food security while also reducing the environmental and climate footprint of food production. However, some of the measures are incompatible in the case of primary production.The target for the Farm to Fork Strategy is for at least 25 per cent of EU farmland to be certified organic by 2030. At the same time, the strategy points to the importance of innovative new technologies (that is to say, biotechnological/ molecular tools) to reduce dependence on plant protection products and ensure seed diversity. The problem with these two measures is that organic production does not allow the use of biotechnological, or molecular, tools in the breeding of varietal material that is certified organic. That is why it is important to examine the extent to which these two measures are possible without conflicting with, and adversely affecting, one another.Sweden has long been at the forefront of organic production in particular, and more than 20 per cent of Swedish land is certified organic. Therefore, it should not be difficult to achieve the 25 per cent target of the Farm to Fork Strategy on a national level by 2030. However, the transition for the EU as a whole, where just over 7 per cent of the land is certified organic, will be much more difficult and probably involve major changes for the entire sector, possibly including legislative amendments.The legal status of products of new genomic technologies has not yet been fully examined in the EU; that is to say, whether or not they will be regarded as GMOs. By law, GMOs are prohibited in organic production. One problem for the organic sector, however, is that the internal stance of the sector goes beyond the EU’s definition of a GMO and focuses on “cell integrity”.Thus a situation may arise in which crops that are permitted in conventional agriculture are not permitted under the organic sector’s own framework. Altering this framework may affect consumer confidence in the organic sector.Parallel focus on organic production and new innovations in plant breeding may have two consequences. Firstly, the costs for coexistence between these two systems will increase significantly. Secondly, the organic sector may face major problems due to the fact that some products of new biotechnologies cannot be traced or distinguished, making coexistence very difficult, if not impossible, to maintain.Experimentation with at least two scenarios is possible with a view to countering these conflicting objectives in the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy. The conservative scenario involves clarifying and reinforcing the rules and strategy for coexistence, with both conventional and GM crops. However, this will be very costly and does not resolve the issue of traceability. The progressive scenario involves revising the organic sector’s framework in order to specify the type of innovations permitted in plant breeding. In practice, this means that the sector has to abandon the principle of “cell integrity”. However, this could mean a crisis of confidence for the sector.The Farm to Fork Strategy states that the European Commission will prepare legislative proposals before the end of 2023 in order to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable food system. In this context, it is important to explore potential conflicts of objectives within the Farm to Fork Strategy, as well as their consequences and potential solutions. However, to make both concepts possible, it is likely that organic production will not be exactly the same in 2030 as it is today.

Publicerad i

SLU Future Food Reports
2021, nummer: 16:2
Utgivare: SLU Future Food, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet

SLU författare

Associerade SLU-program

SLU Future Food

UKÄ forskningsämne

Jordbruksekonomi och landsbygdsutveckling
Växtbioteknologi

Publikationens identifierare

  • ISBN: 978-91-576-9980-0
  • eISBN: 978-91-576-9979-4

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/132484