News
15/12/2021
Climate change
Sustainable Carbon Cycles: New EU Communication
On 15 December, the European Commission presented its Communication on ‘Sustainable Carbon Cycles’. On the one hand, the Communication addresses…
14/12/2021
GMOs
Commission event: Can New Genetic Engineering Techniques (NGETs) be sustainable?
The European Commission invited stakeholders, public officials, and politicians for a high-level event to discuss their plans to launch new…
Alternatives for contentious inputs: Research well on track, 30 November 2021-1 December 2021
On 30 November and 1 December, the Organic Innovation Days 2021 entitled “Better inputs for organic agriculture” took place online. In 2021,TP Organics’ annual public event,…
EU releases soil strategy & plans legal initiative in 2023
On 17 November, the European Commission published the EU Soil Strategy for 2030 together with a proposal for a regulation…
6th European Conference on copper in Plant Protection, 17-18 November 2021, online
2021 was an extremely rainy year, posing challenges for copper minimization on farms with permanent and specialty crops. As it…
Organic’s approach to plant health: Webinar with MEP Eric Andrieu - 16 November 2021, online
On November 16, IFOAM Organics Europe and French Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Eric Andrieu (S&D) co-hosted a webinar…
15/11/2021
Climate change
COP26: Outcomes relevant to food, land & agriculture
The UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) took place from 31 October to 12 November 2021 in Glasgow. Even though…
15/11/2021
Knowledge for organic
Using blockchain technology in organic
Ever wondered how blockchain technology can be used by the organic sector? Check out the highlights of the innovation experiment…
Mainstreaming organic plant breeding – celebrating 20 years of organic plant breeders
‘How to make organic plant breeding mainstream’ – was the guiding question of the 20th anniversary event of the organic…
Political hotspot October 2021 newsletter
26 October marked the final day for final contributions to the Commission’s inception impact assessment (roadmap) on the Sustainable Food…
27/10/2021
Climate change
COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland
From 31 October to 12 November, the UN’s climate change conference (UNFCCC COP26) will take place in Glasgow, Scotland in…
Welcome note October 2021 newsletter
Dear readers, Autumn has reached Europe, and unlike nature at this time of year, our work is not slowing down.…
Review of events
On 22 September, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) organised a workshop to discuss the potential role of public policies in…
Preview of events
On 16 November, from 10:30-12:00, MEP Eric Andrieu (S&D) will co-host our website on the organic approach to plant health…
18/10/2021
Knowledge for organic
Intercropping for boosting organic farming in EU – ReMIX policy brief
The European Green Deal addresses the challenges of a fair sustainable food system. To realise the EU Green Deal, the…
18/10/2021
Knowledge for organic
Take part in EIP-AGRI workshop on farm data!
Are you a farmer, an adviser, an Operational Group member, or a tech company using farm data solutions? Applications are…
18/10/2021
Knowledge for organic
The role of Demo Farms in Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems: a workshop for policy makers
The family of FarmDemo projects – NEFERTITI, PLAID and AGRIDEMO – organised a workshop to raise awareness among local and…
15/10/2021
Knowledge for organic
Copenhagen Food System Centre’s work supporting organic development - Interview with Line Rise Nielsen
Our colleagues, Joanna Wierzbicka, Strategic Initiatives Manager, and Bérénice Cau, Project and Fundraising Assistant, met with Line Rise Nielsen, Food…
15/10/2021
Knowledge for organic
Enlarge your organic farm knowledge through videos
A versatile collection of video content from the Organic Farm Knowledge Platform is now available on its own YouTube channel,…
14/10/2021
Knowledge for organic
LIVESEED and OK-Net EcoFeed highlighted to be EU-funded research projects demonstrating potential of more sustainable alternatives
The EU Green Deal and its related Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies identified agroecology and organic farming as one…
Watch RELACS’ new video about copper replacement in oil rose plantation
A new RELACS video explores the work and research currently pursued in the Rose Valley in Bulgaria. Organic farmers are…
12/10/2021
GMOs
Participate in Commission Public Consultation to keep (new) GMOs regulated and to protect organic
As covered in the last edition of the newsletter, the Commission is considering a new legal proposal for so-called “New…
08/10/2021
Climate change
EU organic movement’s reply to public consultation on carbon farming initiative
The European Commission invited stakeholders to provide input to a roadmap for the Commission’s initiative aimed at developing sustainable carbon…
The future of organic food: Ten take-aways of the Organic Food Conference 2021
Our Organic Food Conference 2021 was a success, and we are happy to share the ten key take-aways. The European…
04/10/2021
Knowledge for organic
LIVESEED project comes to an end after 52 months
The LIVESEED project came to an end on 30 September 2021, after 52 months of activities. Started in June 2017,…
28/09/2021
Knowledge for organic
Digital Excellence in Agriculture Contest: Organic Farm Knowledge platform awarded first prize in Category 2!
The online platform Organic Farm Knowledge was awarded the first prize of the ‘Digital Excellence in Agriculture in Europe and…
28/09/2021
GMOs
Public consultation for new legal proposal upcoming
On 29 April 2021, the European Commission published a study on the status of New Genomic Techniques under Union law…
Last Commission consultation before presentation revised Sustainable Use of pesticides Directive
On 5 October, Mathilde Calmels, IFOAM Organics Europe’s Policy Coordinator on Pesticides, Natural Inputs and Fertilisers, will be one of…
Upcoming vote on the Regulation on Statistics on Agricultural Inputs and Outputs (SAIO) in AGRI Committee
On 2 February 2021, the Commission published its proposal for a Regulation on Statistics on Agricultural Inputs and Outputs (SAIO),…
Public consultation on carbon farming initiative roadmap & re-launch climate change task force
The European Commission has opened its public consultation on the roadmap for the initiative “Restoring sustainable carbon cycles” and feedback…
09/09/2021
Knowledge for organic
Emerging eco-friendly solutions to plant & animal protection inputs - RELACS scientific publications
The RELACS project recently released two new scientific papers on promising plant and animal protection methods and strategies for reducing…
08/09/2021
GMOs
The debate about new GMOs in Europe: Our Policy Coordinator in conversation with Slow Food Europe
In their podcast series on European food and farming policies, Slow Food Europe brings together experts to discuss hot matters…
How are cities engaging with food system transformation? FoodSHIFT webinar, 13 September, 15:00-16:00
City councils – either led by the city government itself or by citizens – are key to involve citizens and…
Organic production of milk and meat - Join RELACS & Organic-PLUS at meeting of European Federation of Animal Science
The Horizon 2020 projects RELACS and Organic-PLUS will organize a session (#51) on “Organic production of milk and meat” on…
Have your say! IFOAM Organics Europe provided feedback to the Commission’s EU School Scheme roadmap
As announced in the Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy, the Commission will “review the EU school scheme to enhance its…
Boosting organic seed & breeding - Policy and stakeholder recommendations
As the LIVESEED project is coming to its end, it has released a synthesis of all its results and recommendations.…
15/07/2021
Knowledge for organic
Organic Farm Knowledge platform finalist in Digital Excellence in Agriculture Contest
The online platform Organic Farm Knowledge was nominated as one of the finalist ‘Digital Excellence in Agriculture in Europe and…
Info Days on Horizon Europe Cluster 6 - 7-8 July 2021, online
Under the Pillar 2 of Horizon Europe, Cluster 6 – Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture & Environment is central to…
Comics showing why industrial agriculture is broken
In May 2020, the EU released its Biodiversity and Farm to Fork strategies as part of the European Green Deal.…
21/06/2021
Biodiversity
CAP
Climate change
EU's agrifood vision
Events
Food policy
Organic regulations
Ten take-aways of the European Organic Congress 2021 - 16-18 June, online, live from Lisbon
Following a successful edition of the hybrid European Organic Congress 2021, we are happy to share the ten key take-aways…
21/06/2021
Biodiversity
CAP
Climate change
EU's agrifood vision
Events
Food policy
Organic regulations
More than 660 discussed transitioning to more sustainable food & farming systems at European Organic Congress - 16-18 June, online, live from Lisbon
This year’s edition of our European Organic Congress took place online and live from Lisbon on 16-18 June 2021. More…
EUREKA summer consortium meeting - 15-17 June 2021, online
On 15-17 June, all EUREKA’s partners virtually met at the project’s annual meeting to update and exchange about the project’s…
18/06/2021
Knowledge for organic
End of OK-Net EcoFeed project
Over the past three years, 19 organisations from 12 European countries have taken part in the Horizon 2020 OK-Net EcoFeed project to help farmers achieve 100% use of organic…
18/06/2021
Knowledge for organic
SmartAgriHubs’ Open call (RESTART & EXPAND)
In July 2020, SmartAgriHubs opened the RESTART and EXPAND open calls, assigning up to €5,000,000 funding for Digital Innovation Hubs…
Curious about alternatives to contentious fertilisers? Read RELACS’ new practice abstracts
The RELACS project just released two new practice abstracts on promising alternatives to fertilisers suitable for organic farming. Struvite as…
Getting food on the climate agenda - FoodSHIFT2030 webinar - 15 June 2021, online
Climate change policy debates fail to consider the interconnected nature of food systems and involve a wide range of actors.…
Sustainable food systems innovators, read FAO’s handbook!
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the…
IPBES and IPCC call to prioritize solutions benefiting both biodiversity and climate
On 10 June 2021, scientist and leading experts from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and…
09/06/2021
GMOs
European retailers take a strong stand against deregulating new GMOs
On 26 May 2021, European retailers took a strong stand against deregulating new GMOs in a joint resolution. One of…
07/06/2021
Knowledge for organic
Are you involved in agriculture or forestry multi-actor projects? Take part in EUREKA’s impact assessment survey!
The EUREKA project launched a survey to collect information on how multi-actor projects (MAPs) perform impact assessments and evaluation. The…