Ahead of Ministers meeting, Copa Vice-President Henri Brichart is set to outline to the Maltese Presidency key elements needed for a successful agreement on the EU organic farming review. The issue is set to be debated by Ministers on Monday. For Copa & Cogeca, it is important to have a progressive approach when it comes to the issue of thresholds for non-authorised substances, as well as on the use of organic seeds. Indeed, we are not yet ready to adopt a harmonised EU declassification level, as before establishing this, member states need to harmonise the work processes of their control bodies and/or control authorities, in addition to the harmonisation of methods and investigative parameters used by European laboratories, for example. Instead of setting a fixed end date for the derogation on the use of conventional seeds, we believe that all operators within the organic sector should work together to supply the market with enough organic seeds. Innovation is highly needed.
He will also outline our views on the dairy market situation, saying that the Commission needs to continue with its prudent approach when it comes to pushing skimmed milk powder stocks back onto the market in order to prevent the market from deteriorating and ensure sufficient recovery of farmers cash flow.
Finally, Mr Brichart is set to discuss the difficult situation facing free range poultry and egg farmers. More than 80% of the EU’s free range hens are estimated in recent months to have been housed following veterinary orders to protect them from the bird flu virus, which has proved to be a successful strategy to guarantee a high level of biosecurity and consumer trust. But as a result of this, many egg producers have suffered major income losses as this continued housing has meant that they could no longer label their eggs as “free range”. We believe that it’s important to revise the marketing standards for eggs in such a way as to ensure that producers do not lose their free range status when veterinary restrictions apply. This should provide a sustainable solution that enables long-term investment in “free range” eggs whilst obtaining a return on investment from the market place, the continuity of supply of free range eggs, and give consumers the necessary assurances.
