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European Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming
The European Commission's "European
Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming" was published June
10, 2004.
Below is a milestone list with links to relevant documents:
* * *
July 2008: European Commission launches
new promotional campaign for organic food and farming
 The
European Commission launched the European Union's new Organic Farming
Campaign on July 26, 2008 at the Foire de Libramont agricultural fair
in Belgium. Under the campaign slogan: “Organic farming. Good
for nature, good for you”, the promotional campaign aims to inform
consumers about the meaning and benefits of organic farming and food
production.
The campaign is one of the key action of the European
Action Plan on Organic Food and Farming and will focus on increasing
consumer awareness and recognition of organic products, and especially
on young people and children to carry the organic idea into the future.
(Picture taken from the photorachive
at the campaign homepage).
May
2005: European Research Project Evaluation of the European Action Plan
for Organic Food and Farming ORGAP launched
 The
European funded research project Evaluation of the European Action Plan
for Organic Food and Farming (ORGAP) gives scientific support for the
implementation of the European Action Plan, and it will assess its long-term
and short-term effects. The project started in May 2005 and will run
until December 2008. The project aims are
- Develop a toolbox to evaluate and monitor the implementation of
the European Action Plan in the following areas: information, training
and education, research, production, processing, market development,
certification, public expenditures.
- Test the toolbox on a selected existing national action plans.
- Identify conflict areas between targets of European and national
action plans.
- Analyse the implementation processes and procedures.
- Make policy recommendation to the European Commission, national
authorities as well as further actors.
Links
September 28, 2004: IFOAM EU Group critically welcomes the European
Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming
 (28.9.2004)
September 2004 the IFOAM European Union Group of the International Federation
of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) published its analysis of the
European Action Plan for Food and Farming and congratulates the European
Commission for the development of the plan presented in June 2004. The
plan stresses the important role organic farming has to play in making
European agriculture more sustainable, environmentally friendly and
responsive to consumer demands.
June 10, 2004: European Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming published
The European Commission's "European Action Plan for
Organic Food and Farming" was published June 10, 2004. The Action
Plan for Organic Food and Farming sets out 21 initiatives to achieve
the objectives of developing the market for organic food and improving
standards by increasing efficacy, transparency and consumer confidence.
The plan aims to achieve measures such as improving information
about organic farming, streamlining public support via rural development,
improving production standards or strengthening research.
January 22, 2004: European Hearing on Organic Food and Farming - Towards
a European Action Plan
On January 22, 2004 the European Commission held a 'European
Hearing on Organic Food and Farming – Towards a European Action
Plan' in Brussels. The main purpose of this hearing was to listen to
the views of the widest possible range of stakeholders, to experts in
the agricultural, environmental and consumer field and to hear from
pilot initiatives. Following this public hearing, the Commission is
preparing an Action Plan in the form of a Communication to the European
Council and Parliament, including a list of possible actions to boost
organic farming. The Brussels hearing provided the Commission with the
most complete and appropriate guidance from stakeholders with a view
to drawing up this Action Plan.
Over a 100 stakeholder organisations, Agricultural Ministers
from Member States, Acceding and Candidate Countries and the press participated
in this conference.
February, 2003: Online consultation of the European Commission on the
Action Plan for organic food and farming
In February 2003, the working document and a questionnaire
with 12 key points were put on the Commission's web site. The public
was invited to react to the questions and to give additional comments
on the working paper by 16 March 2003. A "Report on the results
of the online consultation: Action Plan for organic food and farming"
was published.
December 12, 2002: Commission paper: Analysis of the possibility of
a European Action Plan for organic food and farming
In December 2002 the European Commission released a staff
working paper with an Analysis of the possibility of a European Action
Plan for organic food and farming.
June 19, 2001: Council of Agricultural Ministers invites the European
Commission to consider a European Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming
Following two conferences on organic farming, held in
Austria 1999 and in Denmark 2001, the Council agreed on conclusions
on organic farming. The Commission was invited to consider a European
Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming. In recognising that organic
farming was one way of achieving sustainable development, the conclusions
also invite the Commission, the Member States and stakeholders to share
ideas on what further action could be taken at European Union level
and mentioned the possibility of a European action plan. Here an extract
from the press release on the meeing.
"ORGANIC FOOD AND FARMING - COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS
The Council
-
Recognises organic farming as one way to achieve a
sustainable development.
-
NOTES the importance of Council Regulation 2092/91
of 24 June 1991 on organic production of agricultural products and
indications referring thereto on agricultural products and foodstuffs.
-
NOTES that the Member States, within the framework
of their Rural Development Programs, in accordance with the Council
Regulation 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999, have the possibility to promote
organic farming.
-
RECOGNISES the importance of the ongoing work regarding
inter alia labelling of organic fodder, control of the organic production
and implementing the rules on organic livestock.
-
NOTES that the consumer interest in organic products
increases in Europe.
-
INVITES the Member States, the Commission and stakeholders
to share ideas on what further action at European Union level could
facilitate production, processing, trade and consumption of organic
products in Europe and in the light of these ideas
-
INVITES the Commission to analyse the possibility
of a European Union action plan to promote organic food and farming
and present appropriate proposals."
May 10/11, 2001: Conference Organic Food and Farming and the Copenhagen
Declaration
 At
the conference "Organic Food and Farming -towards partnership and
action", held May 2001 near Copenhagen, Agriculture ministers from
12 European countries called for a European action plan for the development
of organic farming and food. This conference was a major step towards
the European action plan. The Copenhagen Declaration was signed by agricultural
ministers and by IFOAM, by representatives of European farmers' association
Copa, by the European association of consumer cooperatives Euro Coop,
and the European Environmental Bureau. The conference had been organized
by the Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries and been initiated
by Ritt Bjerregaard, the Danish agricultural Minister at the time.
According to the Copenhagen Declaration in the next two
years the European Action Plan should:
1. Analyse the barriers to and potential for further
growth within production, processing, trade and consumption of organic
products in Europe.
2. Present a consensus-oriented and market-based strategy,
which involves all stakeholders within Europe as a whole, including
the European Commission, national governments, consumers, farmers,
producers, retailers, NGO's, researchers and other important stakeholders.
3. Cover all aspects concerning the development of organic
food and farming in Europe, including areas such as environmental
protection, animal welfare, consumer-behaviour, market-development,
food-safety, food-quality, regulation, certification and labelling,
research and international trade.
4. Analyse the relationship between, on the one hand
the opportunities for the further development of organic food and
farming and, on the other hand the Common Agricultural Policy and
other international agreements including WTO and Codex Alimentarius.
Many representatives of the International Federation of
Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) contributed to the conference
as speakers or as moderators.
Gunnar Rundgren, president of IFOAM, said in his speech:
"We are welcoming the initiative to create an EU wide Action Plan
for organic agriculture. We also welcome that there is, at this stage,
a commitment to the inclusion of all stakeholders in the process."
May 27/28, 1999: EU -Conference "Organic Farming in the European Union
- Perspectives for the 21st Century
The conference "Organic Farming in the European
Union - Perspectives for the 21st Century", organised by the Austrian
Ministry of Agriculture that took place near Vienna, 27/28 May 1999.
It united government and EU officials, researchers and representatives
of the organic sector to discuss the future prospects of European Organic
Agriculture, thus being an important milestone towards the European
Action Plan for Organic Food and Farming. Unfortunately the conference
homepage is not online any more.
© By Research Institute of Organic
Agriculture (FiBL), Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau
2005. All rights reserved
URL http://www.organic-europe.net
Last modified
31.07.2010
 Research
Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL
Ackerstrasse, CH-5070 Frick
Tel: +4 -62 865 72 72 Fax +41 62 865 72 73
Internet http://www.fibl.org
Contact: Helga Willer
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