Organic movement meets Commission President Ursula von der Leyen 

On 26 April, IFOAM Organics Europe met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for a discussion on the future of EU agriculture. Our President, Jan Plagge; Director, Eduardo Cuoco; and Policy Officer Hanna Winkler and representatives of the European Coordination Via Campesina discussed organic and peasant farmers’ role in the EU’s future agriculture policy directly with the head of the Commission.  

During the meeting, we exchanged on organic’s pivotal role in safeguarding our livelihoods, strengthening resilience of EU agriculture and strategies to ensure fair prices for farmers and a stronger role in the supply chain. This led to exchanges on making EU agriculture more sustainable, competitive and fair. 

Our President and Director emphasised that the sector needs less top-down bureaucracy and more bottom-up innovation and stressed that agriculture should remain at the heart of EU policies – regardless of  governmental and institutional changes. Our representatives also underlined organic’s importance as long-term EU project which should be continues to be EU agrifood’s flagship initiative – just like the EU Green Deal does. 

Summing up, we are encouraged to see that Commission President acknowledges the voice of the organic sector. Meetings like this underscore the importance of collaboration and forward-thinking initiatives to improve our agri-food sector. To build a more sustainable and resilient European food sector it is essential to ensure organic remains at the centre of the dialogue on the future of agriculture.