The State of Play of Copper, Mineral Oil, External Nutrient Input, Anthelmintics, Antibiotics and Vitamin Usage and Available Reduction Strategies in Organic Farming across Europe
Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
Dokumenter
- Fulltext
Forlagets udgivne version, 1,89 MB, PDF-dokument
Although input use in organic agriculture is strictly regulated, and significantly less contentious inputs are applied in organic than in conventional farming systems, copper, mineral oil, external nutrient input, anthelmintics, antibiotics and vitamins are still commonly used among organic farmers in the EU, partly due to the scarce availability of alternative products and the difficulty of implementing preventive strategies. Moreover, besides the direction set by the European Commission’s organic regulation, only a handful of policy instruments exist at national levels to reduce the use of these contentious inputs. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the results of the RELACS EU-funded project about the current use of copper, mineral oils, external nutrient inputs, anthelmintics, antibiotics and vitamins in organic farming in the EU. The paper is based on six internal reports developed in RELACS which relied on international surveys, in-depth interviews, multiple case study methods, database-based calculations, secondary data sources, plus a survey independent from the reports to map existing policy instruments and voluntary initiatives in the EU aiming to reduce the use of the six input categories. As a result, the paper gives a comprehensive overview of the current consumption of the six contentious inputs within the organic sector, highlighting potential alternative strategies in the pipeline, available preventive measures and the willingness of farmers towards adopting these solutions. It also informs about specific policy instruments already in force, as well as about ongoing voluntary initiatives to reduce contentious inputs. Due to the current dependence of organic farming systems on the six categories of contentious inputs, any sudden phase-out or ban on their usage would do more harm than good to the organic sector. Therefore, gradual, data-driven reduction measures are needed, which require significant further investments in targeted research, and in policy support measures, with the active involvement of agricultural stakeholders.
| Originalsprog | Engelsk |
|---|---|
| Artikelnummer | 3182 |
| Tidsskrift | Sustainability |
| Vol/bind | 14 |
| Udgave nummer | 6 |
| Antal sider | 36 |
| ISSN | 2071-1050 |
| DOI | |
| Status | Udgivet - 2022 |
Bibliografisk note
Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: The authors would like to acknowledge the support provided by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme for funding this research through the RELACS project under grant agreement No 773431.
Funding Information:
The organic sector has experienced tremendous growth in recent decades in the European Union. In 2019, organic farming was practiced on 14.6 million hectares, resulting in an 8.1% share of the total agricultural area of the EU [1]. The market for organics has also doubled in the last ten years, and it grew by 8% between 2018–2019 reaching €45.0 billion in the EU. With this, the European Union is the second largest market for organic products in the world [1]. The continuity of this growth will be further boosted until 2030 by the targets of the European Commission’s Farm to Fork strategy. The Farm to Fork strategy sets the goal for organic farmland to reach a 25% share of the EU’s total agricultural area by 2030, while substantially reducing the use of chemical inputs (pesticides by 50%, fertilizers by 20%) and nutrient loss (by 50%) [2]. In order to achieve the 25% organic farmland target, the European Commission has issued an Organic Action Plan in 2021 with 23 actions, including the intention to earmark funding under Horizon Europe for research and innovation projects on alternative approaches to contentious inputs and to foster the use of alternative plant protection products through farm advisory services [3]. In addition, the European Commission intends to support research and innovation on alternative sources of organic vitamins and to explore means to support the application for feed additives produced without genetically modified microorganisms (GMMs). Thus, the European Commission recognizes that a massive transition to and upscaling of organic and agroecological management practices is required, which should be supported by targeted research and extension support throughout Europe under the new funding programme Horizon Europe [4].
Funding Information:
Although organic farming encompasses much more than just input use, this aspect is a pivotal element of the EU’s agricultural future considering that increasing the share of organic farmland may be hindered by organics’ dependency on contentious inputs. Recognizing the need to further accelerate the phasing-out of such inputs, a number of research projects (Organic-PLUS [42], CO-FREE [43], PrOPara [44], RELACS [45] investigated various contentious inputs used by organic systems and possible alternatives. These projects received funding from the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation framework (Horizon 2020 was one of the biggest funding programme (79 billion euros) of the European Union dedicated to research and innovation between 2014–2020 [46]) and other financial instruments, including ERA-NET frameworks (ERA-NET was a funding instrument under the 6th Framework Programme (FP6) and Horizon 2020 with the aim to support the cooperation and organization of national research programmes [47]). One of the existing challenges is the lack of information on the level of current use of these contentious inputs by organic farmers. This gap in knowledge is addressed in the RELACS project [45] which aims at increasing the usage of cost-efficient, environmentally beneficial technologies that could further limit or completely replace the application of copper, mineral oils, external nutrient inputs, anthelmintics, antibiotics and vitamins in organic farming in the EU.
Funding Information:
Funding: Obtaining the results as part of the RELACS project presented in this paper received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 773431.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
ID: 303583011