Bioland and FNAB strengthen cooperation

Bioland, Germany's largest organic food association, and the French organic growers association FNAB are seeking closer collaboration. When the two associations met recently in the German city of Mainz (the capital of the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate) they issued a press release stating that they want to boost organic farming in Europe at the technical and practical level and the political level.

The associations have been cooperating since May 2016 in promoting the ecological orientation of agriculture and the expansion of organic farming in Europe. In September, organic farmers from both associations came together to discuss for the first time the practicalities of poultry farming. They said at the meeting in Mainz that they have arranged joint activities not only in wine growing and sheep and goat keeping but also in research into current practice.

According to information provided by the associations themselves they represent, with more than 17,000 members, about a third of all organic farmers in Germany and France. With an eye to the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the EU after 2020, FNAB President Stéphanie Pageot said: “We organic farmers are demonstrating what added social values are created by agriculture wherever it is being practised. A future-oriented CAP must show it fully appreciates these values instead of distributing funds non-selectively according to land area.”

Regarding the revision of the EU Organic Regulation Bioland President Jan Plagge declared: “We need strong cooperation between France and Germany. Our common objective is putting a stop to the revision and developing appropriately the existing and proven organic law. A new organic law must promote the development of organic agriculture in Europe instead of hindering it.”