The European Commission presented the Action Plan for the development of organic production. Its overall aim is to boost the production and consumption of organic products, to reach 25% of agricultural land under organic farming by 2030, as well as to increase organic aquaculture significantly.

The action plan is designed to provide the already fast-growing organic sector the right tools to achieve the 25% target. It puts forward 23 actions structured around three axes – boosting consumption, increasing production, and further improving the sustainability of the sector – to ensure balanced growth of the sector.

The new strategic guidelines for the sustainable development of EU aquaculture, to be adopted by the Commission in spring 2021, will promote organic aquaculture. In addition, the Commission encourages EU member states to include the increase of organic aquaculture among the objectives of their reviewed multi-annual national strategic plans for aquaculture. 

Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, said that “organic farming provides many benefits to the environment, contributing to healthy soils, reducing pollution of air and water, and improving biodiversity. At the same time, with demand growing faster than production over the last decade, the organic sector brings economic benefits to its players. The new Organic farming Action Plan will be a crucial instrument to set the path to achieve the targets of 25% of agricultural area under organic farming and of significant increase of organic aquaculture enshrined in the Biodiversity and the Farm to Fork Strategies. In addition to that, the new strategic guidelines for the sustainable development of EU aquaculture to be adopted by the Commission soon will promote organic aquaculture further.”