Let’s Liberate Diversity! News
FiBL 2022 – The World of Organic Agriculture
StatisticsOn Statistics.FiBL.org, the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL provides access to the data collected in the framework of its annual survey on organic agriculture worldwide.
The elaborate collection of data in The World of Organic Agriculture 2022 shows that, in 2020, organic recorded a record growth. Organic land in the EU grew to 14.9 million ha, although at a slower rate than in the previous years. The EU organic market marked a record increase of 15.1%.
For IFOAM, the European organic movement, improving knowledge and data collection on organic farming systems is crucial to increase organic production and consumption and achieve the targets set in the EU Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies.
The Statistics on Agricultural Inputs and Outputs (SAIO) Regulation, currently under negotiations between the co-legislators, is an opportunity to collect more data on organic agriculture, which should allow for a better understanding of organic farming performances. A reliable and comprehensive set of data on organic production can also encourage new investors to enter the organic supply chain and accelerate conversions and market access.
Looking at the organic data, Member of the European Parliament, Petros Kokkalis, rapporteur of the Regulation on Statistics on Agricultural Inputs and Outputs (SAIO) commented: “The SAIO Regulation is the opportunity to provide for precise and reliable data on organic agriculture. We need to be able to monitor and evaluate the EU target to reach 25% of agricultural land under organic farming by 2030”.
The BIOFACH organic trade fair, which usually takes place in February, has been postponed to July 26 to 29, 2022. It will take place in Nuremberg. FiBL and partners will present some data updates then. LAUNCH
Understanding the existing framework: what openings to cultivate biodiversity?
The dynamic management approach to crop biodiversity practiced with farmer seeds is holistic. The stages of conservation, selection and use of the seed are carried out jointly on farms and gardens by farmers, gardeners and seed artisans working in a network.
The various current regulatory frameworks (marketing, property rights, health standards, biosafety, etc.) were designed for the development of an industrial sector after the Second World War. They are not adapted to this dynamic and decentralised approach in farms and gardens.
It has been observed that the various rules in place do not encourage the diversity of practices necessary for the sustainable maintenance of cultivated biodiversity. However, it is important to understand that there are still spaces for the use of farmers’ seeds!
The mobilisation and daily practices of biodiversity stakeholders (farmers, gardeners, seed artisans, citizens) are necessary to overcome the regulatory constraints that still hinder the development of farmers’ seeds. These daily practices support the demand for a regulatory framework that fully recognises the work and rights of farmers and rights of farmers and gardeners over their seeds.
The elements shared in this kit allow you to understand the possibilities that exist today:
- to collectively build Farmers’ Seed Houses (Community Seed Banks) and to share seeds and know-how
- to sell “non-standardised” seeds and plants free of property rights
Biodiversity can be cultivated!
SPD#8: UPOV Convention – its Impact on Farmers in Europe and Globally
The last SPD of the year in December 2021 was dedicated to plant variety protection, and more specifically to the 1991 Act of the UPOV Convention. The dialogue aimed to explain what UPOV and plant variety protection is, and what their impacts on farmers’ rights have been, through experiences from Europe and abroad. It was enriched by presentations from François MEIENBERG from APBREBES, Georg Janssen, from the German ABL (Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft), and from Chrisophe Noisette from the French Inf’OGM.
You can watch the presentation on the impact of the UPOV system on farmers’ rights and food sovereignty (in English), on the fight of German farmers against fees for farm-saved seeds (in German), on private varieties and jailed farmers across Europe (in French), and on the current UPOV negotiations on the definitions of private and non-commercial use (in English).
The Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV): The history and the content – Francois Meienberg
Current negotiations at UPOV: The definition of private and non commercial use – Francois Meienberg
Der Kampf der deutschen Landwirte gegen Nachbaugebühren – Georg Janßen, ABL
Variétés privées, paysan.ne.s emprisonné.e.s – Christophe Noisette, Inf’OGM
Useful links
Subscribe to EC-LLD! News https://liberatediversity.org/newslet
APBREBES Publications on UPOV: https://www.apbrebes.org/publications
APBREBES Reporting on UPOV Sessions : https://www.apbrebes.org/events/past
Subscribing to the APBREBES Newsletter: https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/li.
SEED POLICY DIALOGUE
What does the next seed law reform foresee? Which is the vision of the agroecological movements and actors? SEED POLICY DIALOGUE begins, once a month exchange with lawyer Fulya Batur and EC-LLD Members to analyse the Sprouts From...
First International Multi-stakeholder Symposium on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
Technical Consultation on in situ conservation and on-farm management of PGRFA 29–30 March 2021 Background The challenge of sustainably producing more food with fewer inputs may be met only if the broadest possible diversity of plant genetic resources for...
ECLLD-NEWS! February
Europe – It’s time to exchange seeds, what initiatives are there in your country? Within what legal framework is it possible to act? How can we have organic varieties and how is the organic plant breeding status? KWANN-Norwegian Seed Savers organized a...
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May 2026
EC-LLD! General Assembly (for EC-LLD! members only)
Official opening of the Forum
WS1: Seeds, Biodiversity and the Right to Food: The Role of Municipal Food Policies
WS 2: Seeds in Common: Genebanks, Breeding Innovation, and the Future of Democratic Seed Systems
WS 3: On-farm agrobiodiversity in the Balkan region: from preservation to plant population development
WS 4: Enhancing cultivated biodiversity through local food policies
WS 5: EU Seed Law Reform – What Does It Mean for Fields and Plates, and How Can We Safeguard Seed Diversity?
WS 6: Farmers’ Seed Systems in the Region of Central Asia and Eastern Europe: Experience, Challenges and Future Directions
WS 7: Agroecology Living Labs – Crossfertilization for promoting agrobiodiversity
WS 8: NGTs and Patents: How Can We Grow Without Them? Updates on Political Debates and Cooperation Amongst Organic Breeders and Growers
WS 9: Affectionate Alliances and Exploratory Mindsets: Building a Global Coalition of Agroecological Seed Networks for Evolutionary Radical Futures
Tasting 1: Crop Wild Relatives – COUSIN Project
Video
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