Press Release: Organic Production a key part of the new EU Vision for Agriculture and Food to 2040 

The European Commission today published its Vision for Agriculture and Food for Ireland and the EU to 2040. The Vision sets out the Commission’s roadmap for developing future agriculture and food policies, including the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2027. The development and expansion of organic food and farming across Europe remains a key part of shaping an attractive agri-food for future generations and stimulating the consumption of local, seasonal products and sustainable food production more broadly.

Gillian Westbrook, Irish Organic Association CEO, “We welcome that the European Commission has reaffirmed that organic farming remains an important sustainable business model for the future, bringing together economic opportunities with tried and tested environmental results and social responsibility and must continue to be supported”.

She added, “The wide range of environmental and other benefits that organic farmers deliver are backed by growing demand for organic food across Europe and more globally observed in latest retail figures for 2023, which showed positive growth. This demonstrates the continuing market development opportunities for the Irish agri-food sector in Ireland, Europe and beyond, with further expansion of the organic sector from farm to fork reflected throughout the new EU Vision”.

Notes:

For further comment, please contact Gillian Westbrook, CEO of the Irish Organic Association at 087 7819967, or by email at gillian.westbrook@irishoa.ie

The EU Vision for Agriculture and Food, which sets out the direction of travel for EU agri-food policy to 2040, is available here.

This latest production and market trends in Europe show that organic retail sales experienced growth of 3.6% in the EU in 2023, overall valued at €46.5 billion (€54.7 billion in Europe). Further information is available here.