Copa Cogeca, the umbrella group of EU farm organisations has said that the draft report for changes to the rules on plant reproductive material is a “cause for concern” for the future of agriculture in Europe.
MEPs on the agriculture committee of the European Parliament proposed changes to the rules, which aim to improve declining agro-biodiversity in the EU.
The draft law states that this could be done by increasing the variety of plant reproductive material on the market.
MEPs adopted the report on new rules on plant reproductive material by 25 votes to two and 17 abstentions, and forest reproductive material by 32 votes to one and nine abstentions.
Copa Cogeca stated that the draft puts the EU market “at risk” concerning high quality seeds, through an extension of the scope of derogations and voluntary sustainability testing.
The group said that under the draft, the maximum quantities of plant varieties per person and per year are unlimited, which could create a “parallel uncontrolled seed market”.
Under the draft, MEPs propose to allow farmers to exchange between each other a limited quantity (set by the commission) of any type of plant reproductive material, not only seeds as proposed.
Copa and Cogeca have called on MEPs to return to a closer version of the initial Commission’s proposal.
The European Commission last year proposed to replace the directives currently in place on the production and marketing of plant and forest reproductive material with a regulation.
Copa and Cogeca said it supports the current legislation around plant reproductive material.
“These regulations provide EU farmers with assurance about the quality of plant varieties, thereby reducing the risk of crop failure,” the group stated.
It added that new proposals around new genomic technique plants, coupled with revisions to plant reproductive material marketing directives are a “positive step forward”.