The European Crop Care Association (ECCA), the pan-European voice of the post-patent plant protection industry, has urged for an EU agricultural policy “predicated on pragmatism, not political ideology”.
ECCA president, Pankaj Patil said as EU leaders were debating and drafting the EU Strategic Agenda 2024-2029, the ECCA has been focused on highlighting the synergy between food security and sustainable agriculture, facilitated by the post-patent plant protection products (PPPs) industry.
The EU’s recently published Strategic Agenda 2024-2029 sets the EU’s priorities and its strategic orientations for the five-year period and guides the work of the EU institutions.
The strategic agenda is structured around three pillars: a free and democratic Europe; a strong and secure Europe; and a prosperous and competitive Europe.
EU Strategic Agenda
The strategic agenda states that on the EU’s path to climate neutrality by 2050, the union will be “pragmatic and harness the potential of the green and digital transitions to create the markets, industries and high-quality jobs of the future”.
“The European Union will promote a competitive, sustainable and resilient agricultural sector that continues to ensure food security.
“We will champion vibrant rural communities and strengthen the position of farmers in the food supply chain. We will continue to protect nature and reverse the degradation of ecosystems, including oceans.
“We will strengthen water resilience across the union,” the Strategic Agenda 2024-2029 states.
European Crop Care Association
The ECCA said it is “encouraged” by the EU’s latest five-year strategic agenda, and especially welcomes the promise to “promote a competitive, sustainable and resilient agricultural sector that continues to ensure food security”.
Commenting on the published agenda, Patil said: “The document’s emphasis on competitive, sustainable and resilient agriculture that places food security at the forefront taps directly into the core value of post-patent PPPs.
“With continued economic struggles following supply-chain disruptions and increased business costs, cost-effective and efficacious PPPs are crucial for ensuring European farmers’ profitability.”
“Post-patent PPPs provide the best combination of these requirements as they benefit from an extended commercial life with the already covered R&D [research and development] costs, and have a proven track record of providing a highly effective and affordable solution for pest control.
“Crucially, in the context of food security, greater economic efficiency with post-patent PPPs reduces Europe’s dependence on imports, thanks to lower supply costs, and supports the economics for more affordable European food.”
From a broader perspective, however, he said the document does not pay enough attention to agriculture – and the “untapped potential of the tools, including post-patent PPPs, this sector desperately needs” – in ensuring a prosperous and competitive Europe.
The ECCA said while it welcomes the reference to the single market as the “long-term engine of prosperity and convergence” and the commitment to further deepen it, the agenda “fails to acknowledge” market fragmentation cases affecting the agricultural sector.
“Notably, the lack of harmonised implementation of regulations ruling the authorisations of all post-patent PPPs across EU countries within the period prescribed by EU regulations,” Patil said.
Plant protection products
“Patchwork regulatory applications and authorisations across the EU are creating distortions in the single market – fuelling Europe-wide inequalities in farmers’ access to tools that promote a competitive, sustainable and resilient agricultural sector that continues to ensure food security.
“In some parts of the EU, post-patent PPPs are required to repeat the safety review as new active ingredients, despite their prior approval and safe history of use, while in other EU member states there are inconsistencies in the approval process and delays in responding to applications,” the ECCA president said
“Moreover, this fragmented regulatory environment is stifling European innovation – an area that is expected to be promoted as part of the EU’s efforts to boost competitiveness, according to the EU Strategic Agenda.
“The benefits of a streamlined approval framework for generic (post-patent) products are widely accepted when it comes to the pharmaceutical sector, in which the prevalence of generics has been proven to boost competition, drive innovation and bring benefits in terms of cost and availability of options to consumers,” he said.
The ECCA welcomed the EU’s commitment in its strategic agenda to “close our growth, productivity and innovation gaps”, but said “it is key to remember domestic partners, including ECCA’s members, with whom the growth, productivity and innovation gaps can be closed as regards Europe’s agricultural competitiveness”.
The ECCA said it is “encouraged” to see the mention of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the strategic agenda as playing a “central” role in Europe’s economic and social fabric.
ECCA members are predominantly made up of SMEs offering high-quality supply of innovative PPPs, collectively employing over 2,800 people across Europe and generating more than a billion euros in sales, according to Patil.
“To enable SMEs from the post-patent PPPs industry to play this central role in Europe’s future, they need a fair and efficient regulatory environment with an emphasis on ensuring that competition is not distorted, and that equal and fair market access opportunities are protected,” he added.