The proposed Nature Restoration Law has faced “unjustified opposition” when it comes to restoration targets for agricultural ecosystems, a European umbrella organisation for organic food and farming has said.
IFOAM Organics Europe is calling on MEPs to support ambitious nature restoration on agricultural land, stressing that well-preserved natural resources are “essential” for sustainable agricultural production.
To ensure long-term food security, the group said policymakers have a “duty” to help farmers to preserve the natural capital to produce food and should not be “lured by misguided” calls to weaken environmental legislation.
Biodiversity in the EU has decreased drastically, pollinators are declining, birds are disappearing, and soil health is deteriorating, the umbrella organisation said.
Intensive agriculture is one of the main drivers for biodiversity loss, however biodiversity is an important basis for the functioning of many ecosystem processes, the group said.
Commenting on the role of organic farming in reversing biodiversity loss – organic farmers have on average “30% more biodiversity” on the farm – IFOAM Organics Europe’s policy manager, Eric Gall said:
“Biodiversity and healthy ecosystems are essential for the productivity of farming systems. It is urgently necessary to reverse the accelerating biodiversity loss and start restoring nature.
“Organic farming shows that it is possible to produce nutritious and sufficient food while preserving biodiversity, storing carbon in soils and making our food production more resilient to the increasing impacts of climate change.”
Nature restoration
IFOAM Organics Europe said that longer and diverse crop rotations with leguminous plants are an “essential element” of organic farming to ensure soil fertility and contribute to soil health.
Together with other beneficial management practices such as cover crops and manure application, the group said, crop rotations contribute to increased soil organic carbon sequestration on organic farms.
Intercropping brings nitrogen to the soil and protects it from erosion, which in turn improves soil water retention capacity. This is essential as droughts and floods become more frequent due to climate change, the group said.
Land-based livestock systems with grazing and lower stocking rates also support biodiversity in grasslands, IFOAM Organics Europe added.
“Moving towards the target of 25% agricultural land under organic management by 2030 can therefore make an important contribution to bringing back nature on the fields,” IFOAM Organics Europe said.