Bringing organic farming back to local level

Question for written answer  E-001922/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Annika Bruna (ID), Mathilde Androuët (ID), Aurélia Beigneux (ID), Catherine Griset (ID), Viktor Uspaskich (NI), Elena Lizzi (ID), Elżbieta Kruk (ECR), Julie Lechanteux (ID), Herve Juvin (ID)

The organic sector in Europe is making progress. In 2018, 325 000 organic farms used more than 13.8 million hectares – 7.5% of Europe’s farmland. In France, that figure had already reached 8.5% in 2019.

However, large supermarkets are drawn to this sector and have bought out many small businesses and developed their own ranges of organic products.

To reduce costs, they have favoured imports that pose a threat to local farmers, generate greenhouse gas emissions when transported, and even promote single-crop farming causing soil depletion. They receive the majority of their supplies from the ‘plastic sea’ of Almería, in Andalusia, where tens of thousands of underpaid immigrants are exploited in the region’s greenhouses.

To preserve the ethos of organic farming:

• 1.Does the Commission intend to amend legislation on the production and labelling of organic products, to differentiate and favour those that are produced and consumed locally?
• 2.Does it intend to monitor the size of holdings, their operations and the social conditions of employees working on them?