New EU seeds law: Mixed reactions among industry stakeholders following latest Plant Reproductive Material vote

22 Mar 2024 --- The European Parliament Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI) has voted in favor of the European Commission’s (EC) proposed Plant Reproductive Material (PRM) legislation. IFOAM Organics Europe and Euroseeds express support toward the EC’s efforts to modernize the EU’s seed regulation, while expressing concerns over deregulation.

“IFOAM Organics Europe welcomes the fact that organic varieties will be tested under organic conditions and that there will be adapted DUS (Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability) criteria for organic varieties,” a spokesperson for the EU’s organic food and farming umbrella organization, tells Food Ingredients First.

“We strongly oppose any amendments to the organic regulation 2018/848 that are mentioned in the PRM proposal. Organic Heterogeneous Material (OHM) and all OHM-related provisions must not be deleted from the organic regulation. OHM has been developed under organic farming conditions and must thus be seen as being different from HM (heterogeneous material), as it has been laid down in the PRM proposal.”

Euroseeds’ secretary general, Garlich von Essen, states that “the initial EC proposal on PRM was striking a balance between principal common rules for all producers and all users and of defined derogations and adaptation of standards for specific plant materials and markets, i.e., between seed security and seed diversity.”

“This balance now got lost in way too broad exemptions and lack of quality assurance, traceability and official oversight. This approach is not acceptable for Europe’s seed sector.”

The European Parliament (EP) is expected to hold a plenary session and a vote on the PRM legislation in April. If the vote is successful, member states will be required to adopt it into their national law.

The EU seed legislation could re-introduce genetic diversity into European fields.Reactions to the vote 
The new legislation proposed by the EC sets out to modernize the EU’s current seed marketing legislation, consolidating existing EU laws into a single regulation, focusing on sustainability goals and facilitating the marketing of diverse types of PRM. It includes existing variety testing, registration and seed certification standards, introducing new derogations for specific materials, users and markets. 

Reacting to this Tuesday’s COMAGRI vote, IFOAM Organics Europe argues that the PRM law can contribute to balancing EU regulation with an environment conducive to organic plant breeding. 

Their spokesperson adds: “We welcome that certain activities are kept outside the scope of the regulation. This is already the case for gardening activities and the sale of seed lots to amateurs. But it must also apply to activities like the work of gene banks, which should stay out of the scope.” 

However, the organization does not find it acceptable to exclude certain types of crops of species from HM. "This would implicate considerable financial losses to companies who are currently producing HM from these crops. Also, the organic multiplication practices as defined in 2018/848 must remain untouched and should not be extended to include other practices that are not demanded by the organic sector.”

 At a COMAGRI public hearing held in November 2023, Euroseed’s Von Essen highlighted the organization’s positive feedback on the proposed legislation.  “It is logical, stringent and clear, catering to the needs of the majority of the providers and users of classical PRM while accommodating specific materials, markets or users that require derogations.” 

The legislation
Yet, even Von Essen expresses some reluctance: “This is a highly technical legislation that needs to take due account of the biological differences between species, of different marketing paths and uses. We understand the EC’s motivation and approach to streamline and harmonize provisions as much as possible.”

In its most recent reaction to the COMAGRI vote, the industry representative organization states: “Euroseeds firmly opposes all proposals that exempt activities, operators or materials from essential official oversight through the EU Official Controls and Plant Health Regulation as this undermines the integrity of the regulatory framework and risks eroding the high level of consumer trust in the sector and its products. Moreover, this is against the nearly unanimous efforts requested by COMAGRI to strengthen the Plant Health status in the EU.”

Euroseeds fears some aspects of the legislation may undermine the integrity of the regulatory framework.“We call upon members of the EP to change course and amend the COMAGRI report accordingly. The current text is a step back, not forward, for Europe’s breeders and seed suppliers and for their customers, the farmers and growers in the EU,” Von Essen comments. 

Sustainability considerations 
IFOAM Organics Europe has expressed a trust that the regulation’s considerations for the production and marketing of PRMs will play an important role within the EU Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy, in particular, given the latter’s objective to boost organic production and ensure 25% of EU agricultural land is under organic management by 2030. 

Yet, the organization’s spokesperson highlights: “IFOAM Organics Europe is skeptical of the extension of VSCU (value for sustainable cultivation and use) testing to all crop types (such as fruits and vegetables) because the cost of developing new varieties will increase considerably for breeders (and ultimately, farmers), while the benefits of introducing VSCU testing to these crops are negligible.”

“Currently, VCU (value for cultivation or use) testing is only done for arable crops, and we believe this should not change. Moreover, the sustainability criteria proposed for VSCU testing are doubtful since sustainability cannot be related to single crop traits but can only be evaluated holistically, taking into account the entire cultivation system,” the spokesperson concludes.

By Milana Nikolova