Trialogues on Regulation on Statistics on Agricultural Inputs and Outputs to start

On 10 December, the Council of the EU approved its mandate for negotiations on the Regulation on Statistics on Agricultural Inputs and Outputs (SAIO). This means the trialogues can start as the European Parliament already agreed on its position in November 2021. The first round of negotiations is supposed to take place on 3 February.

The SAIO Regulation is supposed to provide the necessary data to monitor three of the six key quantified Farm to Fork targets for 2030:

• The share of agricultural land under organic farming,
• The reduction of the overall use and risk of chemical pesticides, and
• The reduction of nutrient losses.

However, the Council’s position is very disappointing, as Member States have weakened the provisions intended to enable a reliable monitoring of progress. IFOAM Organics Europe particularly disagrees with the position of Member States to limit the collection of data on organic agriculture to crop and animal production, while the SAIO regulation covers also agricultural prices, nutrients, and pesticides.

Furthermore, the Council refuses any improvement of data collection on pesticide use, which will make it impossible to know whether the EU has achieved the target of reducing pesticide use by 50% by 2030.

IFOAM Organics Europe will closely monitor the trialogues’ developments, expected to last at least until May 2022. Together with environmental NGOs in Brussels, we will keep putting pressure on the co-legislators and the Commission to ensure the EU has adequate tools at its disposal to monitor the progress on the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies.

Please contact [email protected] for questions on pesticides and natural inputs. IFOAM Organics Europe members can find more information on the member extranet and background materials in the arguments database on the member extranet (main messages, arguments/FAQs, visuals & videos).

Do note that we prioritise our members’ requests. For information about what you can gain from being a member, read our membership page and contact [email protected].