Boosting organic seed and breeding across Europe: recommendations for stakeholders and policy makers

Summary

The document outlines key areas and strategies to advance organic seed and plant breeding in Europe, focusing on achieving 100% use of adapted organic cultivars in the organic sector.
First, it emphasizes Upscaling Organic Plant Breeding through a “Systems-Based Breeding” Approach, advocating for breeding that integrates genetic innovation with organic farming systems, involving diverse stakeholders and considering environmental interactions. This holistic approach aims to increase genetic diversity and resilience in crops.
Next, it addresses New Cultivar Types: from Registration to On-farm Cultivar Trials, highlighting two new categories introduced under EU regulations—organic heterogeneous material and organic varieties. These materials require adjusted registration and testing processes, including participatory on-farm trials, to better suit organic farming conditions and local environments.
The document also stresses a Holistic Seed Health Strategy & Quality Organic Seed, focusing on seed vigor, seed microbiomes, and sustainable disease management to ensure high-quality seed that supports crop performance and resilience without chemical treatments.
From Seed to Plate: Organic Breeding and Seed in the Value Chain explores the entire value chain, advocating for stronger market support, policy incentives, and public-private cooperation to increase organic seed availability and encourage organic seed use by farmers.
To support transparency and market functioning, the document covers Organic Seed Databases for Harmonised and Transparent Data on Organic Seed Use, calling for improved national databases linked to an EU-wide router database to enhance data access and seed availability tracking.
Finally, it discusses Organic Seed Expert Groups and National Derogation Rules, recommending that multi-stakeholder expert groups guide national policies on organic seed use and derogations, setting clear roadmaps and deadlines to phase out the use of non-organic seed by 2036.
Together, these topics provide a comprehensive framework to strengthen organic seed systems across Europe, supporting sustainability and biodiversity goals.