Welcome to the European Parliamentary Research Service Podcasts.

In this podcast, we'll talk about food, organic food, and deconticate the Commission's new plan to promote organic production in Europe.

Want to know more? Stay with us.

We all want tasty and healthy food in our plates, healthy for us and healthy for the planet.

Couldn't agree more, but can our agricultural sector give us what we want?

Well, although organic farming remains small, accounting for less than a tenth of the EU's total

utilised agricultural area,

organic sales have increased by over 128% in the last 10 years,

and the sector will continue to grow.

To support this growth in March 2021,

the European Commission launched an action plan on organic production for the EU.

Let's hear Anna Capriol from the European Parliamentary Research Service.

The plan follows the objectives of the European Green Deal,

setting a target of 25% of EU land under organic farming by 2030,

as well as a significant increase in organic aquaculture.

With these targets, the Commission wants to cut down on pesticides and fertilizers,

reversed biodiversity laws and make our food system more sustainable.

The question is, how does the Commission plan to achieve all this?

Stay with us. Well, the plan lists 23 actions structured around three axes.

The first one is to stimulate demand for organic products and ensure consumer trust,

for example, by pushing such products into school canteens and public offices and promoting the EU organic logo. The second is to stimulate more farmers to switch from conventional to organic farming.

For instance, through training schemes, better protecting them against unfair trading practices,

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