Driving organic growth? OrganicTargets4EU analysis of CAP Strategic Plans

The OrganicTargets4EU project analysed current organic agricultural and aquaculture policies, revealing increased support for organic agriculture following legislative initiatives by the 2019-2024 EU Commission.

What was researched?

28 Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) Strategic Plans (2 for Belgium), their associated summary documents, financial agreements as well as 24 EU, national and regional organic action plans were compared with 20 equivalent previous action plans. A similar analysis of the Common Fishery Policy (CFP) and aquaculture policies happened for 9 selected countries.

What were the findings?

In their analysis, Nic Lampkin (Thünen Institute) and Giuseppe Lembo (Fondazione COISPA) observed significant steps in support for organic agriculture within the EU, with the EU Commission leading the charge.  All EU Member States have implemented policies to support organic farming, with some, like the Netherlands and France, resuming or enhancing support after previous lapses.

The CAP Strategic Plans include detailed strategies, payment rates, and targets for increasing organic land area, aiming to double supported organic land and nearly double expenditure by 2027/8. Additionally, most Member States have integrated organic action plans that combine environmental and market-focused policies to foster sustainable organic growth.

However, challenges remain, particularly in organic aquaculture, where policy support is behind conventional practices and funding and market structures need further development.

Linear projections suggest that only 15-20% of EU agricultural land might be organic by 2030, short of the 25% target. Despite progress, achieving this goal will require greater effort, resources and a major transformation in support structures especially in research, knowledge exchange, and capacity building across the organic sector.

Further work in the OrganicTargets4EU project will formulate clear recommendations for developing organic farming, specifically for the CAP post-2027.

Read the full report and CAP Strategic Plans’ analysis on OrganicTargets4EU’s website.

The Horizon Europe project OrganicTargets4EU (2022-2026) aims to help reach 25% of agricultural land under organic farming and a significant increase in organic aquaculture by 2030. IFOAM Organics Europe leads this project which is working on outcomes that will drive the growth and development of the organic sector focussing on policy implementation, evidence-based decision making, increased and coordinated Research & Innovation and increased knowledge sharing. The project results will be discussed in a multi-actor policy dialogue and it will make recommendations for the CAP strategic plans and EU/national organic action plans from 2025-2027 and from 2028 onwards.

Visit the project website for more information and follow its hashtag #OrganicTargets4EU on LinkedIn and X or contact [email protected].