Organic farming and gene editing: Is coexistence possible?

The coexistence of gene editing with organic production systems remains a point of contention within the European Commission. While proponents of the technology maintain the two can go hand in hand, the EU’s organics sector warns coexistence requires robust traceability and liability mechanisms.

Gene editing – also referred to as new genomic techniques (NGTs) – describes a number of new scientific methods used to alter genomes with the aim of genetically engineering certain traits into plants, such as drought tolerance or pesticide resistance.

The Commission’s long-awaited proposal – spearheaded by its health and food safety division, DG SANTE – on whether to loosen EU rules on new genetic techniques is expected in the second quarter of 2023.

But while DG SANTE has long hinted it favours deregulation, a number of question marks remain for the farming side of the EU executive, including coexistence between conventional and organic farmers.

“One really important point for us is […] to see how we can ensure coexistence without creating so much red tape,” Joanna Stawowy, a member of EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski’s cabinet, told a recent event, noting that farmers are “already swamped in administrative work”.

As such, she stressed the need for a ‘reasonable conclusion’ drawing the line between conventional and gene-edited seeds, which she said will then “help organic farmers to actually benefit from the good solutions” rather than worry about avoiding contamination.

“What we need is really to see the draft legislation open a discussion on this,” she said, stressing the need for “pragmatic” legislation which allows appropriate tools for farmers.

The question of coexistence is particularly pertinent in light of the EU’s ambition to see 25% of the bloc’s farmland under organic production by 2030.

Commission dangles gene-editing to soften pesticide reduction plan blow

The revision of the EU’s pesticide framework should ‘not be seen in isolation’ from other forthcoming initiatives such as the proposal on new genomic techniques (NGTs), according to the Europen Commission.

A tool in the organic toolbox?

Euroseeds, representing the EU’s plant breeding sector, sees technology as an opportunity for the organics sector.

“[We] would like to see these kinds of technologies and the resulting products available for all types of farmers, whether small, large, organic, conventional,” said the association’s secretary general, Garlich von Essen.

Von Essen explained that NGTs should be seen as a tool to “achieve breeding objectives faster and more precisely”, likening the innovation to the move from a classical screwdriver to an electric one.

Meanwhile, Plant ETP, a multistakeholder organisation representing the European seed and breeding sector, recently published an open letter in which it recommends moving away from a separation of conventional and organic production systems and “focusing on synergies to leverage the best of both worlds”.

“There is a growing number of stakeholders within the organic sector who share this view and would like the option to use conventional-like NGT plants while maintaining their organic certification,” Plant ETP wrote, noting that a significant proportion of farmers supplying the organic sector manage both organic and conventional production.

No coexistence without traceability

But while Jan Plagge, president of the EU organics association IFOAM, noted that “minority opinions” exist, he said there is a “clear majority among organic operators” who consider NGTs to be a “diversion from the systemic agroecological innovations we need to truly improve the sustainability of agriculture”.

As such, the association maintains that coexistence requires robust traceability and labelling for NGTs in the EU legislation to “guarantee all farmers the freedom not to use NGTs through mandatory traceability”.

“If the Commission’s proposal takes traceability and transparency away by assimilating NGTs to conventional breeding methods, then there is no “coexistence” possible and it would amount to imposing the use of NGTs to all farmers, organic or not,” IFOAM’s deputy director Eric Gall told EURACTIV.

This should be combined with a strict liability regime which compensates farmers in case of the adventitious presence of NGTs, he added.

However, as things currently stand, detection and traceability present a technical challenge.

To help remedy this, the EU recently opened a €10 million call for research on detection methods for products engineered with gene editing technology under its Horizon Europe funding programme.

The call, the first of its kind, aims to “contribute to ensuring traceability and authenticity, enhancing transparency and promoting innovation in the area of new genomic techniques”.

Green MEP Martin Häusling hailed the move as a welcome change from past EU research policy but complained that only a small amount of funding is available for the two projects.

As such, he called for further projects to be funded, as well as for funding dedicated to EU research on the potential risks of NGTs.

EU citizens rally against gene editing deregulation ahead of EU proposal

A coalition of organisations, bolstered by green and socialist MEPs, have presented a petition to the European Commission urging it not to loosen rules on gene editing techniques ahead of the EU executive’s upcoming proposal on the matter.

[Edited by Gerardo Fortuna/Zoran Radosavljevic]

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