Organic production and a nature positive economy: from EU policy to impact

The transition to a nature positive economy places agriculture, food systems and land management at the heart of Europe’s environmental, economic and societal resilience.

Through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the Farm to Fork Strategy and the EU Vision for Food and Agriculture, the European Union promotes organic production as a key pathway to reduce chemical pollution, protect biodiversity, improve soil and water quality and enhance ecosystem resilience, while supporting the long term competitiveness of the sector.

The EU action plan for organic agriculture sets the objective of reaching 25 per cent of EU agricultural land under organic farming by 2030. Regulation (EU) 2018/848 on organic production and labelling defines organic farming as a system that avoids synthetic pesticides and fertilisers and contributes to environmental protection, public health and consumer trust through credible certification.

With this EU Green Week partner event, NSF, an internationally recognised organic certification body with strong expertise in health risk evaluation, contributes to the debate on how organic standards, certification and testing support the delivery of nature positive outcomes in practice.

Since 1944, NSF has worked at the intersection of public health, environmental protection and market implementation, developing standards and providing testing, certification, consulting and scientific services across food, agriculture and environmental systems.

This web streamed roundtable explores how organic regulations and standards, certification and health risk evaluation help lower pressures from hazardous substances on ecosystems and people. Particular attention is given to the science based, preventive approach of organic systems in reducing chemical risks and underpinning trust, transparency and integrity in organic markets. The role of the quality infrastructure, accreditation, standardisation and certification, is highlighted, alongside examples of successful implementation from the EU, the United Kingdom and the Americas.

The event brings together EU policy experts, certification organisations, organic sector stakeholders, scientists and industry representatives who examine how EU policy instruments, regulatory frameworks and certification can jointly support preventive risk management, market trust and the effective implementation of EU organic and nature positive objectives.