Euroseeds raises concerns over contradictory COMENVI report

Date:03-13-2024

Euroseeds voices concerns over seed regulation text adopted by COMENVI, that contradicts the goal of healthy seeds entering the EU market and urges policymakers to work on a balanced regulatory framework that ensures high-quality seed for a more productive and sustainable EU agriculture and adapted rules for specific materials.

Euroseeds expresses concerns regarding the recently adopted report by the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (COMENVI) concerning seed regulation. Particularly, Euroseeds highlights the contradictory nature of the text, which, while acknowledging the positive impact of high quality and healthy seeds on agricultural sustainability and productivity, it also allows for unchecked material to enter the market without adequate plant health control or traceability measures, thus potentially undermining EU agriculture’s productivity and sustainability.

In response to this development, Garlich von Essen, Secretary General of Euroseeds, points out, "The text adopted in COMENVI sends mixed signals to other co-legislators. On the one hand, it embraces the positive contribution that high quality seeds can make to productive and sustainable agriculture, but on the other hand, it allows for non-checked material to come to the market without any plant health control or traceability, which will increase plant health outbreaks and pesticide use."

Von Essen further emphasizes the importance of maintaining a balanced regulatory framework that will facilitate the development of new plant varieties and the production and marketing of high-quality seeds while ensuring fair competition.

Euroseeds calls upon policymakers to address these inconsistencies and work towards a regulatory framework that allows improved varieties to reach the market, guarantees fair competition for professional operators and ensures that the material developed does not carry pests and diseases for the benefit of farmers, breeders and society as a whole.