On 16 December, the European Commission has adopted the 2023 Annual Work Programme on the promotion of agricultural products. To help realise the European Green Deal’s shift to more sustainable food systems, the European Commission earmarked a big share of the 2023’s EU promotion budget to sustainable agriculture. 

28 million EUR for campaigns targeted towards promoting organic farming 

The European Commission wishes to focus on sustainable agriculture, including organic production, to increase awareness and recognition of sustainable production methods. To achieve this, 48 million EUR are dedicated to the promotion of sustainable, EU quality schemes and organic production.  

Of these 48 million EUR, 28 million EUR are explicitly targeted towards promoting organic production and products.  

Using the opportunity promotion policies offer is crucial 

The budget allocation has changed over the years: in 2021, 49 million EUR were explicitly targeted toward promotion organic production and products. During the previous years, the budget allocated for organic promotion has not been fully used because of a lack of high-quality proposals, which explains this decrease. Therefore, the European Commission has allocated less funding.  

The organic movement will play a role in shaping the budget allocation for promotion policies in the following years by deciding on whether or not to apply and get mobilised on this issue. The call for proposals will open on 19 January, have a look at the indicative timeline.  

In the Commissions’ press release, Agricultural Commissioner Wojciechowski stated that the promotion of European agri-food products and their quality, in the EU and worldwide is an important dimension of the Commission’s support to farmers and producers, to help them find new markets.

Source: IFOAM EU Group