Europe's Farm to Fork Strategy and Its Commitment to Biotechnology and Organic Farming: Conflicting or Complementary Goals?

Kai P Purnhagen; Stephan Clemens; Dennis Eriksson; Louise O Fresco; Jale Tosun; Matin Qaim; Richard G F Visser; Andreas P M Weber; Justus H H Wesseler; David Zilberman

doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2021.03.012

Europe's Farm to Fork Strategy and Its Commitment to Biotechnology and Organic Farming: Conflicting or Complementary Goals?

Trends Plant Sci. 2021 Jun;26(6):600-606. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2021.03.012. Epub 2021 Apr 20.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Life Science, Faculty of Law, Research Unit for German and European Food Law, University of Bayreuth, Kulmbach and Bayreuth, Germany. Electronic address: kai.purnhagen@uni-bayreuth.de.
² Faculty of Life Science, Plant Physiology, University of Bayreuth, Kulmbach and Bayreuth, Germany.
³ Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden.
⁴ Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
⁵ Political Science, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.
⁶ International Food Economics and Rural Development, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
⁷ Plant Breeding, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
⁸ Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Cluster of Excellence on Plant Science (CEPLAS), Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany.
⁹ Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
¹⁰ Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.

PMID: 33893049
DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2021.03.012

Abstract

The European Commission's Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy, under the European Green Deal, acknowledges that innovative techniques, including biotechnology, may play a role in increasing sustainability. At the same time, organic farming will be promoted, and at least 25% of the EU's agricultural land shall be under organic farming by 2030. How can both biotechnology and organic farming be developed and promoted simultaneously to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? We illustrate that achieving the SDGs benefits from the inclusion of recent innovations in biotechnology in organic farming. This requires a change in the law. Otherwise, the planned increase of organic production in the F2F strategy may result in less sustainable, not more sustainable, food systems.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Biotechnology
Europe
Farms
Goals*
Organic Agriculture*