Policy recommendation to boost organic seed & breeding sector

Policy recommendations will be elaborated in workshops and during email consultation considering the responsibilities of different policymakers and competent authorities EU national regional and multiactors farmers breeders seed producers organic associations the policy instruments and measures that will boost the production and use of organic seed in Europe as well as bottlenecks or gaps in the current policy framework Policy recommendation will be presented at a separate section at the final conference in Brussels and will specifically address EC officers and country representatives of the Regulatory Committee on Organic Production COP The report would furthermore contain regulatory and policy measures based on information collected through the national workshops identifying regulatory and policy measures and formulating recommendations to improve the production and use of organic seed through such measures formerly D14recommendation on how to improve the organic seed sector aimed at farmers as users and producers of organic seed breeders and seed traders with a particular focus on success factors and business models and the economic rationale behind policy measures supporting organic seed productionformerly D45recommendations for an integrated strategy to optimise organic seed health and quality Based on the inventory of seed health and seed qualityrelated issues in European organic farming and on the learning from the models case studies published in D23 a list of recommended priority areas for future research and an analysis of potential solutions eg management practices seed treatment or coating technological and legal aspects will be produced Scientific literature and expert knowledge will also be mobilised to develop and propose this innovative organic seed health strategy that will be based on the multiactor and integrated approach where production systems are considered in their integrity going from the microbial life associated to the crops to the practitioners managing seed quality Milestone 27 Inventory of seed health and seed qualityrelated issues in European organic farming is planned to be regularly updated until Month 42 and published formerly D27a common vision on the development of the organic seed sector by 2050 and develop a research and policy agenda to achieve that vision in a defined time frame Key points for improved availability of organic seed and organic cultivars as well as main breeding gaps will be identified formerly D62