Euroseeds expresses concerns over COMENVI report

March 12, 2024

Plant reproductive material

-

European seed sector

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.