Dear Guest,

Thank you very much for your attendance at the exhibition “What’s New in the Farmers Market“.

Farmers are facing diverse challenges, related to climate change, soil erosion, changes in customer habits, and the price of commodities, for example. Your help to the European farmers is vital.

There is no silver bullet to solve them all, but all existing techniques should be considered to create a comprehensive toolbox for farmers.

Here you can find a few useful links to more detailed information about the legislative framework surrounding genome editing and some of the most relevant reports published on the topic.

The three legislative proposals

Three legislative proposals will be introduced this year and will have a major impact on the farmers’ work and the tools they are able to use. The links below will bring you directly to the European Commission’s website.

FSFS

The proposal for a legislative framework for sustainable food systems (FSFS) is one of the flagship initiatives of the Farm to Fork Strategy. As announced in the Strategy, it will be adopted by the Commission by the end of 2023.

READ MORE HERE

NGTs

The legislation for plants produced by certain new genomic techniques (NGTs) will propose a legal framework for plants obtained by targeted mutagenesis and cisgenesis and for their food and feed products. It is based on the findings of a Commission study on new genomic techniques. It is planned for adoption in the second quarter of 2023.

READ MORE HERE

PRM

The proposed new regulation(s) on plant reproductive material (PRM) aims to simplify and update the current rules and harmonise their implementation across the EU. The Commission will adopt its proposals for the revision of the PRM legislation in the first half of 2023. The proposals will be accompanied by an impact assessment.

READ MORE HERE

Relevant reports

The Brussels-based non-profit organisation RE-IMAGINE EUROPA, together with its partner EU-SAGE, have gathered the following reports that are relevant to the field and can feed the discussion.

• ALLEA – GENOME EDITING FOR CROP IMPROVEMENT

• FAO – GENE EDITING AND AGRIFOOD SYSTEMS

• EUROPEAN COMMISSION – NEW GENOMIC TECHNIQUES UNDER UNION LAW

• EUROPEAN FOOD SAFETY AUTHORITY – Criteria for risk assessment of plants produced by targeted mutagenesis, cisgenesis and intragenesis

• EU-SAGE – Interactive, publicly accessible online database of genome-edited crop plants

• RE-IMAGINE EUROPA – Beyond the Apple of Discord: Existing Narratives and Ways Forward

• RE-IMAGINE EUROPA – White Paper on the Regulation of Genome Editing in Agriculture

Contact

We hope that this information allows you to be even more aware of these proposals’ importance for the future of sustainable food systems.

EU-SAGE and RE-IMAGINE EUROPA are available for further discussion and can provide you with more details.

• Contact EU-SAGE : oana.dima@psb.vib-ugent.be
• Contact RE-IMAGINE EUROPA (Planet Department) : Peter.kearns@re-imagine.eu