Seed marketing: Plans to relax EU rules worry the potato industry

Published 2024년 4월 26일

Tridge summary

The European Commission's proposal to replace ten EU directives on the production and marketing of plant reproductive material has been amended by the Parliament's Agriculture Committee (AGRI), introducing greater exemptions for seed exchanges. However, Europatat, an organization representing European potato and seed potato traders, has expressed concerns that these amendments could lead to a parallel seed market and overlook the specific needs of potato crops. The concerns include phytosanitary risks, as potato plants can carry diseases and pests like wireworms. Europe, as the third largest potato producer in the world, has strict import rules to mitigate these risks, with a few exceptions like Switzerland. Europatat is calling on the Commission to reconsider the AGRI committee's additional flexibility and return to the original proposal to prevent a potential crisis.

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Original content

Put forward by the European Commission last July, the legislative proposal replaces ten EU directives that currently set standards for the production and marketing of plant reproductive material, including a 2002 directive on the marketing of potato plants. earth. The report by Italian MEP Herbert Dorfmann of the European People's Party (EPP), adopted by Parliament's Agriculture Committee (AGRI), goes beyond the exemptions proposed by the Commission for certain seed exchanges and suggests further relax the rules. For Europatat, the organization representing the interests of European potato and seed potato traders, the AGRI committee's position does not take into account the specificities of this crop, which could have "serious consequences" for the area. “All these exceptions could create a parallel seed market,” Romans Vorss, director of technical affairs at Europatat, told Euractiv. Diseases and phytosanitary risks Just like commercial potatoes, potato plants or “tubers” are in ...

Source: Argenpapa