The European Commission, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), COPA-COGECA and IFOAM Organics Europe launched together on 18 February 2022, the first ever EU organic awards.
These awards will recognize excellence throughout the organic value chain, awarding the best and most innovative organic producers in the EU. Applications will start from March 25 until June 8, 2022, while the award ceremony will be held on September 23, 2022.
Why EU organic awards?
EU organic awards are a follow-up to the Commission's Action Plan for the Development of Organic Production which is in line with the European Green Deal. Specifically, this action plan aims to boost organic production by 25% and consumption of organic products by 2030 and increase organic aquaculture. Organic production plays a key role in achieving the European Green Deal objectives and realizing the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies.
These awards seek to raise the awareness of organic food production and increase their overall demand in the coming years.
The seven categories of the EU organic awards
EU organic awards will give 8 awards from seven categories. They will recognize various actors along the organic value chain who have created a great, innovative, sustainable, and inspiring project that adds genuine value to organic production and consumption. Here are the seven categories of the awards together with their applications to preview.
- Category 1: Best organic farmer (female) and Best organic farmer (male) – Application Form
- Category 2: Best organic region – Application Form
- Category 3: Best organic city – Application Form
- Category 4: Best organic bio-district – Application Form
- Category 5: Best organic SME – Application Form
- Category 6: Best organic food retailer – Application Form
- Category 7: Best organic restaurant – Application Form
For more information on the EU organic awards and their eligibility criteria, check their official page.
Additional EU funding opportunities for organic products
The increase of organic production is one of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) priorities that will remain a key tool for the organic conversion. Currently, CAP gives about 1.8% (€7.5 billion) of its budget to organic farming. However, this percentage should be expected to increase) further (€38 – 58 billion) in the 2023 – 2027 period by the future CAP. This is great news for EU funding and organic stakeholders as there will be additional EU funds for organic products.
These are some of the EU funding opportunities for organics from various programmes that you can find on EUcalls:
- Support for simple programmes promoting Union organic products OR sustainability of Union agriculture in any third country/ies (Topic 9) - AGRIP-SIMPLE-2022-TC-ORG-SUST
Deadline: 21/04/2022 - Support for simple programmes – Organic production method (Topic 2) - AGRIP-SIMPLE-2022-IM-ORGANIC
Deadline: 21/04/2022 - Support for multi programmes – Organic production method (Topic 2) - AGRIP-MULTI-2022-IM-ORGANIC
Deadline: 21/04/2022 - Support for multi programmes promoting Union organic products OR sustainability of Union agriculture in any third country/ies (Topic 6) - AGRIP-MULTI-2022-TC-ORG-SUST
Deadline: 21/04/2022 - PRIMA Call: PRIMA Section 2 Multitopics 2022
Deadline: 22/03/2022 - Nature and Biodiversity - LIFE-2021-PREP-NATURA
Deadline: 10/03/2022
You can find all the above open calls for organic products on the EUcalls platform. Signing up to become an EUcalls member is free, and it can help you find the right open calls for funding or partners to submit your proposals.
The EUcalls team remains at your disposal to answer your questions at info@eucalls.net.
