The European Commission has launched a consultation on organic agriculture in the bloc, aimed at all stakeholders with an interest in organic agriculture, from farmers to consumers.

Across Europe, organic farmland increased by 9 percent in 2010. Although the organic area is shrinking in the UK, across much of the rest of the world, the sector is experiencing rapid growth. The EU has the second highest amount of land registered as organic worldwide, second only to Australasia, with 10 million hectares, compared to 12.1m ha.

The commission said on Tuesday (15th January) that information gathered during its consultation would be used to develop new regulation in its next report, due for publication in May. The new framework will cover the entire production chain and outline universal organic standards observed across the EU.

The commission has already sought information from those within the organic sector. The public consultation will be open until 15th April.

Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos commented, "Resource management and sustainable agricultural production are becoming more and more important politically, and consumers are looking closely at how their food is produced. This is therefore a good moment to underline our commitment to the highest standards for organic production and to review our organic rules where necessary in order to see how to create the best possible conditions to encourage the development of organic production in Europe."

Explaining the reasoning behind its consultation, the Commission stated, "Organic farming covers a relatively limited part of the EU's utilised agricultural area - around 5 percent - but the sector is driven by ever-increasing consumer demand."

The Commission said key issues up for discussion include:

• simplifying the legal framework – while ensuring standards are not watered down
• co-existence of GM crops with organic farming
• better control systems and trade arrangements for organic products
• impact of the new labelling rules (especially the now obligatory use of the European logo on all EU-produced organic products – has this given organic products more visibility?)