Farmers have celebrated the adoption of new regulation allowing monogastric producers a five per cent allowance of non-organic protein feeds currently not available in organic form until the end of 2014.

The EU has agreed to a five per cent allowance of non-organic protein in feeds for monograstric animals being certified as organic. The Commission had been intending to make it mandatory for organic animals to be raised on a diet of one hundred per cent organic feed from 1st January this year.  

Poultry producers in particular had expressed fears that this would leave them short of raw ingredients to provide the nutritional requirements for their birds. However, the changes agreed to offer an allowance for producers.

Amongst the changes agreed to under the new regulations is the requirement on producers to source a percentage of feed from regional producers (however, region has not yet been defined by commissioners). 20 per cent of monogastric feed must be “produced in the same region in cooperation with other organic farms or feed business operators” according to EU legislators. Furthermore, 60 per cent of feed for herbivores must be sourced from either on-farm or from the region.

Farming unions in the UK have welcomed the decision. NFU spokesperson Martin Humphrey, said the union had been lobbying for such changes since July 2011. He said, “I am pleased that the EU has come to a decision that gives organic poultry producers the scope to continue with high levels of nutrition, providing birds with good welfare.”

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