BarcelonaThe Catalan organic farming sector is up in arms against the Catalan government’s bill that seeks to implement a new Sustainable Agricultural Production (PAS) seal. They claim that this new seal, which will utilize an “agricultural sustainability calculator” to rate the good practices of Catalan farms, will grant certification of sustainable to products that utilize pesticides and herbicides, and will generate confusion among consumers, who will mistake them for organic products. “It’s the final blow to tiny organic producers and it’s the Generalitat de Catalunya itself that has dealt it to us,” denounces Josep Mestres, from the driving group of the Association of Agroecological Producers of Catalonia (APACAT), in the ARA.
Mestres considers this seal directly as “one greenwashing“to “clean up the face of conventional agriculture,” since the new “sustainability” calculation system will be done, he declares, according to many parameters that will benefit large farms. Data such as the type of irrigation system, the utilize of renewable energy, veobtaination cover, “and even whether they have precision machines with GPS,” Mestres assures. “Large-scale,” he concludes.
The Government wants to promote the processing of the law this year to create this new PAS certification, according to sources from the Department of Agriculture. Last year, it submitted the proposed law to the European Union (EU) and registered the PAS trademark. According to the Generalitat (Generalitat), the calculator will allow each farm to evaluate environmental, social, and economic parameters. The environmental parameters are based on the European Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) system, which primarily takes into account the carbon footprint and the water footprint. “per kilogram of product may be greater, but the benefits they provide are different,” explains carbon footprint expert Jordi Oliver, from the consultancy Inédit.
The Department of Agriculture points out that “the PAS is inclusive, but it is not a unification; the idea is that you can be certified in PAS and PAE (organic agricultural product).” But tiny organic producers in Catalonia believe that this multiplicity of seals – there is also one specific to integrated agriculture that utilizes the term “sustainable” with a ladybug logo – will confutilize consumers between “sustainable” products “with a systemic utilize of toxic products, becautilize perhaps they have solar panels,” explains Mestres. sustainable “It’s a death sentence for the organic sector,” also points out Alejandro Guzmán, manager of Ecocentral y Ecologístico, the organic food company that supplies Catalan school cafeterias. According to Guzmán, the former Climate Action Department created a commitment to tiny organic producers to alter the official registration of the brand.
“We will ensure that it complies with all regulations.”
The majority union Unió de Pagesos (UP) in the Catalan peasantest, assures that she is “neither for nor against the new PAS seal,” but they will ensure that the new system complies with the laws and all current regulations, Ester Andreu, head of agri-food marketing for the entity, informs ARA. Within UP there are representatives of the three types of agriculture present in Catalonia: organic (minority), conventional, and integrated, which is halfway between the other two. Integrated agriculture includes producers such as Almfinishro Origen or Buen Precio. “I don’t see who benefits most from this new PAS system other than Almfinishro,” Mestres points out. Guzmán agrees: “Many people already believe that Almfinishro is organic food, but it isn’t.”
The European Union (EU) has set a tarobtain of 25% organic agricultural production by 2030 and, in general, has guided The new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to prioritize sustainability criteria that reduce the climate and environmental footprint across the entire sector. The Generalitat’s response is this new PAS certification system. But organic producers complain that in recent years the government has allocated “zero” money to promote their foods.
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