Unpacking EU’s food fight over new gene-edited supercrops

Agrochemical multinationals crave them, small and organic farmers don’t want them, most consumers know zilch about them and governments are fighting over them: genetically modified foods are back on the EU menu.

At a standstill for months, the EU's plan to free so-called New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) from strict GMO rules could move forward on Friday (14 March) — delivering on efforts from Europe’s factory farm capitals to override opposition from countries concerned about small and organic farmers.

While initially one of the member states slamming the brakes on a deal, Poland, since the start of its EU Council presidency in January, has flipped — much to the dismay of many of its own agri-food players. 

Pro-NGT countries agree with the European Commission (and big agro-food companies) that lab-tweaked crops can deliver the sustainability that European agriculture so badly needs — as well as help them compete with biotech-friendly nations like the US, Canada or Japan — but critics warn these are the same tall claims as those made for older-generation GMOs, which fuelled intensive farming but failed to deliver for many growers.

Those against what they see as a de-facto deregulation also argue the new rules proposed by Brussels will give seed and agrichem multinationals a hassle-free ride on the booming food biotechnology wave at the likely expense of small producers.

Countries have been at odds over a host of issues: whether NGT products should be monitored and carry labels for consumers, or only for producers; whether to exempt them from thorough health and environmental safety checks; whether and how to keep them separate from organics; whether to tie laxer rules to sustainability requirements and even on whether the proposal is scientifically sound (no less than seven EU countries and the competent national agencies of France, Germany and Austria warn the law’s scientific basis is inadequate, if not arbitrary).

Yet despite attempts by the opposition bloc — Austria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia — to address these issues, the pro-NGT coalition has shut down discussions on all but one topic: plant patents, which many countries fear could fuel food privatisation and monopolies, but which industry sees as its non-negotiable moneymaker.

An official within Belgium’s former government, which steered their 2024 Council presidency, said that the pro-NGT camp is “very explicit” that they would refuse negotiations on anything other than patents.

'We have a feeling [that] many things are going through by force; our impression over the whole proposal was that [there was] an intention to push it down our throats without proper work done beforehand', said an EU diplomat

Lobbying Warsaw

While initially adamant that labelling was “essential” for consumer trust and that patents would only benefit big corporations, since the start of its presidency, Warsaw has been bending over backwards to cater to the big players’ NGT cravings — despite opposition voices and studies suggesting NGT awareness among Polish citizens is low.

Days into its presidency, Poland dropped most of its concerns and focused on attempting to soften the patent blow, which the commission did not tackle in the law, but on which it is conducting a study due out later this year.

In a first proposal, Poland suggested that only non-patented NGTs could benefit from red tape-free market approval; that seed packs should carry patent labels and that countries could restrict patented NGTs in their territories.

Businesses were appalled and the proposal flopped.

Just weeks later, Warsaw pitched a second deal, binning all previous proposals and saying companies could disclose patent information online, instead of on seed packs, and only voluntarily.

Several EU diplomats and Polish stakeholders said Poland’s U-turn came after “unseen” levels of pressure coming at Warsaw from all fronts.

In Brussels, industrial farming and biotech hubs like Spain and Belgium led the charge during their presidencies, zeroing in on Poland’s patent concerns after realising that, due to its population, its vote could move the file forward.  

“They were really hunting for Poland, due to its size, and to the fact that perhaps their position was not as firm,” an EU diplomat said, adding that it all reached a fever pitch during Belgium’s presidency. 

Three EU diplomats said that, in a last-ditch attempt to get Poland’s agreement, the Belgian presidency took the matter up to the prime ministerial level.

The Belgian official confirmed former Belgian premier Alexander De Croo and his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk, talked NGTs on the sidelines of a trip to Warsaw marking the release of over €100bn in frozen EU funds for Poland.

The Belgian official also said Poland’s NGT reservations were “very linked to the attitude of the minister of agriculture [Czesław Siekierski],” who opposed patents. “There was the hope Tusk could overrule him. Which wasn't the case.”

Poland’s farm ministry did not reply to requests for comment.

Tusk’s press office did not reply to emailed questions about the prime ministerial meeting but said the Polish presidency was being an “honest broker” in the EU Council, adding: “The final support from the member states (including Poland) will be verified after the results of the negotiations with [MEPs]. This is still a long way off.”  

But as Poland beavers away to begin trilogues with the European Parliament, opposed countries are adamant that their “legitimate concerns” are being ignored. 

In interviews with EUobserver, diplomats opposed to the law criticised their pro-NGT peers for wanting to rush through a half-baked text seeking to prioritise corporate needs over consumers’ rights, farmers’ livelihoods or the environment.

In written comments, some capitals even warn the proposal risks entirely redefining an ‘organic’ or ‘natural’ plant under EU law, in what could spook trade partners.

'If the NGT law will go like the big guys want it to go, there will be only a few suppliers of seeds on the market … So besides losing competition, it is also really about losing control over the food supply chain', said Marek Luty, marketing director at HR Strzelce, a large Polish state-owned seed company

“We have a feeling [that] many things are going through by force; our impression over the whole proposal was that [there was] an intention to push it down our throats without proper work done beforehand,” said the EU diplomat. 

Organic heavyweights like Austria say the bill risks obliterating the organic and GM-free sectors, which would face prohibitive costs to steer clear of unlabelled NGTs — something which the EU’s greenest capitals already see as impossible. 

"Our land is so small that coexistence [between biotech and organic farming] is not possible (…) we don’t have methods to control it," said a diplomat from Slovenia, where the average farm size is a mere six hectares. “We need more time to discuss, not to hurry and to have a bad regulation … [pro-countries] want to rush, but to rush things with nature is difficult. There is no step back then.”

Patent leverage

Efforts to give EU farming its high-tech glow-up are ongoing well beyond Brussels.

Businesses in Poland are also feeling the heat, as multinationals lead a charm offensive in the country to get farmers and breeders on board.

Two Polish seed breeders said executives from multinationals including Corteva and KWS organised an event to “[try] to convince [them]” to join ACLP, one of several licensing platforms set up by industry giants and their lobbies to show off their self-regulation muscles. 

“The narrative was, 'join us, you will have access to patents … And don't block the patent system in Europe, because you will benefit from it, and we care about you’,” said Marek Luty, marketing director at HR Strzelce, a large Polish state-owned seed company.

Convincing seed breeders to join patent platforms like ACLP — through which big companies control who can use their patented NGTs, for how much and under which conditions — could help companies convince “governments (...) that many breeders already accepted the idea” that genes and seeds would become privatised under the patent system, he added. 

But “patents are always leverage,” Luty said, noting that ACLP executives said companies could always decide to keep a “unique” patented crop to themselves.

“If the NGT law will go like the big guys want it to go, there will be only a few suppliers of seeds on the market … So besides losing competition, it is also really about losing control over the food supply chain,” he said.

Franziska Achterberg, of the NGO Save Our Seeds, said if Poland’s proposal passes “any breeder or farmer wanting to use a certain variety will still need to do their own research to know whether that variety has one or several patents attached to it.”

A smaller Polish seed-breeder working with organics said patents would put them out of business “sooner or later.” While not opposed to NGTs, they said there has been too little debate and far too much coercion.

“We feel it’s great business — but it’s a great business for companies and no business for the farmers,” they said, pointing to “plenty” of media articles “stating NGTs are good for farmers [but without] the slightest information about patents.”

As word of Warsaw’s change of stance spread last month in Poland, Solidarność, the second-largest farmer union in the country, sent a letter to Poland’s agriculture ministry asking to reject the law and stressing that over 200 EU and Polish food players had written with similar concerns already.

Solidarność said the proposal would “increase seed prices for farmers” and warned it was “contrary to the interests of farmers throughout the European Union.”

But Poland is intent on moving the bill forward.

A spokesperson for the Polish presidency said their latest patent pitch had received “good reactions” from member states and that they would seek to get the green light to begin negotiating with parliament during a meeting on Friday.

This article was developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe