Brussels, 25 November 2025 – With the EU Member States in the final phase of negotiations on the Regulation on the Production and Marketing of Plant Reproductive Material (PRM), a coalition of over 200 farmers, breeders, seed savers, and environmental organizations issued a joint letter to EU Agricultural Ministers today. The letter raises an urgent alarm over the potential consequences of the current proposal for the future of Europe’s agricultural system.
The signatories, representing diverse groups such as organic and agroecological agriculture, small seed companies, and conservation networks, warn that the current Council proposal fails to provide the necessary legal protection for agrobiodiversity and farmers’ rights. They assert that if the proposal is not revised, it risks creating a seed system that is unsuitable for climate resilience, sustainable agricultural practices, and food sovereignty. The Danish Presidency plans to gauge Member State support at the upcoming attaché meeting on 28 November, followed by a possible COREPER mandate in mid-December, which would mark the conclusion of the Council’s internal process.
Magdalena Prieler of ARCHE NOAH stated, “If the Council does not change its course before finalizing its position, Europe will be undermining the very actors who are responsible for maintaining agrobiodiversity.” She added, “We are now only days away from a decision that could either safeguard farmers’ rights and seed diversity or irreversibly restrict them. Member States must choose wisely.”
Eric Gall, Deputy Director of IFOAM Organics Europe, stressed the need for a framework that reflects the realities of organic and agroecological systems. He stated, “It is essential that the future PRM legislation provides the legal space for a diversified seed market and for farmers to choose the cultivars best suited for their farming systems.” He also highlighted the potential consequences of limiting conservation varieties to certain crop species and their region of origin, which would greatly impede the many organic and agroecological farmers and breeders who rely on them.
The coalition asserts that crop and variety diversity is fundamental to resilient agriculture. Higher genetic diversity allows plants to adapt to pests, diseases, and rapidly changing climatic conditions, and supports sustainable food production. However, agrobiodiversity has been declining significantly in recent decades. The coalition believes that small seed producers, conservation networks, and farmer-to-farmer exchange systems are essential for maintaining and renewing this diversity. Yet, the current PRM draft risks tightening the regulatory framework around these non-commercial, diversity-enhancing activities, instead of protecting them.
Alessandra Turco, representing the European Coordination Via Campesina, emphasized the importance of on-farm PRM breeding, dynamic management, and exchanges between farmers to adapt plants to local growing conditions. She stated, “These practices are not marketing and must be recognized as collective rights of farmers outside the scope of the PRM regulation, as is already the case in several EU countries.”
As the Council’s internal deadline approaches rapidly, civil society organizations warn that Member States have a final, narrow window to integrate essential safeguards. These include excluding on-farm conservation and dynamic management activities from PRM rules, guaranteeing farmers’ rights to save, use, and exchange their seeds, ensuring simple and accessible registration for old and newly developed conservation varieties, requiring that Value for Sustainable Cultivation and Use (VSCU) testing is done under organic or low-input conditions, protecting nano-enterprises from disproportionate administrative burdens, and guaranteeing transparency on breeding methods and intellectual property rights.
The coalition urges Agriculture Ministers to correct the proposal before the Council finalizes its position, ensuring that the regulation reflects the needs of farmers, gardeners, breeders, and seed networks who maintain Europe’s agricultural resilience. Failure to do so would represent a historic setback for agrobiodiversity, farmers’ rights, and Europe’s capacity to adapt to the climate crisis. The joint letter to EU Agricultural Ministers can be found at www.arche-noah.at/jointletteronprm.
