Organic breeding : from the French public standards to European regulation

Abstract

The implementation of national organic breeding standards in the early 1990s engendered a first wave of development in animal breeding farms, the level of this development being dependant on the type of productions. In 2000, European regulation replaced French breeding standards, with complementary national rules at first (the CC REPAB F), and without any subsidiarity since January 1st, 2009.

European regulation draws detailed rules - as well as derogations in some cases- from every major principle of organic farming. Choosing appropriate breeds, giving birth and raising the animals following the organic rules, minimising pollution and overgrazing, giving animals permanent access to open-air areas, allowing a high level of animal welfare through stocking densities and housing conditions, forbidding tethering, promoting natural breeding methods, extensive husbandry, respecting the link between soil, plants and animals on the farm, giving an appropriate and organic feed, not using GMO, obtaining animal health primarily through prevention and husbandry practices, homeopathic or phytotherapeutic treatments... are among these principals.

We brought out the recent regulatory modifications, linking them to the technical, economical or image questions they raise.

In conclusion, the importance of the work to be realised in three main axes was emphasised : the technical questions linked to organic farming, the technical or economical barriers linked to the construction of organic clusters, and the analysis of production systems considering them as a whole.