Europe is asking a great deal from its farmers. Reduce environmental impact, manage new pest pressures linked to climate change and maintain productivity in an increasingly volatile global market. These expectations are legitimate. But they rely on one essential condition: that farmers have access to solutions they can depend on.
Today, that condition is increasingly in question.
The Food and Feed Safety Omnibus arrives at a moment when the EU regulatory framework is increasingly struggling to deliver. Under Regulation 1107/2009, the question is whether the system can still deliver decisions in time for the farming cycle. Procedures continue and assessments continue, but decisions are not coming through at the pace required in practice.
A shrinking toolbox and an uncertain pipeline
In the last 6.5 years, more than 80 active substances have been lost from the market, while only one new conventional substance has been approved. At the same time, key approval and renewal decisions are delayed, with timelines stretching across multiple years.
In practical terms, this means farmers are having to rethink their crop protection strategies almost every season, often without reliable new solutions to replace those no longer available. Crop protection is a continuous process. It is part of an integrated approach that must adapt to changing pest pressures, weather conditions and resistance risks. When the toolbox continues to shrink while new solutions are slow to emerge, planning becomes more uncertain and risk management more difficult.
The EU is calling for more sustainable approaches and reduced reliance on certain inputs, yet the regulatory system is not consistently enabling the alternatives needed to support that transition
This creates a widening gap between policy ambition and what can be delivered on the ground. The EU is calling for more sustainable approaches and reduced reliance on certain inputs, yet the regulatory system is not consistently enabling the alternatives needed to support that transition.
Modernisation must restore the system’s ability to deliver
This is why the current reform debate matters.
Reducing duplication, improving coordination between authorities and clarifying requirements can help ensure that regulatory effort is focused where it matters most: on robust scientific assessment and timely decision-making. This strengthens the system rather than weakening it.
Also, reform must ensure coherence across the full range of solutions available to farmers. Conventional products, biologicals, digital tools and precision agriculture all have a role to play. These approaches are complementary, not interchangeable. Progress in one area cannot compensate for delays in another.
This is particularly evident for biological solutions. While there is strong political support for their growth, the pathway to approval remains uncertain and uneven. The absence of a clear and harmonised framework at EU level continues to create uncertainty around timelines and requirements, limiting the visibility that innovators need to invest and scale new solutions.
The absence of a clear and harmonised framework at EU level continues to create uncertainty around timelines and requirements
Restoring functionality also means restoring predictability. Clear timelines, consistent requirements and stable rules are essential to ensure that innovation can be developed, assessed and brought to market.
A reform measured by outcomes
The Food and Feed Safety Omnibus is a timely opportunity to address these challenges. But its success will be judged not by the number of measures it contains, but by whether it improves how the system delivers in practice.
Can decisions be taken within timelines that reflect agricultural reality? Can farmers rely on a full and evolving toolbox? Can the framework support the development and uptake of more sustainable solutions?
These are the tests that matter.
Europe does not lack ambition in its agricultural and environmental policies. What matters now is ensuring that the regulatory system can translate that ambition into outcomes. Without that, the gap between policy and practice will continue to widen.
Europe’s competitiveness, resilience and sustainability ambitions will ultimately depend on whether innovation can realistically reach the field.
We need the courage to simplify, the vision to innovate and the responsibility to put farmers in a position to succeed.
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