Within the informal events organized during the Slovak Presidency of the Council of the European Union on 7th – 8th September 2016, the Informal meeting of Member States on organic production was held in Štrbské Pleso in the High Tatras region.

The meeting was organized by the Central Control and Testing Institute of Agriculture in Bratislava (UKSUP) under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture and rural development of the Slovak Republic.

31 experts from 19 EU member states, who are delegated to the working meetings in the EU institutions in the field of organic production, and the Head of Unit Organics of the Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the EU Commission Mr. João Onofre, attended the meeting.

At the beginning of the meeting, guests were welcomed by the Director General of UKSUP  Mr. Peter Rusňák, who briefly presented all activities of the institute, while stressing that the only one activity in which UKSUP is the national competent authority is the field of organic production.

The meeting was chaired by Mrs. Juliana Schlosserová (UKSUP) who is the delegate of Slovak Republic in the EU institutions in the area of organic production.

Topics for the meeting were prepared by experts of UKSUP under the initiative of the competent authorities for organic agricultural production in EU Member States. The agenda of the informal meeting covered the area of plant production, livestock production, organic production systems in third countries, as well as the systematic items of the implementation of organic production at the EU level.

The Informal meeting allowed delegates to express their views or to propose new solutions to improve and enhance the system of organic production at the EU level, so that organic production remaines true to its principles and goals.

The presence of representative of the European Commission as the legislator at the EU level has enabled the delegates to consult the possibility of changes to the EU legal framework for those areas of organic production, which Member States consider as incompletely clarified.

The participants of the meeting were also invited to take part in professional excursion at two  organic operators in the High Tatras region – eco farm Važec and eco farm Liptovská Teplička, where in addition to delegates of Member States and the Commission, also representatives of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) were present.

The aim of the excursion was to exchange practical experience in implementing organic products at the level of organic farm in plant- and livestock production and further processing of primary organic products to organic food, which are typical for Slovakia: sheep cheese,  acidophilic products and traditional cheeses.

The representative of the Commission as well as the participants highly appreciated the professionalism of UKSUP experts who represent Slovakia in the field of organic production, their professional approach to organizing the event and also highly evaluated the level of Slovak organic operators and their wide range and quality of organic products.