In the Netherlands biological entrepreneurs who want to go a step further than the production rules imposed by European legislation, have united under the banner of the EKO-hallmark. Recently an organic "plus" label has been introduced in the US. There are differences. In the Netherlands the EKO-hallmark is intended to make the sustainability efforts of the biological entrepreneurs visible to the public. In the US the label has been set up out of protest by biological farmers, because they disagree with the development of biological rules by the American government. They are of the opinion that practices unfitting for biological agriculture are allowed. Examples are the possibility to grow tomatoes on a substrate and the lack of rules for biological animals. IFOAM EU agrees with them and has repeatedly called on the European Commission to redetermine the equivalence treaty with the US and to exclude certain sectors from equivalence. Bionext is member of the Advisory board for this initiative.
Source: Bionext