Accelerate innovation in organic farming, strengthen the competitiveness of Italian businesses, and ensure farmers have faster access to effective and sustainable crop protection solutions.
These are the pillars of the Manifesto for Biocontrol , presented today in Rome by Agrofarma and FederBio during an institutional event hosted in the Isma Hall of the Senate of the Republic and promoted with the support of Senator Luca De Carlo , President of the Senate Committee on Industry, Trade, Tourism, Agriculture and Agri-food Production.
The Manifesto is the result of a collaboration between Agrofarma , the Federchimica sector association representing agropharmaceutical companies, and FederBio , the federation that brings together organizations from across the organic farming supply chain.
The two organizations, strongly committed to the organic farming sector and linked by a Memorandum of Understanding signed in February 2025, today presented a shared policy document with the aim of initiating a structured discussion on the strategic role of biocontrol: one of the most promising levers for combining innovation and environmental sustainability, food safety and agricultural productivity.
The Manifesto's ambition is to become a benchmark for innovation for farmers and to foster constructive dialogue with policymakers and institutions. At its core is the need to rethink crop protection systems, integrating them with biocontrol methods, in line with European objectives for an increasingly sustainable agri-food model.
In an international landscape marked by geopolitical tensions, climate change, the spread of emerging pathogens, and the progressive reduction of available technical resources, providing farmers with a wide range of innovative and effective solutions has become essential to ensuring food security.
For this reason, five key proposals have been included in the Manifesto, starting with the introduction of a regulatory definition of the term “biocontrol”, considered a priority by operators in the sector to overcome regulatory ambiguities and uncertainties.
Also crucial is the need to direct resources to the competent authorities to streamline the national authorization system, thus fully implementing the European commitment to faster procedures for introducing new active biocontrol substances. Currently, evaluation times are often significantly longer than those required by law, slowing farmers' access to cutting-edge solutions. Modernizing authorization processes by increasing resources and creating a dedicated evaluation structure will facilitate the marketing of effective tools without compromising their safety for human, animal, and environmental health.
Alongside regulatory measures, the Manifesto emphasizes the importance of investing in training and information throughout the supply chain to promote the correct and informed use of technical resources, including those applicable in organic farming. Finally, it is essential to support innovation within the Common Agricultural Policy with dedicated measures and to strengthen public research, allocating available and potentially available resources to the development of biocontrol.
"The Manifesto for Biocontrol marks a decisive step towards encouraging the spread of organic farming, offering advanced solutions based on the principles of agroecology, guiding Italian agriculture towards a more sustainable and resilient model, and promoting constructive dialogue with policymakers and institutions, " emphasized Maria Grazia Mammuccini, President of FederBio . " According to data from the Agrofarma Observatory, over the past ten years, the 18% reduction in the use of agrochemicals and the 133% increase in organic active ingredients demonstrate that agroecological innovations developed for organic farming are increasingly finding their way into conventional agriculture as well. Investing in research and training on biocontrol is essential for developing effective innovations to support organic farmers and, more generally, the entire agricultural system. However, clear rules and faster authorization procedures are needed to facilitate the market launch of biocontrol products, thus offering concrete alternatives that can ensure reliable crop protection in the face of increasingly complex challenges, such as the global economic crisis." climate change, biodiversity loss, and food security. We consider signing the Manifesto a fundamental tool for promoting open and proactive discussion and achieving these goals.
"Biocontrol represents a concrete opportunity to enrich farmers' toolboxes, providing increasingly high-performance solutions that meet the growing needs of the agricultural world," said Paolo Tassani, President of Agrofarma . "Our companies have long been committed to this front; just think that today, products that can also be used in organic farming represent 20% of all agrochemicals on the market."
"Our Association, therefore, welcomes this agreement with a very constructive spirit, collaborating as always through ongoing dialogue, combining scientific evidence with the real needs of agriculture, " concluded Paolo Tassani . " The process has only just begun, and we are confident that further discussions on biocontrol will be opened to ensure Italy and the European Union have a regulatory system capable of enhancing innovation, competitiveness, and sustainability. As Agrofarma, we will certainly do our part."
