The European Commission’s Food and Feed Safety Omnibus arrives at a defining moment for EU agriculture. Policymakers are asking farmers to deliver more on sustainability, while maintaining competitiveness and food security. The real question is no longer about ambition, but whether the regulatory framework is aligned to deliver it.
In this context, the Omnibus is more than a technical update. It is a political signal that reform is not only necessary, but urgent. Yet as with any reform of this scale, the outcome will depend less on intent and more on the choices made along the way.
A clear direction, long overdue
The Omnibus recognises a reality that the framework for approving pesticides and biopesticides has become too complex, too slow and too unevenly implemented across Member States.
This has tangible consequences. Innovation takes longer to reach the market. In the last 6.5 years, only one pesticide has been approved, while 84, including both conventional products and biopesticides, have been lost. Meanwhile, nearly 200 renewals are still pending, many stuck for over five years, some even a decade. Regulatory resources are stretched. And farmers face a shrinking set of tools to manage pests, disease and climate pressure. For farmers, these delays are not theoretical. They directly affect the availability of solutions in the field.
Addressing this does not weaken safety. On the contrary, improving efficiency by removing duplication and clarifying procedures allows authorities to focus on what matters most. A framework that works better in practice is one that delivers more effectively on its core objective: protecting human health and the environment.
Simplification must work across the system
The key test now is consistency.
Farmers do not rely on a single type of solution. Biological products, conventional crop protection, digital tools and precision agriculture all play a role. These options are complementary, not interchangeable.
If simplification accelerates one part of the toolbox while slowing or complicating another, the result will not be greater efficiency. It will be new imbalances. A system that is easier in one place but more restrictive in another does not solve the underlying problem.
A credible reform must therefore apply across the entire system.
Not all decisions carry the same weight
Some elements of the Omnibus are straightforward. Reducing administrative duplication, improving coordination between authorities and clarifying definitions that are currently interpreted unevenly are practical steps with clear benefits.
Others are more complex.
Changes affecting data protection rules or to maximum residue levels with direct international trade implications, will shape investment decisions and product availability for years to come. These are structural choices. Once made, their impact will be difficult to reverse.
Recognising this is not about slowing reform. It is about ensuring reform delivers lasting results.
Delivering reform that works in practice
The Food and Feed Safety Omnibus is an important opportunity to modernise the EU regulatory framework. But its success will be judged in implementation, not intention.
Does it reduce bottlenecks, or simply move them? Does it strengthen the Single Market, or deepen divergence between Member States? Does it help innovation reach farmers faster, or create new uncertainty?
These are the questions that will define its impact.
Equally important is predictability. Clear guidance, workable data requirements and stable timelines are essential for companies developing new solutions, including smaller innovators. Without this predictability, the system risks discouraging exactly the innovation it seeks to enable.
Simplification is necessary. But only careful, balanced and evidence-based choices will ensure that it strengthens Europe’s food system for the long term.
