By Policy Analyst Natasha Foote

At a June meeting of EU agriculture ministers, the Polish Presidency shared the latest on negotiations over the EU’s seed law reform (Plant Reproductive Material regulation - PRM).

Ministers broadly agreed on the need to modernise and harmonise the current framework, and welcomed the technical progress made so far. They emphasised the importance of ensuring farmers have access to a wide variety of high-quality seeds, calling it essential for both food and feed security, especially in the face of climate change.

One key sticking point was the mandatory application of the ‘Value for Sustainable Cultivation and Use’ (VSCU) test to fruit and vegetable species. Several ministers pushed back, warning it would be too costly and administratively burdensome.

There was also division over whether seed law should be fully brought under the EU’s official controls regulation. Some countries backed full alignment, while others raised red flags about complexity and feasibility.

So while momentum is building, the fault lines are still there as ministers work toward a final Council position.

In efforts to sway discussions ahead of the June meeting of ministers, a coalition of farmers, breeders, and seed savers raised the alarm over the deletion of a key article that protects seed exchange between farmers.

In a joint letter to EU agriculture ministers, sent by groups including ARCHE NOAH, IFOAM Organics Europe, Slow Food, and European Coordination Via Campesina just ahead of the ministers’ meeting, urged the Council to restore farmers’ rights to save, use, exchange, and sell seeds, warning that the latest draft from the Polish EU Council Presidency scraps Article 30, which had previously safeguarded these rights.

For the signatories, this would be a “major setback and a threat to agricultural diversity”. The coalition argues that these practices are already legal or tolerated in many member states and are crucial for maintaining agrobiodiversity and food sovereignty. They’re calling for seed exchange rights to be aligned with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants (UNDROP) and for any limits to reflect real-world farming needs.

The Polish progress report on the file acknowledges the controversy caused by the proposal to delete article 30, but gave no firm decision on the matter, just noting that during the discussions it “became clear that further discussion would be necessary until a final decision was reached on this article”.

The Polish EU Presidency also gave ministers on the state of play in negotiations over the EU’s proposal on new genomic techniques (NGTs).

As inter-institutional talks intensify, major divides remain between the Council and Parliament on how to regulate these technologies. After a first trilogue meeting in May, the next is set for 30 June, where negotiators hope to work towards settling sticking points such as:

What counts as an ‘NGT 1’ plant? Parliament wants a tighter list focused on sustainability traits, while Council backs a broader, equivalence-based definition,with the sole exclusion of herbicide tolerance.

Labelling & traceability: Parliament calls for full-chain labelling; Council limits this to reproductive material only.

Opt-outs for NGT 2 cultivation: Parliament would scrap national opt-outs and enforce coexistence rules, unlike Council’s hands-off approach.

Patents: Parliament pushes for a full ban on patenting NGT plants. The Council prefers transparency tools and fair licensing, without changing EU patent law.

With deep divides between lawmakers, a deal is not expected from this June meeting. A formal update will be presented in early July under the incoming Danish Presidency, who take the reins from the Polish at the beginning of July. NGTs is a priority file for the Danes, who are expected to push forward in talks in the hope of sealing a deal under their presidency.