1. A voice in Europe: biostimulants and
organic-based fertilizers
Arnaud Cayrafourcq | 23/06/15

2. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/151
About Prospero: what we do
and how we do it
About EBIC and ECOFI:
genesis, missions, structures,
priorities
Modus operandi: how we
operate as associations
In Brussels: the political
landscape now
Working together: the value of
European collaboration

3. Prospero
Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/152
An agribusiness
consultancy that helps
food and agriculture
organizations create
value sustainably
Convening actors in
the agrifood space
to tackle regulatory
and political
challenges across
borders
Helping them build the
conversations and
coalitions they need to
access and influence
decision makers
Since 1999 - enabling
the world’s leading
agribusinesses to
“cultivate change
and harvest value”

4. Prospero
Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/153
Our core expertise: creating,
managing and serving trade
associations
International focus: pan-European
and international coalitions

5. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/154
Prospero
Trigger for EBIC and ECOFI:
Revision 2003/2003
Challenge: Where are
biostimulants and organic-
based fertilizers situated in the
new Fertilizers Regulation?
Ambition: Create a “single
voice” to harmonize EU
regulatory environment and
create a pan-European
market

6. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/155
Prospero
What we did:
1) Identified an opportunity for 2
industries to create their desired
regulatory environment
2) Offered industry representatives
a platform to define, develop
and shape the EU market
3) Enabled companies to define
their products and crystallize their
identities in the EU
&

7. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/156
EBIC founded in 2011 with 26 Founding Members
ECOFI founded in 2014 with 11 Founding Members
Trusted partners of Commission, which seeks our input into ongoing
development of regulatory framework
20152011 ……………
In official relations with other European institutions and recognized as
leading interlocutors
Source of expertise for value chain partners in developing guidelines, trials
and demonstrations
Ongoing top priority: securing appropriate EU regulation for organic-
based fertilizers and specific characteristics of biostimulants

8. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/157
The mission
of EBIC
“EBIC advocates an operating environment
and regulatory framework that creates a
truly European market for biostimulants.”
“EBIC builds institutional recognition of the
contribution of biostimulants to sustainable
agricultural production, green innovation,
economic growth and other EU policy
objectives.”
“Membership is open to biostimulant
producers active in Europe and interested in
cooperating in areas of common interest.”

9. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/158
The mission
of ECOFI
“EBIC provides producers of organic fertilizers,
organo-mineral fertilizers and organic soil
improvers with a representative voice at the
European level.”
“ECOFI advocates a regulatory framework that
recognizes the role that organic-based fertilizers
play in sustainable models of agricultural
productivity, social cohesion and economic
growth.”
“Membership is open to European producers
whose production fully ensures the upstream
traceability and the origin of raw material
components.”

10. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/159
Membership: 46 member companies
Countries: 12 countries worldwide

11. 10
EBIC members 2015 

12. EBIC members 2015 11

13. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/15
Membership: 11 member companies
Countries: France and Italy
12

14. ECOFI members 2015 13

15. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/15
EBIC Board
7-Member Board:
Board values: leadership, dialogue,
representativity, engagement
President: Giuseppe Natale,
CEO, Valagro
Vice-President: Benoît Genot,
Global Marketing Manager,
Arysta LifeScience
Treasurer: Francisco Miguel,
Executive Director, Atlántica
Agrícola
Directors-at-Large:
•Paul Mullins, Managing
Director, Brandon
Products
•Murray Smedley,
Managing Director, Ilex
EnviroSciences
•Jean-Marc Sanchez,
Managing Director,
Lallemand Plant Care
•Sandro Secco
International Fertlizers &
Nutrients, SIPCAM
14

16. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/15
ECOFI Board
3-Member Board:
Board values: emergence, consensus-seeking
President: Luca Bonini, CEO,
Italpolina
Vice-President: Luc Frayssinet,
CEO, Frayssinet
Treasurer: Jean-Claude Keromnes,
R&D Manager, Angibaud
15

17. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/15
EBIC working groups
Committees:
• Committee on
Regulation Issues
• Agronomic
Committee
• Public Affairs &
Communications
Committee
• Public Affairs Steering
Group
Task Forces:
• TF Amino Acids/Protein
Hydrolysate
• TF Chitin/Chitosan
• TF Seaweed & Plant
Extracts
• TF Humic Acids
• TF Micro-Organisms
• TF Salts, Minerals &
Chemicals (Phosphites)
Country Task
Forces:
• TF España
• TF France
• TF Polska
16

18. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/15
ECOFI working methods
No formal working groups:
• ECOFI keeps operations light, flexible and
responsive to the evolving political and
regulatory environment.
• Members collaborate on key issues online,
via platforms facilitated by the secretariat,
minimizing the need for costly and time-
consuming in-person meetings.
• All members are entitled to name as many
representatives as they wish to the
consortium. Experts from the member
companies can then participate in all
relevant conversations and work programs.
17

19. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/15
ECOFI working methods
Formal representation on
Commission’s Fertilizers
Working Group (FWG):
• ECOFI is an official
participant in the FWG of DG
GROW. Only European
associations are official
interlocutors.
• We have an elected a
Representative to the FWG,
who attends all meetings
and ensures that the
industry’s voice is heard on
key issues: Chiara Manoli,
Regulatory Affairs, ILSA.
18

20. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/15
Priorities for EBIC and ECOFI
Gain access to
technical
decision-making
and makers
Translate access
into growing
political
influence
Wield political
influence to shape
specific policy
outcomes
ABILITY TO EXPLOIT
2015: A key priority is to succeed in
exploiting (for political and regulatory
purposes) the excellent access to EU
decision-makers we have achieved.
19

21. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/15
Sine qua non
Wield political
influence to shape
specific policy
outcomes
ABILITY TO EXPLOIT
Inclusion: Biostimulants and
organic-based fertilizers must be
included in the revised Fertilizers
Regulation on terms that
encourage innovation.
Definition: We will fight to
preserve our agreed definitions
– no turning back!
Added value: We will defend
against the commoditization of
biostimulants and organic-
based fertilizers.
20

22. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/15
Horizontal
member
participation
What we
expect of
member
companies
Member access
to governance
structure and
working groups
What we
expect of
national
associations
Modus
operandi:
how we
work
General
Assemblies
How members
can have
influence in
EBIC and
ECOFI
Collective
decision-
making,
strategic
workshops,
group sense-
making
21

23. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/15
What works
well in the
EU?
working in a very
interactive, responsive
and online environment
giving everyone
access to decision-
making
being attuned
to what member
companies
really want
Having the
agility of a
business
organization
monitoring what
we do and
changing it as
soon as we see it
doesn’t work
having
everyone
deeply
committed to
our common
EU project
Transcending national
boundaries to meet our national
interests together in Europe.
22

24. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/15
What doesn’t work well in the EU:
• Working in silos at the country level
• Going to the Commission as individual companies or country factions
• Marginalizing members in EU regulatory decision-making
• Failing to integrate national-EU focus in lobbying by associations
23

25. Companies, not national
associations, have to
intervene at EU level to define
regulatory policy in the EU
because only companies
have the full legitimacy to
define those parametres.
Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/1524

26. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/15
Imagine we have a draft regulatory framework in 2016:
• Then the European parliamentary process kicks in, and we have MEP allies.
• The Ordinary Legislative Procedure (OLP) will apply:
27

27. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/15
Wield political influence
to shape specific policy
outcomes
ABILITY TO EXPLOIT
Value of European collaboration
National companies need to be directly
connected at EU level with their industry
colleagues
They need to find consensus at EU level
and then at national level via their
associations, they interact with local
officials for the implementation.
Companies who want a real voice in
Europe need to be company members
of a European association.
But there also needs to be an interaction with nation states –
here the national associations have all their legitimacy and
cannot be replaced by an EU association in this specific function.
28

28. Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/15
Without European collaboration
We get:
• A climate of mistrust
• The fantasy that big countries can impose their own views (there is only
one national superpower in Europe and its Germany
• A segmented market that prevents industrial development (28 regulations
instead of 1)
• The power of influential national voices can be is diminished in Brussels,
without European collaboration
29

29. What we could achieve if we
had real EU collaboration:
Assemblée Générale CAS, Montpellier, 23/06/15
Access to a harmonized
market, leading to
industrial growth, jobs and
employment, giving all
innovative businesses an
opportunity to prosper.
30

30. Arnaud Cayrafourcq
Managing Partner
Prospero & Partners
arnaud@prospero.ag
Skype: arnaudcayrafourcq
+32 475 891 593
www.prospero.ag
cultivate change, harvest value
Belgium
t: +32 3 290 01 23
France
t: + 33 1 40 91 05 70