While at the European Parliament the political group of the Greens hosted the ‘GM-free Europe’ event where policy makers and stakeholders from national and NGO organisations expressed worries around the possibility to a deregulation of ‘new GMOs’, the Commissioner for Health replied to the chair of the AGRI Committee saying that new technologies could be a way to help the implementation of the Farm to Fork objectives on pesticide reduction.  Meanwhile, Presidents of several agricultural value chain organisation addressed a letter to the European Executives on the matter of NGTs, arguing for a timely adoption of the revision proposal and defending the positive aspects that these techniques will have for sustainability standards.   

In the UK, concrete steps have been made towards the approval of a new legislation.

full note available on FE Members’ area

Key issues affecting the EU livestock sectors: 

Avian flu cases are soaring across Europe. More than 48 million birds have died in the past year in the UK and the EU. EU farmers may no longer have to remove the free-range label from their eggs in the event of an extended mandatory housing order. 

Impact of the opening of the EU market to Ukrainian poultry production. The lifting of tariffs and the suspension of quotas on Ukrainian agricultural products, including Ukrainian poultry for a year, has led to a surge in Ukrainian poultry imports into the EU. The European Commission has said it could re-impose duties if EU producers face serious difficulties. 

A German parliamentary group has called for the animal welfare label to be applied to products from other EU Member States and third countries. 

The Commission may present a proposal for EU-wide origin labelling early next year.

In Germany, piggeries should be converted to improve animal welfare.  This could result in a reduction of the pig population.

Germany tightens animal transport rules and calls for EU-wide monitoring. Germany will also tighten rules on antibiotics for livestock. 

According to the European Food Safety Authority, animal transport times should be shortened to reduce the risk of antibiotic-resistant germs. 

The European Commission published in November a Communication on “Ensuring the availability and affordability of fertilisers”. The text sets out long-term objectives for Europe and the rest of the world. 

MEPs call for initiative on mental health in agriculture 

Members of the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee have called for concerted efforts to support the mental health of EU farmers as pressures mount on the already strained sector. 

The European Parliament has called for a downgrading of the protection status of wolves in the EU to help protect the livestock sector. 

This resolution could put political pressure on the European Commission to re-evaluate its approach to the management of wolf populations.

full note available on FE Members’ area

Climate, nutrition, energy: European Agriculture on all fronts’

Brussels, 5 December 2022 – The sixth edition of the Global Food Forum (#GlobalFoodForum22), organised by Farm Europe takes place on this 5^th & 6^th December at the La Grande Abbaye de La Ramée. Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechoswki, will open the event with Dacian Ciolos, Ettore Prandini, Christiane Lambert, Claus Sauter & Jiří Šír. 

Food, agriculture and vitality of our living areas are more than ever core assets of our society. Their evolution will largely depend on how policies will shape the future. It is precisely in this context that Farm Europe is organizing the sixth edition of the Global Food Forum focusing attention on the theme: “Climate, nutrition, energy: European Agriculture on all fronts”

The geopolitical changes that are happening in our neighborhood, together with the crises affecting strategic sectors, underline the interconnected, yet fragile and fragmented world we live in. The aggression of Russia against Ukraine resonates as a wake up call. The EU has no choice but to rethink its position in the global scene and, to answer to what role does it want for its agri-food sector. The EU must define what a truly European sovereignty means for it, both politically and economically, and the means to achieve it. 

The opening session of the GFF will be the right occasion to set the scene and analyze the broad facets of the agricultural sector in the current and future global context, with eminent speakers from the institutional and economic sectors sharing their vision of the EU and, within it, its agricultural sector.

Within these two days and during two plenary sessions and 5 workshops – covering finance, green transitions, food security, trade, nutrition and sectorial challenges – the event will focus on the best levers to promote the economic and environmental performance of EU agri-food systems while designing the best policy tools to achieve a common ambition at EU level, in particular via the Common Agricultural Policy and the Green New Deal’s proposed Farm to Fork Strategy.

The wrap-up closing session will discuss the vital connection between citizens and agriculture, diets and food products, and how to reconnect Europe with Europeans’ needs.

Full programme here or at  info@farm-europe.eu      

Twitter: @FarmEurope  #GlobalFoodForum2022

More details on the event and press contact : https://www.farm-europe.eu/evenement/global-food-forum-2022/ or at  info@farm-europe.eu

Farm Europe is happy to invite you to the next edition of the Global Food Forum, titled ‘Climate, nutrition, energy: European Agriculture on all fronts’.

This event will feature 5 working sessions around some of the most relevant topics for today’s EU agri-food sector. Themes include the current and future financement of agriculture, the environmental & energy transition ahead, international trade, food security, as well as nutrition. Policies such as the CAP & the Farm to Fork Strategy will be extensively discussed to find common ways out of the ongoing multifold crises.

Take a look at the sneak peek of our confirmed speakers, which includes the Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski!

Click here to register for the event!

See here the lists of notes:

Financing agriculture:

CAP budget & inflation

State aid

Sustainability:

Farm to Fork – timeline

Carbon farming

Fertilizers Strategy

Sustainable use of pesticides

Imported deforestation

Nutrition:

JRC analyses on the revision of FIC regulation

EU school schemes

Strategic autonomy:

EU strategic autonomy (CESE)

Last Friday marked the end of COP27. While the objective of keeping global heating below 1.5C was reiterated, the global conference failed to deliver on a commitment by the world’s major emitters to phase down fossil fuels.

The energy sector, responsible for more than two-thirds of global greenhouse emissions, is mainly powered by fossil fuels. According to the International Renewable Agency (IRENA), only 29% of global electricity generation currently comes from renewables, and carbon emissions continue an upward trend.

So, how is the EU performing in terms of renewables?

In 2020 the EU produced 42% of its total energy supply. Of this 42%, only 41% came from renewable energy sources — representing 22% of our overall energy needs. RepowerEU’s ambition aims at becoming independent from Russia’s gas and oil while maintaining our current economic production and reducing our climate footprint. This intention will entail the replacement of 25% of our total energy consumption with alternative sources, which seems on the way steadily as winter approaches despite the scale of the challenge.

In this context, it must become a priority for the Renewable Energy Directive and EU Member States to promote bioenergy sources produced in full synergy with food production rather than restrict them. Indeed, limiting bioenergy production means limiting European energy autonomy. The further limitation would generate an additional threat to the EU energy supply and increased reliance on imported fossil sources — meaning overall higher emissions.

Biomass-based energy amounts to 57% of the renewable energy domestically produced in Europe, making it almost 10% of the total European energy supply. In comparison, all other renewable energy sources combined make up only 7%, making it unrealistic to fill the necessary energy supply gap in the short run without biomass. Only nuclear represents a bigger « Made in Europe » energy provider (in need of imported Uranium). 

Therefore, instead of limiting the activities of EU biorefineries, which would increase energy imports from other countries, causing the Union to become more and more dependent on foreign actors and fossil fuels, European should further encourage this sector, optimising carbon cycles. 

To meet the 45% renewable energy target by 2030 – as adopted by the European Parliament this week – it is now the time to increase energy production from ALL renewable energy sources. A greener and more independent Europe cannot materialise by betting on a single “magic wand” solution. Shaping a sustainable and diversified energy mix shall be the way forward, with a strong biofuels (liquid and gas) component for all sectors, including the most complex to decarbonise like transports.

In the midst of the price and energy crisis and the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war on the food market, the Commission is about to publish a communication on fertilizers (on November 9^th). According to some rumors, the Commission will call on national capitals to ensure supplies of gas for fertilizers manufacturers, and encourage to use the agricultural crisis reserve. At the same time, coming from the latest Council meeting, most of the 27 ministers of agriculture agreed on the importance of manure-made fertilizers and asked for legal flexibilities on the current nitrate legislation. 

On animal welfare, while EFSA published some guidelines on the welfare of animals on transportation, stressing that transport should be short and that deep cleaning of the vehicle should be done, the German minister for agriculture is proposing a bill for a mandatory animal welfare label which might cause market distortion issues, critics argue.The European Commission, on the same topic, published an overview of the achievements and challenges of the current Animal welfare legislation, concluding that the current setting has improved the welfare of many EU animals including their protection during transport and slaughter.

full note available on FE Members’ area