Farm Europe’s Green Energy Platfrom welcomes the opinion approved yesterday by the agricultural committee of the European Parliament on the Renewable Energy Directive. This opinion, going beyond ideology and traditional political barriers is a clear recognition of the capacity of the European Agricultural sector to act as a sustainable energy provider. It’s a positive signal for both, EU citizens that must be in a position to rely on a forward looking farming sector, able to cope with climate change, and EU farmers that must be recognised as a cornerstone of the emerging bioeconomy.

A decade ago, the European Union set regulatory measures to tackle climate change and EU dependency on fossil fuels, via minimum targets, which allowed the development of a biofuel sector in Europe, without any EU subsidies. At that time, the assumption was that the traditional oil companies which are in direct contact with EU consumers would never give room for this source of renewable and cleaner energy without a clear mandate established by law. This assumption remains valid today.

The societal benefits from biofuels made from EU feedstocks (cereals or oilseeds) are well established and documented. These biofuels have a positive impact on the environment – a reduction of minimum 50% GHG emissions in comparison with fossil fuels, to say the least ; on rural economies, generating more than 290.000 jobs ; and on trade balance, saving more than 10 billion euros of imports of both fossil fuels and animal feeds.

A solid analysis of facts shows that during its main development period (2000-2015), the biofuels sector, in Europe, had no negative effect neither on food availability and prices, nor on agricultural land. Without being the culprit for increasing food prices, biofuels strengthened the resilience and profitability of the EU agricultural sector and rural communities, especially in the less competitive agriculture areas, offering a stable demand and increased revenues to a struggling sector.

Moreover, these biofuels contribute to enhance global food security by allowing the development of a credible EU high-protein feed supply chain – 13 million tonnes of feeds “made in Europe” every year.

Therefore, RED II should clearly differentiate biofuels that are made from EU feedstocks and that contribute to the supply of the EU market with both feed and fuels, from other and more controversial biofuels, and secure a specific mandate for the highly sustainable crop-based biofuels (HSCB), as proposed by the Agriculture Committee of the European Parliament.

Today, Farm Europe launched the Green Energy Platform gathering leading companies from Germany, France, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and Sweden willing to reflect and promote the sustainable contribution of agriculture and related industry to the energy challenge.

The platform, mobilising key actors of the EU sourced biofuels sector, will be an active contributor to the debate on the Renewable Energy Directive tabled by the European Commission in November 2016, that will start at the European Parliament in the coming days.

” Food, Fuels & Feed:

Agriculture is energy for life”

Building on Farm Europe report showing the strategic dimension of EU Crop Based biofuels, the platform will put forward concrete proposals in order to boost the contribution of EU agriculture to the EU climate agenda in the field of energy.

A special focus will be given on biofuels from EU feedstock that not only achieve important climate benefits at the lowest carbon abatement costs in the transport sector, but also reduce the EU’s protein deficit – thus enhancing global food security -, create jobs and wealth in rural areas, and are a source of income stabilization for struggling EU farmers.

The launch of the platform was announced during an event organized in the context of the EU Sustainable Energy Week.

Contact :

Luc Vernet

Tel. : +32 2 234 56 21

Email : info@farm-europe.eu

Today, Farm Europe organized and hosted a discussion on New Plant-Breeding Breeding Techniques. 

This event has been an opportunity to better understand the potential risks and benefits of the new plant breeding techniques, thanks to a direct discussion with well-known scientists. This debate’s aim was to shed light on the challenges in relation to the ongoing discussions around the future of plant improvements at European level and in EU Member States, in the context of the current regulatory framework.

Opening the debate, Farm Europe introduced the issue by specifying that today, the agri-food sectors are more than ever confronted with 3 major demands from our society: (1) to provide safe and quality food, (2) to keep rural areas lively and viable and (3) to optimize the good management of the environment and to fight more effectively against climate change. (A full briefing on NBTs is available here)

“Being able to answer jointly to these three challenges is for sure a challenge in itself, but a feasible one, if you accept to live in this Century, to make effective use of science and concentrate your efforts on double performance: economic performance and environmental performance” , Yves Madre stated.

Furthermore, he also underlined that “in an overall context of stagnation for EU agriculture, it is now time to reinvest in innovation and research, in genetics and to develop a concrete science-based approach in that respect”.

New breeding techniques are said to be promising as modern and faster extension of usual traditional breeding techniques. But if the aim is to develop sensible policies and orientations based on solid ground, the first question to be answered when it comes to NBTs is: What are we talking about? And precisely:

• Scientifically, what are NBTs in simple words?
• Economically, what are the expectations and what is already known?
• On Environment, is there any added value?

Three high-level panelists addressed today’s issue from the scientific point of view: Dr. Eli Khayat researcher at Rahan Meristem, Professor Piero Morandini, researcher in Plant Physiology at the Department of Biology of the University of Milan and Dr. Emmanuel Guiderdoni, scientist working at the Biological Systems Department of CIRAD.

Professor Piero Morandini presented what NBTs are in relation to plant breeding, and more specifically CRISPR/Cas9 as “this technique is going to have the greatest impact on our society if we are wise enough” and it will be the most applied technique in the future. In this context, he underlined the implications to plant breeding and discussed the comparison with traditional techniques, also by giving an overview of the current regulatory framework in Europe. “With transgene-free genome-edited plant you can have the genetic change where you want and furthermore every gene conferring bad traits can be selectively knocked-out” he said.

Dr Eli Khayat, gave the perspective of a commercial breeding company. He focused on the NBTs innovations already available worldwide and on what can be expected next in terms of developments and their economic aspects. Specifically, he stressed that “not all NBTs are created equal” and that “some of them are detectable but this is not the case for all of them and so we should distinguish between different techniques according to this aspect”. Furthermore, he also stressed that “with these new techniques we have many possibilities to target genes. Of course, there are challenges in this technology but they can be easily overcome”.

 While Dr. Emmanuel Guiderdoni from CIRAD explained the impacts of NBTs from an environmental perspective, what can already be said and what can be expected. His current work focuses on the impact of these new technologies and on selecting traits which are of genetically importance. Specifically, he said that they are collaborating in breeding programs on rice, with the aim to reduce nitrogen in fields. “Crispr-Cas9 is a fantastic tool” he argued, “we can target specific improvements on a single trait”.

The three scientists agreed on one very straightforward concept: the use of some of these NBTs (notably the CRISPR-Cas9) can play a key role in allowing plant breeders to introduce in an efficient way, very precise, targeted genetic modifications, which have the capacity to fasten the selection speed.

 In other words, this translates into: low cost, ease of use and speed up of innovation processes, when compared with conventional plant-breeding techniques. Furthermore, NBTs are not only a valuable option for breeders, but these modern biotechnologies also allow to develop plant varieties that can adapt to climatic changing conditions and ensure high level of biodiversity.

Farm Europe was delighted to take part and to contribute to the reflection of the 65th Meeting of the Representatives of Chambers of Agriculture of the Visegrad 4+ group (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Croatia).

These organisations adopted a first set of common position on the most pressing topics for the future of the Common Agriculture Policy, designing key orientations to enhance both the economic and the environmental sustainability of the European farming sector.

During this meeting, Yves Madre stated:

“Today marks the beginning of a very timely and necessary work.

As a former negotiator of the CAP, I definitely know how challenging it is.

I truly believe that the dialogue you established, as the Visegrad Group, is of paramount importance to build a strong clear and promising future for a truly Common Agricultural Policy.

To work ahead of the EU agenda, to be proactive and not reactive. To propose needed and feasible evolutions of EU policies and to pursue the necessary path towards a better future for the agricultural sectors all across the EU.

This overall ambitious strategy can only be built by working together for a shared, common project. With the current level of political uncertainty in most of EU Member states, not to mention the Brexit, it is of utmost importance for economic actors and their representative bodies, to be conscious and to realise what they want for the future, to define a strategy and even more to table concrete proposals.

This is exactly our ambition at Farm Europe, and thank you to AKCR for the truly appreciated invitation to be here with you today. Thank you for being such an involved and a valuable active partner as well.

A priority is to have Central and Eastern Member states in the driving seat of the future CAP.

As correctly underlined by the Bratislava Declaration you signed last month, the strategy to be promoted should be based on three main pillars Investments, Sustainability and Resilience.

Today, the challenge is not only to be in a position to articulate this vision, the related strategy and architecture of a renewed, more effective CAP before the start of negotiations on the next financial perspectives, thus before 2018. But as well to identify and select the right tools, which are needed to make this strategy work smoothly.

Investments: this is the challenge of the EU precision & smart farming sector, but in considering a short term vision and not a 20 years time frame. An array of competitive investments should be defined by each sector, considering both the economic and environmental benefits they can bring to the society.

Sustainability: building on this evolution path, switching from a prescriptive CAP to a results-based CAP, by defining what is expected from farmers and giving them freedom of action to deliver the expected, well defined and easily measurable goals.

Resilience: direct payments remain the first vital layer. Payments that are legitimate, needed and fair. In that respect, the economic dimension should be put ahead when it comes to EU tools. Key is to build on this first layer, by devising efficient tools to manage climate and markets volatility and to increase the potential of farming sector in the context of a food chain, whose relations are today very unbalanced.

These points have been partially addressed by the on-going negotiations on the Financial Omnibus, thanks to the right, productive approach of the European Parliament strongly supported by Farm Europe.

As a whole, in one word, the key aim today is to switch from a EU policy approach, which focuses only on conservation, to policies, which are conceived and able to promote entrepreneurial approaches, where farmers are at the core of the whole process, and notably the CAP, where sustainability has to be improved, thanks to better competitiveness and increased farm profitability.

The CAP should be what it was supposed to be since the beginning: a EU policy promoting investments. Investments of the EU in its economy, growth and jobs, investments of the EU in sustainability, and investments in its farming sector which is the only one able to achieve growth and provide jobs in rural areas and capable at the same time to fight against climate change effectively. This will happen only if the next CAP is reshaped on a solid basis. Its focus should be on the concept of double performance, economic and environmental, considering farmers as entrepreneurs while not forgetting the social and territorial dimension of agriculture.

It is our common responsibility to draw the renewed CAP we need, to propose the forward-looking vision and to table concrete tools to deliver in practice.  And, of course, to convince and inspire decision-makers to act in this regard.

Indeed, we have to act now. 2018 is tomorrow and the Council wants to define the main orientations of the next CAP, whenever this CAP will be reformed and implemented (2020 or 2022).

It’s in that respect that your work, our common work at EU level with inspiring meetings as today’s one, is a key stepping stone to shape and realise our progressive strategy.”

Faced with a timid attitude adopted by the Ministers of Agriculture, MEPs took stock of their responsibilities and decided to make the most of the possibility offered by the “Omnibus” to propose common sense adjustments to the Common Agricultural Policy. The decisive approach suggested by the report of the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) would give farmers, by 2018, the means to be more resilient to crises and stronger within the food chain.

Without waiting for a reform of the CAP on the basis of the still uncertain agenda, the line proposed by the report, which was adopted on May 5 by the EP’s Committee on Agriculture, would enable the 2013 reform to be completed and simplified on two key aspects: Risk management tools and Competition law. The amendments, which have been negotiated mainly by three key actors of the 2013 reform – Albert Dess (Germany), Paolo de Castro (Italy) and Michel Dantin (France) – propose the following improvements:

– Facilitate the recognition of Producer Organizations by Member States; Strengthen their role in processing, sale, transport or packaging; Enable these organisations to manage volumes among them, as well as the marketing and negotiation of contracts and the related conditions on behalf of their members: these are some of the initiatives they are requesting specifically for the “food chain”.

– In addition, they proposed not only, to reinforce the risk management component of the CAP by lowering the triggering threshold for crop or climate insurance to 20%, but also to enhance improvements in income stabilization tools. It is specified that this tool must become sectoral, should be triggered after 20% of losses, and should be able to be supported by the CAP when farmers and/or all the actors in the supply chain contribute to them, and not only in the event of a crisis.

These proposals give the possibility to enrich the range of CAP tools, while leaving Member States and farmers freedom of choice. It is now necessary that the European Parliament validates these proposals as a whole and then that it needs to ensure that they will be widely taken up during the trilogue negotiations also by the co-legislator and the Commission.

Michel Barnier, the European Commission lead Brexit negotiator, participated today in a breakfast-debate in Farm Europe on the challenges of Brexit to the EU at large, and in particular to the EU agri-food sector.

As highlighted in Farm Europe’s report, Brexit will have a powerful impact on the EU agri-food sector, under any of the possible outcomes. That impact could be catastrophic in a no-agreement scenario.

To grasp the relevance of Brexit to the agri-food sector it is worth reminding that currently the EU 27 enjoys a large trade surplus vis-a-is the UK in excess of 20 billion euros per year.

Under a scenario where the outcome of the Brexit negotiations is favourable to a long-lasting trade relationship between the EU 27 and the UK, under a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the EU 27 will continue to benefit from a tariff-free access to the UK market for most of its agri-food exports.

However the EU 27 will face new and increased competition from all the other countries with which the UK will also strike Free Trade Agreements. It is indeed very likely that the UK will pursue FTAs with key world players, like the US and members of the Commonwealth, which are world-class producers of agriculture and food products.

In particular the beef, dairy and wine EU sectors would face severe headwinds from these new competitors who would benefit from the same conditions of access to the UK market as the EU 27.

The negative impact could be even stronger as the UK could become a platform for exporting products from these countries to the EU 27, benefiting from the free trade provisions of the EU 27-UK FTA. That could be case for sugar products, using the UK refining capacity on sugar cane imports, and for many other products if appropriate safeguards are not put in place. Rules of origin must be tightened to prevent a massive diversion of agri-industrial capacity from the EU to the UK on the back of access to cheaper raw materials and to the single market.

However, if the Brexit negotiations fail to produce agreement on the future trade relationship, the EU 27 would face a tariff barrier on its exports to the UK identical to what third countries face today in exporting to the EU.

The tariff level in agri-food products is substantially higher than in other sectors, and particularly high in meat and dairy products. If as expected the UK would sign new FTAs with other countries, that scenario would spell the end of EU agri-food exports to the UK on a number of key sectors and cause severe disruption of trade across the board. Not to mention the difficulties that would arise from the absence of agreement on rules and standards, and the lack of equivalency agreements, which would compound the negative effects of high tariffs.

In any case Brexit will not only bring about a 3 billion euro net cut to the CAP budget, and also the EU 27 agri-food sector will suffer from Brexit under any scenario. It is thus urgent that the Commission devises a specific set of measures to anticipate the inevitable negative impact of Brexit to the EU agri-food sector.

Resources should be mobilized from now on to promote EU 27 products in the UK and minimize the foreseeable impact of renewed competition from world players. The shape and the resources allocated to the new CAP should fully take into account the negative impact of Brexit in the sector.

The EU agri-food sector fully understands the importance of a suitable result of the Brexit negotiations for the future of the Union. But it is equally important that EU negotiators and decision-makers understand the high-stakes of Brexit for the future of farming and of a food sector that represents 15% of the EU GDP.

Brussels, 21^st March 2017 – Today, Farm Europe organized a discussion on the “Future of the EU livestock sector – The way forward”, at the European Parliament under the patronage of Vice President Mairead McGuinness and Michel Dantin, MEP.

The European beef sector is one of the most important agri-food sectors in Europe. It is characterized by great diversity and it is at the foundation of the economic fabric of many rural areas across the European Union.

Opening the event, VP Mairead McGuinness stressed that, « with several challenges facing the sector, including the expansion of the dairy herd, increased competition in global trade, the impact of Brexit and changing consumer habits, it is important to address these challenges in order to foster a sustainable future for the EU livestock sector, and the EU beef sector in particular ».

MEP Michel Dantin added : « With discussions taking place on the future shape of CAP post-2020, it is time to set a clear and ambitious strategy supporting a European agricultural sector that integrates the specificities and needs of livestock, and in particular the EU beef sector. The first step must be the Omnibus regulation with proposals made to reinforce the farmers’ position within the food supply chain, to share the evolution of value between actors of the supply chain and allow more derogations from competition law ».

Three main concerns clearly arise from the EU beef supply chain: the ability to be a global actor, to cope with new market conditions and to respond at the same time to societal expectations (i.e. climate change and animal welfare).

Farm Europe, in presenting its recommendations and analysis, strongly highlighted that taking into account the challenges faced by the EU suckler herd, it is more than urgent to set up a EU revitalisation plan for the EU beef meat sector in order to:

1. Encourage market segmentation and build on this strategy to create value for each beef market segment;
2. Strengthen solidarity within the beef supply chain reinforcing producers’ position in the context of the Omnibus regulation;
3. Enhance the capacity of the sector to invest and innovate.

The full recommendations and analysis are available here:

http://www.farm-europe.eu/travaux/forging-a-new-ambition-for-the-eus-suckler-herd/

Today, Farm Europe presented the final report of the 2016 edition of the Global Food Forum to the EU institutions, in the context of the public consultation on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) launched by the European Commission last week.

“Time has come to table a real economic strategy for EU agriculture and food systems. Sending a cheque when political pressure is too high to cope with volatile markets is not sustainable. We need to reflect seriously on the best ways to use public spending. In doing so we will restore confidence, regain optimism and build future growth. Agriculture needs visibility, predictability and transparency”, stated Mario Guidi, the President of the Global Food Forum and of Confagricoltura, presenting the report which includes a set of key priorities for the future CAP.

Opening the event, Phil Hogan, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development underlined that « Coming just the week after I launched a 12-week public consultation on the simplification and modernisation of the CAP, the presentation by Farm Europe of the recommendations are particularly timely. I am pleased, to see that, in the report, there is a clear acknowledgement of the need to “strengthen the resilience of our farms” and a particular focus on risk management tools. We must modernise the CAP, giving it a toolkit to react quickly and effectively in the event of future price shocks” (07_02_2017 Speech at FARM EUROPE Event New Ambition for CAP_3).

Hosting the event, Michel Dantin, Member of the European Parliament, insisted on the fact that « it is essential that the European Commission and the European Parliament work hand in hand in order to meet the challenged faced by our farmers in the short and medium term and to prepare the next CAP. I urge all the actors to pose strategic questions, without taboos: do we want the CAP to be an economic policy or only a social policy aimed at ensuring the livelihood of farmers and rural areas? Should we remain within the binding framework of the World Trade Organisation or free ourselves from it like all our international competitors?

Co-hosting the event, Giovanni La Via, Member of the European Parliament added: “Food security and climate change are the two main challenges to be faced by the humankind today. I believe that Agriculture and farmers are at the core of the answer we have to provide. I fully embrace the goal of double competitiveness of the European farms presented in the Forum’s report. After Paris, it is clear to me that we have to protect our environment, while at the same increasing European agricultural competitiveness. And we must be able to design simple and long -term policies focusing on results.  We need a stronger and simplified CAP for the future, in line with the challenges ahead of us”.

The report presents a set of key actions to build a stronger EU agriculture, performing both economically and environmentally summarised as follow (the full report is available here : Excecutive Report GlobalFoodForum EN):

Delivering modern risk management tools with a first step in 2017

The new strategy for resilient agri-food systems in Europe should integrate one fact: more than ever, agriculture is facing growing climate and market disturbances. For the benefit of the whole EU food chain, the CAP should make available a set of efficient risk management tools to enhance the resilience of the wide range of EU agriculture models. This will not be obtained through a single instrument at European level, but through a choice of complementary tools, placing farmers at the core of the decisions according to their specific situation and needs. In each Member State, farmers should be free to opt for tailored self-insurances and/or mutual funds. In 2017, the EU co-legislators should seize the opportunity of the Omnibus regulation to step up these tools, making them much more attractive and efficient.

 Finding a New deal across the food chain actors

The lack of cooperation within the EU food chain is undermining the capacity of the sector to cope with the challenges posed by globalisation and investment. The new deal should first reaffirm the prominence of the CAP over general competition rules. This principle should also be applied by national competition authorities. Transparency should be improved, including when it comes to prices and volumes at first processing level and final consumer level. Contractual relations should be encouraged on the basis of clearer rules, allowing collective contract negotiations at Producer Organisation level or by Groups of Producer Organisations. In order to encourage cooperation among farmers and food producers, a branch approach for volumes and price negotiation should be explicitly authorised to guarantee a better repartition of the value when prices are going both up or down. These approaches should be seen bearing in mind that the relevant markets for the main agricultural products are more often at European scale than national or regional. When it comes to Unfair Commercial Practices, a clear set of practices should be prohibited, with clear and dissuasive sanction mechanisms, fully securing the identity of the complainants.

Environmental sustainability: focusing on results

Technological advancements in the agricultural sector create new opportunities for environmental and sustainability policies at the European level. The EU institutions can seize the enormous potential of innovations to build simple and effective policies and reduce the amount of bureaucratic procedures for farmers. The European Union should consider a shift from a prescriptive policy to a real results-based policy that would be complementary with the current greening criteria and based on the will of farmers themselves. (Producers could opt for the existing policies or a results-based approach). Such a new option for the greening requirements would be based on quantifiable objectives that are adjusted to the knowledge and technical capacities of farmers. It would complement the current rules as an alternative option.

Economic sustainability: focusing on investments

The ambition of keeping a dynamic agri-food industry all across the EU should be transformed into reality. Over the past 10 years, the competitiveness of the EU agricultural sector decreased. The total EU farm productivity growth dropped by 54% and capital productivity turned negative. Europe must not limit its actions to a set of initiatives aiming at accompanying a slowing down of its farming sector. Neither should it accept to limit its ambition to an agriculture of conservation of the most fragile areas. On the contrary, the European policy framework should focus on launching dynamic and targeted economic strategies to revive investment all across the EU food chain. The economic dimension of the Common Agricultural Policy should be renewed.

Nutrition and health: strengthening trust

The European food chain is facing the challenge of finding a harmonious and positive relationship between diet and health. To do this, a number of obstacles must be overcome: a clear and joint strategy from all the actors of the food chain (agriculture, industry, trade) should be defined, the credibility of EFSA as a the pole of excellence and reference for EU legislators should be strengthened, the scientific consensus, as well as media and institutional communication should be improved to avoid confusion among consumers and law should be based on real and credible scientific evidence, not assumptions. In addition, dialogue with Civil Society should be encouraged in order to build a new consensus and go beyond ideological positions. The lack of debate between public and private actors around the issue of food and health is unacceptable. This challenge must be tackled seriously, at EU level in order to build trust among the actors and define a real European vision and solution.

Brexit and Trade: focusing on EU interests

Most of the EU countries have substantial trade interests in the UK market when it comes to the agri-food sector. Whatever the result of the EU/UK negotiations, both the internal policy shift in the UK and diverging trade strategies between the EU and UK will lead to medium and long term changes for the EU agri-food sector. This should not be underestimated now, even more following the clear commitment of the new British leaders to create “the biggest open economy in the world”. This strategy will make it difficult to achieve a full free trade agreement between the EU and the UK, without any safeguards. The common line for the challenges of Brexit and freer trade is enhanced competition for the EU-27 agri-food sector across the borders and a very daunting challenge notably to the beef sector. When it comes to the overall EU trade agenda, Brexit may be the occasion to review the way that mandates for negotiations are given to the European Commission, and to relaunch the EU trade policy on a new governance, more transparent and thus more acceptable to civil society.