The Russian unlawful attack on Ukraine in February 2022 and the following blockade of Ukrainian ports have severely affected global grain supply chains. With Ukraine being a major world exporter of corn, wheat, sunflower and barley, it was imperative for the international community to find solutions to get Ukrainian production out of the country in order to ensure global food security.
While the EU is waiting for the European Commission to publish its proposal on the legal framework for new genomic techniques (NGTs) next June 7, in the UK last March 23 the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act was passed after a process of about a year. Precision breeding involves using technologies such as gene editing to adapt the […]
The school schemes for food procurement are a European initiative whose aim is to improve the quality and the variety of nutritional intake for children in school age. They represent one branch of the preventive arm of the more general approach of the EU in its health policies by educating the next generation to healthy […]
The CJEU’s decision on excluding specific in-vitro from the OGM regulation sparked contrasting reactions from multiple associations. The eight-year-long debate’s verdict comes as the EC works to define specific rules on NGTs, fueling the debate amongst NGOs. Outside the UE, the US are expecting higher investments on the NTGs studies to boost up their competitivity, […]
In February, France has made some long-awaited announcements featuring an approval of 160 million € for a cyclical distillation of wines, and other support measures for the sector. In the meantime, Italy’s wine exports are still dominating and Spain has had its Barcelona Wine Week with Minister Luis Planas. Finally, the WTO has received the […]
At a time where securing food sovereignty is high on the European agenda, the EU-NZ FTA will not be understood by the EU agriculture community, and rightly so. Ahead of the negotiation, the European Commission published a Trade Sustainability Impact Assessment with disturbing results
The Communication defends furthering support through state aids to all renewable technologies and to supporting “innovative advanced biofuels plants”. However, the Communication is mute on supporting transition to a greener agriculture, contrary to what the US has done in the IRA.
December confirmed a record export for Italian wine, an extended freeze on alcohol duties in the UK and state aid for Cypriot wine producers. Meanwhile, the Commission reports in its forward-looking analyses that wine production is “likely to be challenged and changed in the future”. For 2022/23, all analysts predict a vintage of very good […]
In November, the US Food & Drugs Administration, the public office responsible for food safety, approved the first step that opens the door to commercialization to an imitation of ‘chicken’ produced in the lab by UPSIDE Food. At the same time, ingredient-provider start up is proposing to replace bees with bioreactors and precision-fermentation to supply […]
November was marked by the Commission communication on fertilizers whose aim is to face the consequences of the skyrocketing prices for this agricultural input for farmers. On the legislative dossiers, the revision of the sustainable use of pesticides has also been affected by the current crisis and the consequences of the Russian aggression to Ukraine, […]