The scientific community has welcomed the results of more than 20 years of research that led to the completion of the sequencing of human genome. The discovery corrects thousands of structural errors in the previous reference genetic material. In the EU, NGOs (notably in Germany and Austria) are keeping the media attention high on the matter […]
GROWTH
The new political majority elected in the mid 2014 European elections has made growth and employment its top priority. The challenge for agriculture & food sector is: how can it contribute to this agenda? This theme will be at the heart of reflections, with a special focus on investment, innovation, social trends, education and employment.
NEW GENOMIC TECHNIQUES: A TWO-SPEED EUROPE
While in Italy and in France, the scientific community is calling on their governments to ease the regulation on plants derived from new genome techniques and that times are ready to move forward, in England the Parliament has approved legislation that ease the acceptance of gene-editing field trials, and Kenya adopts guidelines on genome-editing techniques […]
EUROPEAN NUTRITION: WHICH TOOLS FOR THE RIGHT POLICY?
ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to open the debate on the European state of art on the nutritional and market tools implemented by public policies. Improvement of mortality rate from Non-Communicable Disease (which are very much linked to nutrition habits) has gained relevance at the UN level, with one of the Sustainable Development […]
NEW GENOMIC TECHNIQUES: SOME MEPS STILL HAVE DOUBTS
Some MEPs have sent a letter to the Commission ahead of the publishing of draft regulation on plants varieties obtained thanks to new genomic techniques, calling for further research and attention to safety. The 31 elected representatives asked the Commission to analyse in more details the risks related to new genomic techniques, pointing out that […]
NEW GENOMIC TECHNIQUES: UK & CHINA FRONTRUNNERS IN RELAX OF RESTRICTIONS
More and more crops that have been genetically modified are being approved for field experimentation, such as lettuce, rice, maize. Whereas in the UK political declaration are pointing at the direction of a more relax legislative environment for gene editing, in China, public authorities are about to draft new rules to ease the application and […]
Italy: CAP Strategic PLan 2023-27
Strategic priorities: organic farming and livestock The Plan recognizes the importance of organic farming to contribute to the achievement of all environmental objectives; indeed, the sector is allocated about 2.5 billion euro in the five-year period within the rural development. The allocation already foreseen by rural development (1.5 billion euros) is in fact integrated with […]