Tag: Environment

Deforestation: Farm Europe welcomes a simplification for EU farmers, keeping the level of ambition untouched

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The European Parliament made a positive step forward in its vote on imported deforestation (EUDR-2023/1115). This position will remove unnecessary red tapes for EU farmers, while securing the level of ambition in the fight against deforestation. 

The perimeter of the regulation covering operators and traders is unchanged. The delay is  limited to one year, necessary to finalise the implementing acts of this regulation which is cornerstone for trade reciprocity, sustainability, and fair value chains for agriculture and food products.

MEPs approved the amendments introducing a new “no risk” category for countries, which comes in addition to the existing “low,” “standard,” and “high” risk categories for deforestation. Countries designated as “no risk”— defined as those with stable or growing forested areas—would face notably reduced compliance requirements. 

The current version of the text was agreed upon by the Parliament with 371 votes in favour, 240 votes against  and 30 abstentions. It is now crucial for the Council of the European Union to join the Parliament’s approach as soon as possible, and for the Commission to fully complete the implementation of the regulation, including the platform providing an “early warning system” to assist the competent authorities, operators, traders and other relevant stakeholders, as established by Recital 31. 

The Commission is also expected to complete a country benchmarking framework by June 30, 2025.

Regulation on imported deforestation (EUDR): reducing red tape on EU farmers while keeping the overall ambition is possible!

Posted on - Posted by Farm Europe

The regulation on deforestation (2023/1115) is a cornerstone for trade reciprocity, sustainability, and fair value chains for agriculture and food products. A postponement of one year is now unavoidable considering the late presentation of the implementing rules, but any further delay should be avoided.

In order to comply with WTO requirements and guarantee a fair treatment for all operators worldwide, the regulation on deforestation has been designed to cover the entire planet, regardless of the level of deforestation risk in the countries covered. 

A simplified due diligence procedure has been set up to avoid placing a disproportionate burden on operators producing and marketing raw materials from countries with a low risk of deforestation. 

However, as highlighted in previous analysis by Farm Europe, this simplified due diligence procedure only allows a partial derogation from the administrative requirements and data collection, placing unreasonable burdens on operators for low or zero deforestation risks. 

Simplification yes, dismantling no.

Therefore, the amendments proposals seeking to create a “no risk” category goes in the right direction. But any further modifications would change the nature and be a blow to the level of ambition of the regulation. In particular, to secure a robust regulation, the responsibility of important global operators should not be diluted. 

Corrections should be limited to the parts of the text that threaten its own credibility, namely the ultimate risk of having a new standard that would weigh more heavily on EU farmers and food producers, faced with a fussy and disproportionate implementation of the regulation, than on global actors. 

These changes should be made quickly, taking into account the need to limit as much as possible the delay in the implementation of this important regulation, to avoid destabilizing European value chains and threatening their fragile economic equilibrium.  

A full implementation from the European Commission needed. 

In the meantime, the implementation of Recital 31 of the regulation which calls upon the European Commission to build a platform providing an “early warning system” to assist the competent authorities, operators, traders and other relevant stakeholders must be fully put into practice, which is not the case until now. 

This plateform has been added by the co-legislator to the Commission’s initial proposal to provide “continuous monitoring and early notification of possible deforestation or forest degradation activities”, and to be operational as soon as possible. It is be a building block for an easy, uniformed and simplified implementation of the regulation by third countries, and in particular for developing countries that should be set up. 

NGTs: NOBEL LAUREATES CALL FOR REGULATION APPROVAL, EU DEBATES, AND BAVARIAN VOICES RISE

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Nobel laureates and scientific coalitions call on the European Parliament to embrace new genomic techniques for climate and food security. Within the EU, debates intensify over proposals to patent gene-edited plant. EP adopted its negotiating position while the Council’s presidency is still anxious to build a majority to adopt its position on NGTs which would open the way to trilogues.

While FAO studies the impact of biotechnologies on small farmers holders, the UK develop disease-resistant bananas.

New Breeding Techniques : a good news for farmers, tarnished by a request for labelling

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With 307 votes in favour 263 against and 41 abstentions the report on the legal framework for New Genomic Techniques (NGT) was approved by the European Parliament. This is good news that will give farmers new tools to adapt to climate change and use less chemicals.

However, the European Parliament voted for a position that differs in many respects from that of the European Commission making it much more cautious towards NGTs. While the Commission basically equated NGT1 with conventional varieties the European Parliament demands that NGT1 must meet sustainability criteria and pass an environmental assessment in order to be placed on the market. In addition Farm Europe regrets that today’s vote calls for imposing labelling not only on reproductive plant material but also on final products containing NGT1.

While the Commission avoided the issue of patents postponing it to a different legislation the Parliament imposes a patent ban on new genomic techniques. On the organic the exclusion of NGTs is confirmed but the Commission is asked for a revision of this decision after 7 years from the entry into force of the regulation. This text will then have to be negotiated with the Council once the 27 Member States agree on a general approach. This afternoon the Belgian presidency at Coreper will try to make progress in this direction.

IED: a need for consistency and collective work

Posted on - Posted by Farm Europe

The European institutions reached, yesterday, a provisional deal on the revision of the Industrial Emission Directive (IED), after very tense discussions on whether or not to include certain agricultural sectors in the scope of this regulation. Finally, thanks to the determination of the rapporteurs of the European Parliament, the co-legislators decided not to include the ruminant livestock sector, which is a move welcomed by Farm Europe. They also decided to tighten the thresholds for sectors already covered by this regulation: pig and poultry producers will be affected by this new regulation. 

However, all livestock sectors are covered by two very important — and most welcomed — provisions obtained by the European Parliament : 

  • First, the European Commission will have to “assess, and report to the European Parliament and the Council on the need for Union action to comprehensively address the emissions from the rearing of livestock, in particular cattle, taking into account the range of instruments available and the specificities of the sector”, by December 2026. This is a recognition that the specificities of agriculture should be covered by an adequate regulation, not IED. In other words, this provision paves the way for a potential exclusion of all livestock sectors. Agriculture must be lifted outside the remit of this regulation, and covered by a dedicated framework, as long as farmers are working with nature and animals. This activity should not be assimilated to an industrial activities. Therefore, a fit for purpose framework must be established grasping the complexity of agriculture when it comes to its environmental footprint, but also its co-benefits. 
  • Second, “the Commission should assess, and report to the European Parliament and the Council on the need for Union action to comprehensively address the emissions from the rearing of livestock, in particular cattle, taking into account the range of instruments available and the specificities of the sector”. This provision covers all livestock activities, and calls upon the Commission to set up a level playing field for all product placed on the EU market, meaning both Made in Europe and imported. At a time where the European Union is multiplying efforts to foster trade, producers would, rightly, not understand to be confronted with unfair competition from imported meat with higher environmental footprint. In fact, Europe would be shooting itself in the foot, increasing the burden on its producers, while at the same time opening widely its market. 

Therefore, while the compromise reached by the trilogue is certainly not perfect for all producers, it contains provisions that paves the way for an improved and more consistent approach that require a collective work of all livestock producers together, ahead of the review clauses. 

IED: beyond politics, good reasons not to include ruminant livestock

Posted on - Posted by Farm Europe

The final negotiations on the directive on industrial emissions will address major issues for the future of European livestock farming. There are good reasons to avoid making the mistake of including ruminant livestock farming within the scope of this regulation. 

We consider that the inclusion of ruminant livestock in the scope of IED would even achieve exactly the opposite of what it intends to do, fostering the trend of this industry toward intensification, while decision-makers aim at promoting extensive livestock farming because of its multiple co-benefits including for carbon storage, landscape features and biodiversity. 

That’s why we fully support the approach of the European Parliament on this file, and consider that EU Member States shall follow this path, excluding ruminant livestock from the scope of this regulation, and addressing the challenge of emissions in other dedicated regulatory framework, better grasping the complexity and the need for holistic approaches of this specific sector. 

Dealing with the sustainability of livestock farming solely through the lenses of emissions would offer a premium to the most intensive livestock farming models, in a position of optimising the management of their emissions to the maximum, and missing out on all the positive amenities associated with grass-based livestock farming. 

The directive on industrial emissions provides for the development of best available agricultural techniques (BAT) to take account of each type of livestock farming. The environment ministers are considering a derogation for extensive livestock farming, to exclude farms with less than 2 cattle per hectare. As such, these ideas demonstrate the specific nature of the sector. But in some cases, if those derogations are a response to the administrative burden associated with the IED, they do not resolve the most fundamental problem: future market development, which will give the direction of livestock farming in the future. 

If, in the future, certain type of livestock farming can be draped in virtues on the basis of emissions alone, it is on this parameter alone that major buyers, especially those quoted on the stock exchange will make their purchasing choices in order to comply with the ESG parameters valued by the financial markets. Priority for them will be given to reducing emissions from upstream agriculture, at the expense of all other co-benefits, including animal welfare, biodiversity and balanced regional development. 

Therefore, rather than regulating livestock farming via a simplistic approach, it is appropriate to develop an ad hoc pathway to reducing emissions within a broader framework that takes account of the storage capacity of grasslands and all the other parameters specific to this type of farming, including biodiversity, the impact on the landscape and the contribution to the economic development of remote areas. 

In other words, we need to recognise the reality that ruminant livestock farming is not an industrial activity in Europe. It has no place in a directive on industrial emissions.

Nature Restoration Law: a provisional agreement covering agricultural land

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Four months after the vote in plenary, the Trilogue of 9 November marks the end of the negotiations on the Restoration of Nature regulation. An agreement of the three institutions has been found although it will now have to go through the final scrutiny of the Council and Parliament.

While waiting for the final text of the agreement and the analysis of the details, which are sometimes crucial, we can already see that on the agricultural part, the agreement is closer to the Commission’s proposal and the Council’s position than to that of the Parliament, which had requested the deletion of Article 9, i.e. the complete exclusion of agricultural land from the regulation.

Instead, the agreement reinstates Article 9 and retains its structure but switches from a result-based to an effort-based approach. Furthermore, Member States can choose two of the three proposed indicators (butterfly index; organic carbon stock; share of farmland with high-diversity topographical features). 

The reference to the 10 % objective of high diversity landscape features is deleted.

With regard to peatlands, the restoration targets from the Council general approach are maintained but the rewetting targets for 2040 and 2050 are reduced to a third. 

On forest ecosystem restoration, the indicators on standing and lying deadwood have been recovered, and at least one of the two should be mandatory. The need for Member States to consider the risk of forest fires is included.

Probably to take into consideration the food security debate that has animated the protests against this regulation, the enhacement of food security has been included as an objective in Article 1 of the regulation. 

Furthermore, with regard to financing, it is clarified that the implementation of this regulation does not imply the reprogramming of the Common Agricultural Policy, the Common Fisheries Policy or other agricultural and fisheries financing programmes and instruments under the current MFF. In addition, the European Commission is requested to submit a report on the financial resources available in the EU to implement this regulation and the current funding needs to identify any funding gaps and to present the necessary proposals, including the establishment of specific funding. 

The Parliament obtains as well one of its demands, namely the obligation to plant, by 2030, 3 billion trees following ecological principles. 

It is therefore an agreement that respects the framework desired by the Commission, with its targets and obligations for the Member States that will have to carry the burden of this regulation. However, the EP obtained some adjustments and flexibilities on agriculture in order not to have this regulation in complete contradiction with the challenge of food security, as the Commission proposal envisaged.

Sustainable Pesticide Use: a step in the right direction from the Parliament

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“Agriculture Committee Approves Ms Aguilera’s Report with ambitious targets while minimizing bureaucratic hurdles and the shortcomings of the initial proposal from the Commission”

On October 9th, the Agriculture Committee made a significant contribution regarding the sustainable use of pesticides (SUR) by voting on the Aguilera report. This report introduces key changes to the European Commission proposal that will shape the future of pesticide usage in agriculture. The approved AGRI opinion is a step in the right direction, setting ambitious targets while minimising bureaucratic hurdles, making it more practical and accessible for implementation in the agricultural sector. Many shortcomings of the initial proposal from the European Commission are corrected, which should encourage the Environment Committee of the Parliament to follow the same path and draw inspiration from the consistant approach of the report voted by ComAGRI.

Key Decisions

  1. Pesticide Reduction Targets: The committee has set an ambitious goal to reduce pesticide use and risks by up to 50% by 2035. Additionally, Member States are required to establish national reduction targets of at least 35%.
  2. Feasibility Evaluation: By 2029, the Commission would assess the feasibility of achieving the Union’s 2035 reduction targets. This assessment will be based on the availability of alternative non-chemical pest control methods and low-risk plant protection products.
  3. Adjusted Reference Period: The reference period for calculating the reduction in pesticide use and risk has been changed to 2011-2012-2013, a shift from the Commission’s proposal of 2015-2016-2017.
  4. Sensitive Areas: Member States have the authority to define their sensitive areas, but specific details on territorial designations would have to be defined by the Member States.
  5. Electronic Record-keeping: The requirement for farmers to use electronic registers to document preventive practices and pesticide applications was not approved. Articles 14 and 16, which outlined these obligations, were removed.
  6. Crop-Specific Guidelines: Article 15 now provides crop-specific guidelines instead of rigid rules for integrated pest management (IPM).Non-Chemical Pest Control: Farmers are no longer obligated to use non-chemical tools before resorting to pesticides. This change allows more flexibility in agronomic decisions.
  7. Fast Track Approval for Low-Risk Methods: A new article (42b) proposes to fasten approval process for low-risk and biological control methods. This includes the potential for provisional authorization of ‘biological control plant protection products derived from natural substances’.
  8. Precision Agriculture and Drones: The regulation calls for the implementation of precision agriculture, including the use of drones, one year after the regulation takes effect, as opposed to the Commission’s original proposal of three years.
  9. Financing: Article 43, which initially intended to fund this regulation with CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) funds, has been removed. MEPs felt that additional funding sources were necessary, and it was not appropriate to allocate existing CAP funds to new policies.

Final Approval

The final text of the Aguilera report was approved with 26 votes in favor, 9 against, and 3 abstentions. Notably, the Renew Group played a pivotal role in the decision-making process, at times aligning with the EPP and at other times abstaining.

Nature restoration law: a major setback for VP Frans Timmermans

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Whatever the outcome of the vote on the Nature Restoration Law in Strasbourg tomorrow, the situation of extreme polarisation of the debate is already a major failure for Vice-President Frans Timmermans and his personal vision of implementing the Green Deal and Farm to Fork.

Ultimately, it raises the question of a European Commission that claims to be « political », and no longer has the capacity to play its role as “honest broker”, able to facilitate dialogue and to shape compromises leaving no one behind. The inclusion of agriculture in this text raises questions as far as the co-legislators have just reached an agreement via the Common Agricultural Policy on important points included again in the Nature Restoration Law. This creates mistrust in the political decision-making and the feeling among the farming community that the European Commission is coming back via the back door, despite the political balances recently established.

The Nature Restoration Law is far from being the only text aimed at protecting natural resources. The aim of this law is above all to bring the protection of biodiversity and environmental policy under the jurisdiction of the Courts, placing a legal risk on the Member States and political leaders, and ultimately to put pressure on all those in direct contact with natural resources, in particular farmers, fishermen and foresters.

In this respect, Article 16 proposed by the European Commission (which makes it easier for individuals to take legal action against political leaders) is indicative of this approach: with this law, it is not a question of encouraging and promoting a positive dynamic. It’s not about incentives, it’s about sanctions. The European Commission is positioning itself as a supervisor who validates or distributes sanctions, without taking any political responsibility for defining the path to achieving the targets — the how to implement transitions —, and if necessary relying on the courts. The European Commission would approve national plans.

No political group, with the exception of the Greens and part of the far left, feels truly comfortable with the approach defined by the European Commission. An analysis of the amendments tabled in plenary bears this out.

  • The EPP profoundly rejects this text. In the end, it decided that there was no point in trying to improve the draft law. It has tabled a motion to reject it.
  • It is joined in this approach by the ECR and ID groups. The ECR also tabled amendments aimed at deleting the 10% target for areas of ecological interest (equivalent to set-aside land) and deleting the “butterfly” indicator, which would force Member States to observe the growth of certain species.
  • The Renew Europe group is attempting a compromise by proposing the Council’s general approach, a proposal which does not, however, resolve the most divisive agricultural issues.
  • In addition, individual MEPs from Renew Europe and the Socialists tabled amendments on these subjects in order to limit the potential negative impact on agriculture, and in particular the deletion of any reference to the 10% target.
  • The Greens support the overall approach of the Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans.

However, no amendments were tabled in relation to the recital making “extensive agriculture” the alpha and omega of an effective environmental policy. Yet this type of approach, which moves towards de-growth in agricultural production, poses a problem, not only from a food sovereignty point of view but also from the point of view of protecting natural resources. It would mean more land being farmed, and therefore more deforestation and less biodiversity. Following this “extensification” path, the nature restoration law would be bad for nature.

Our analysis of the initial proposal is available here.

NGTs : a step in the right direction by the European Commission

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The publication of the proposal for a « Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques and their food and feed » is scheduled for 5 July next, and the draft is circulating among the various DGs in an interservices procedure for final amendments before publication.

The text that is now circulating – unless any last-minute substantial changes – gives us an idea of the direction in which the Commission intends to go. It confirms our expectations, providing a good working basis on this file to boost innovation, and meet the health, climate and environmental challenges, ahead of the negotiations to come with the co-legislators. 

First of all, a clear distinction is made between 2 groups of NGTs:

1. Plants obtained through targeted mutagenesis or cisgenesis, which could also occur naturally or be produced through conventional breeding (‘category 1 NGT plants’) would be treated similarly to conventional plants and would not require authorisation, but a simple notification. In addition, a transparency register would be established. If the notification takes place before the field trial, the verification of the criteria takes place at Member State level and the national decision has EU-wide effects and also applies to the placing on the market. For placing on the market where no field trials have been carried out in the EU, including imports, the decision is taken by the Commission, after verification of the criteria by EFSA. No specific labelling would be required.

2.         All plants from NGTs that do not fall under the first case are called category 2 NGT plants’ and would fall under GMO legislation and therefore undergo an authorisation process. The risk assessment would be adapted to take into account their different risk profiles and measures would be introduced to incentivise plant products that could contribute to a sustainable agri-food system. Traceability would be maintained as well as labelling. On a voluntary basis, GMO labelling can be supplemented with information on the purpose of genetic modification, e.g. to increase the sustainability of the plant. Unlike for GMOs, for these plants it will not be possible for Member States to restrict their cultivation or circulation on the market. There will be regulatory incentives for (potential) applicants of category 2 NGT plants containing traits with the potential to contribute to a sustainable agri-food system, e.g. an accelerated procedure or where the applicant is an SME, it shall be exempted from the payment of the financial contributions to the Union Reference Laboratory and to the European Network of GMO Laboratories.

With respect to these two categories of NGTs, herbicide-tolerant NGT plants, even if they fulfil the notification criteria (category 1 NGT) will remain subject to authorisation and the related requirements, in order to be able to assess their impact on human and animal health and the environment in the medium and long term. “There is evidence to show that herbicide-resistant weeds may result from the combined use of herbicide-tolerant varieties and associated herbicide overuse, with potential health and agroecosystem impacts,” the Commission explains. 

As far as organic is concerned, according to the Commission initial draft, both NGT1 and NGT2 would be banned in organic production and to enable this, it would be mandatory to indicate the use of NGT in seed labelling. Member States would have to take implementing measures for coexistence.

Once formally adopted by the college of Commissioners on the 5th July, this proposal will be discussed under co-decision by the European Parliament and Council. Both ComENVI and ComAGRI will be involved until the end of this mandate. Most probably it will be up to the next Parliament to finalise the deal and negotiate with the Council.