Agrifood Brief

An EU Commissioner has for the first time suggested the possibility of revising the ambitious targets of the new EU food policy at a later stage, EURACTIV explores the ways in which innovation and a well-balanced regulatory framework can help to cope with the trade-offs of the Farm to Fork strategy, and agriculture stakeholders are calling on the EU Commission to update the sustainable use of pesticides directive to allow the use of drones for aerial spraying of pesticides.

In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, food security has become the hot topic on everyone's lips, but not everyone is in agreement over the best way to strengthen the EU's food security, farmers have expressed concern that organic targets may could “kill” the sector, and lawmakers agree to delay post-2020 CAP by two years.

Row over veg-meat name heats up in Europe, rekindling the debate about possible consumer deception when it comes to novel food products, the European Parliament approved the setting up of an Inquiry Committee on live transport and Commission’s firm opposition to having an interim two-year period before the next EU farming subsidies programme starts has irritated co-legislators.

In an unprecedented move, a group of German Green MPs and one MEP have backed the use of gene editing technologies in a new paper, lawmakers on the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee reacted angrily as their colleagues on the Environment Committee decided to halt cooperation on the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy file, and EURACTIV takes a closer look at how the hospitality sector will play a vital role in the process of “re-connecting” European citizens socially after the coronavirus pandemic. 

New sustainable food policy bears risk of unsustainable imports, ministers have warned this week, major agrifood stakeholders warn that a Brexit no deal could severely disrupt the EU agrifood sector and EU lawmakers have said that any potential reduction of glyphosate in the EU should be preceded by an impact assessment exploring the consequence for farmers.

Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn has said this week that it is very difficult to make the EU’s main farm policy greener when figures on the bottom line are red, a new report exposes the vulnerabilities of the global meat sector, and lawmakers in the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee have turned down a section of an aid package proposed by the Commission for wine, fruit and vegetable producers, as it was not ambitious enough to cope with disruption caused by the pandemic.

This week in this special edition of the EURACTIV Agrifood podcast, we spoke to a range of stakeholders and policymakers to hear their reactions to the presentation of the highly anticipated Farm to Fork strategy which, after several delays, was finally presented on the 20 May.  

EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski has said he will support Poland’s proposal to increase the budget for EU’s farming subsidies by 10%, the excessive use of state aid to bail out struggling farmers during the COVID-19 crisis could be a cause for concern for the single market and fair competition in the member states, and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides has revealed the Farm to Fork strategy will not provide a compulsory EU-wide nutritional food label scheme.

Backed by the organic food sector, EU lawmakers are pushing the European Commission to delay the coming into force of the reformed organic regulation; after being delayed twice, the European Commission is ready to unveil on 20 May its much-awaited food policy, the Farm to Fork Strategy; and EURACTIV takes a look at how the agritourism sector is struggling during the COVID-19 crisis. This week featuring Matteo Metta from ARC2020, who explains the findings from a recent analysis on the transparency and stakeholder inclusivity of the design process of national Common Agricultural Policy plans.