The European Parliament’s agriculture committee has approved a negotiating mandate for upcoming talks with national ministers on a transitional period for EU farming subsidies, MEPs voice strong reservations about the market measures put forth by the Commission to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak, and farmers are noticing an increase in the use of unfair trade practices (UTPs) in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Member states are increasingly considering protectionist measures in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the European Commission announced exceptional market measures, and stakeholders are calling for urgent action to protect agri-food workers

The current budget for the deployment of market measures is very limited says Commissioner Wojciechowski, the launch date of the highly-anticipated new EU food policy, the Farm to Fork strategy (F2F), is currently under review and MEPs called on reducing volume production in the dairy sector to avoid milk storage or destruction

Due to pressure caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, farmers association COPA-COGECA has backed the further postponement of the Farm to Fork strategy, but this stance has been heavily criticised, agriculture sherpas rubber-stamped a partial negotiating mandate to discuss with MEPs the transition period for EU farming subsidies and we take a look at EFSA's annual report on pesticide residues found in food in the EU.

The lack of agricultural workforce remains a concern for the entire European food supply chain, Parliament's plenary vote on the post-2020 CAP to be hold after the summer break, EPP group called for another postponement of the Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy