Agrifood Brief

This week, EURACTIV’s agrifood team walks you through the Commission’s fisheries package which includes the ambition to ban bottom trawling from all marine protected areas (MPAs) by 2030, and EURACTIV’s Paula Andrés talks to Enrico Somaglia from the European trade union of food and agriculture (EFFAT) about the new social conditionality tool in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

This week, EURACTIV’s agrifood team talks about the leaked Commission’s document that suggests some livestock sectors will be hit more than previously thought by the revision of the Industrial emissions directive (IED). We also speak about the clash between two European Parliament committees over the competence of the new EU’s pesticide rules. EURACTIV’s Julia Dahm discusses the pesticide file with Sarah Wiener, Austrian Green MEP and Parliament’s rapporteur on the file.

This week, EURACTIV’s agrifood team brings you the latest from the European Parliament’s front of the EU’s pesticide framework revision. We comment on the leaked draft document put forward by Austrian Green MEP and Parliament’s rapporteur on the file, Sarah Weiner and we listen to the take on the ongoing reform of the deputy director of the European Commission’s food safety service DG SANTE, Claire Bury.

This week, EURACTIV’s agrifood team walks you through all the goings-on of the first meeting of EU agriculture ministers under the Swedish Presidency, including the latest on agri-trade with Ukraine and a push from ministers for more say over environmental matters, and EURACTIV’s Gerardo Fortuna talks to Arancha Gonzalez, former Spanish minister of foreign affairs and current Dean of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po, about all things agri-trade.

The one-year scheme to suspend import duty on all agricultural products from Ukraine is coming to an end. Now, the Commission is reconsidering the arrangement. EURACTIV Germany’s Julia Dahm spoke to EU agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski about this and Gerardo Fortuna talks about his chat with agriculture Director General Wolfgang Burtscher. We also highlight an investigation on why the EU isn’t taking action in light of mounting evidence on China’s illegal fishing, as well as the successful European Citizen Initiative ‘Save bees and farmers’ with campaigning group Slow Food’s Madeleine Coste.

How is it that pesticides that are banned in the EU still in routine use across the bloc? This week, EURACTIV’s agrifood team takes a look at this question with the help of the Pesticide Action Network Europe’s Martin Dermine, delving into how things will change after a recent ruling from the EU’s highest court. We also interview FarmEurope’s Luc Vernet on the impact of soaring inflation on the Common Agricultural Policy budget and EURACTIV Germany’s Julia Dahm speaks with Inka Lange, the spokesperson of the ‘We are fed up’ NGO coalition who are protesting in Germany this week.

This week, EURACTIV’s agrifood team brings you a sneak peek of what 2023 has in store when it comes to the EU agri-food agenda. In our weekly focuses, EURACTIV France’s reporter Hugo Struna spoke to Stephan Malchow, chef of the Paris’ Brasserie Mollard, about rising costs for restaurants while EURACTIV’s journalist Paula Andrés interviewed Jannis Funk and Jakob Schmidt, directors of the documentary Who we eat.

This week, EURACTIV picks the best bits from our recent Twitter space where we explored the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform ahead of its entry into force on 1 January 2023. Are farmers ready for crunch time and what does this new CAP look like? Listen on to find out all you need to know.

This week, EURACTIV’s OG’s talk you through two major proposals presented by the Commission - one on carbon certification and another on packaging - explaining how this will impact the agrifood sector and how they have been received by stakeholders.

This week, EURACTIV’s agrifood team walks you through everything you need to know from the most recent meeting of agriculture and fisheries ministers, from algae to fertilisers, and we discuss hints from the Commission that they may look to deregulate gene editing in efforts to appease critics of its pesticide reduction plans.

We also take a deep dive into avian influenza, exploring the impact this is having on the EU industry with the help of several ‘eggs’perts, including EFSA’s Francesca Baldinelli, Gerard Leveque from the European Poultry breeders, and Paul Henri from AVEC, the voice of Europe's poultry meat sector.