Tag: agriculture

A nutritious diet that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables might be healthier for humans but not necessarily healthier for the environment, according to a French study.

The European Union dropped its ban on some US meat imports on Monday (4 February) in a gesture aimed at starting talks on a free-trade pact that would encompass about half the world's economic output.

Four American senators have expressed concern that possible trade talks between the European Union and United States may not dismantle longstanding EU barriers to US pork, beef, poultry and other farm products.

The EU should support rural public education programmes in Africa, with a special focus on women, to facilitate adoption of sustainable farming practices, says Hailemariam Teklewold, a researcher at the University of Gothenburg.

Swedish agricultural authorities are recommending a tax to reduce meat consumption and say such a levy should be adopted across the European Union.

Britain's farming and environment minister has called for a speeding up in the European Union's approval process for genetically modified (GM) crops which he said offered definite benefits including less pesticide use.

A coalition of grape growers, farm groups and major wine-producing countries appear to have won concessions to European Commission proposals for liberalising vine planting rights that are due to expire by 2016.

The European Commission’s proposal for a soil directive has been stalled for more than six years, but Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik hopes the newly announced Environment Action Programme (EAP) will eventually revive negotiations on the controversial proposals.

Farmers from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia protested as EU leaders gathered in Brussels yesterday (22 November), calling for equal treatment of Baltic farmers in the bloc's long-term budget. At the moment, they receive a quarter of what some farmers in other member states receive.

SPECIAL REPORT / Agriculture remains a major threat to water quality in Europe, according to the latest report by the European Union’s environmental agency. But farmers and EU policymakers are also quick to highlight the trade-off between conservation objectives and pressure to increase food production.

SPECIAL REPORT / Stepped-up farm production to feed a growing world could lead to shortages of a vital crop nutrient, phosphorus, prompting European officials to consider conservation and recycling measures to protect supplies.

Environmental groups frustrated by Commissioner John Dalli’s outward support of the genetically modified food industry are hoping his successor will take a tougher line.

The European Commission proposed new rules in September regarding the presence of genetically modified pollen in honey. The new proposals consider that pollen in honey is a 'natural constituent', thereby contradicting a previous ruling by the European Court of Justice from September 2011 that considered it an 'ingredient', writes John Davison.

Agricultural cooperatives empower their members economically and socially through better access to markets and create sustainable rural employment, argues Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the World Food Programme.

Grape growers are lining up support from EU national governments and the European Parliament to protect limits on vine planting that are due to expire by 2016, a liberalisation move they claim will destroy one of Europe’s premier industries.

Drought-stricken crops and record-high grain prices have strengthened critics of the European Union biofuel industry, adding fears of a food crisis to their claims that it does not ultimately reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Ukraine has secured two multibillion euro loans for energy and agriculture from China in recent days, a development suggesting that Kyiv is seeking alternatives to the tougher financing conditions set by the International Monetary Fund.

French President François Hollande will face judicial problems over the ban on the cultivation of genetically modified plants, and this has widespread implications for science-based risk assessment in the EU, argue Marcel Kuntz, John Davison and Agnès E. Ricroch.

Conservation groups have condemned a move by European agricultural ministers to tone down some of the most controversial environmental proposals in the next phase of the EU's farm support programme.

European efforts to make farming more environmentally friendly have done little to address its growing ecological footprint abroad, says a UN expert who calls for a shift to more sustainable consumption.

The EU executive has proposed new harmonised rules to account for greenhouse gas emissions from forests and agriculture within the EU’s climate policy.

When blood-red sludge broke through containment walls in the Hungarian town of Ajka in October 2010, the immediate concern was the safety of hundreds of nearby residents. In the end 10 people died from exposure and the toxic muck spilled into waterways, including the Danube, prompting alarms downstream.

The United States remained the primary backer of biotech crop technology in 2011, but adoption spread internationally as the total global planted area of genetically modified seeds grew 8% from a year ago, a new report says.

When the European Commission began pressing for a dramatic expansion in the use of biofuels in transport and energy several years ago, it was seen as a win-win situation: a way to help farmers, create energy security, cut greenhouse emissions and improve air quality. But even that last claim is no longer taken for granted.