Tag: agriculture

The smallest wheat harvest in Britain for more than a decade should get underway in key growing regions this week, as disastrous wet weather hit a second successive crop, opening the way for a flood of imports in coming months.

The sight of China's companies and even tourists buying up European baby milk products has given farmers a glimpse of what could be the export upside of an at times feared opening up of Europe's dairy market.

As the European Commission’s proposed negotiation positions on a new global anti-poverty framework call for a stronger role for the private sector in addressing energy and food security, an African farming group leads the way on how such partnerships could be put in place.

The European Union added a pesticide made by German chemical firm BASF to its blacklist of substances suspected of playing a role in declining bee populations.

Agreement on the first major reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in a decade won political approval in June 2013 after months of haggling over how ambitious the policy would be on overhauling direct payments, ending quotas, and making farmers more environmentally accountable. The long road to a deal means many policies won’t be implemented before 2015.

EU negotiators sealed a deal yesterday (26 June) on future farm policy after months of haggling over how ambitious the policy would be on ending quotas, overhauling direct payments to farmers and making agriculture more environmentally responsible.

This month’s floods along the Danube and other Central European rivers could add up to the costliest weather-related disaster since 1999, with the cost to agriculture alone expected to exceed €1 billion. Farm groups representatives pressed EU negotiators to reach a final deal on the Common Agricultural Policy, arguing that its direct-payments scheme helps sustain farmers in times of climate uncertainty.

SPECIAL REPORT / Groups campaigning to ban genetically modified foods in Europe have jumped on the recent discovery of unauthorised GM strain of wheat on an American farm as vindication of their longstanding campaign to banish biotech crops from the EU.

SPECIAL REPORT / The Obama administration is proposing a major overhaul of food aid that would for the first time put America’s overseas policy in line with European practices of providing cash and other alternatives to bulk shipments.

Africans must shake off their dependence on traditional agricultural aid from Europe and improve trade ties to address their food and poverty challenges, Nigeria’s agricultural minister told EurActiv.

The United Nations treated government ministers and officials to a meal of blemished African fruit and vegetables to highlight how perfectly edible food is being rejected by European supermarkets.

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 European Parliament’s agricultural committee began adopting dozens of amendments to the EU’s future farm policy on Wednesday (23 January), but approval remains far from certain when the full Parliament considers compromise proposals in March.

INTERVIEW / The more years of education a woman has, the more likely it is that her household will use sustainable farming practices – helping to combat food insecurity, poverty and degradation of ecosystems along the way - new research shows.

A UN rights official is urging the European Parliament to require that the EU monitor how Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies and other support for growers affect farmers in developing nations.

The future of Europe’s agriculture policy shouldn’t be held hostage by the EU’s budget impasse, Ireland’s agricultural minister said in calling for negotiations to move forward even if final figures on spending are unknown until spring.

Biofuels account for the largest source of new demand for agricultural production and have helped drive price volatility in grain crops like wheat and maize, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization says in a new report.

The area of the European institutions will remain blocked today (27 November) by protests of more than 2,500 farmers from across the EU against milk quotas and prices which they claim are well below production costs.

SPECIAL REPORT / Nanotechnologies that deliver fertilisers to plants offer promising ways of improving farm productivity while reducing the risk of water contamination. But the scientists behind a new Swiss-funded study caution that while the technology is still evolving, potential risks must be considered.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has launched a review of scientific studies and risk assessments related to the decline in bee populations worldwide and in Europe. A final report next year will identify information gaps and research needs in the field.

SPECIAL REPORT / East Africa was hit by its worst drought in half a century last year, leaving millions of people in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia hungry and triggering an outpouring of emergency aid from the European Union and other major donors.