Tag: agriculture

The Copenhagen climate talks are neglecting a food crisis, which requires measures that can both curb climate change and boost food production, the head of the UN's food agency has said.

Michel Barnier, France’s newly-appointed commissioner in charge of the internal market, said he would keep the work of his colleagues in the new EU executive under close watch, citing the new farm chief Dacian Cioloş as a case in point.

While agriculture and food production have long been considered untouchable in international climate talks, calls to make the sector contribute to greenhouse gas mitigation efforts have been growing louder.

The European Union should resist the temptation to cut support for its common agricultural policy and instead give farmers the right tools to increase food production in Europe, EU Farm Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel told EurActiv in an interview.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday (27 October) pledged €1.65 billion in support for France's struggling farm sector and urged the EU to move faster in reinforcing dairy regulations.

The EU should make payment of farm subsidies conditional on delivering good soil and water quality and encouraging farmers to diversify their output to include fuel and fibre products, a EurActiv debate heard on 13 October.

Despite uncertainty over the number of commissioners in the next EU executive, which stems from the as yet unfinished ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, Romania has announced that it will propose a former agriculture minister as its next commissioner. EurActiv Romania reports.

The European Commission yesterday (16 June) threatened Germany with infringement proceedings for failing to disclose details of all recipients of EU farm subsidies. EurActiv Germany contributed to this report.

Agriculture and land management have not received enough attention from scientists and politicians, while a number of innovations in food production and land use could be implemented to fight global warming, argues a new report published last week by the Worldwatch Institute, a think-tank. 

An EU study of future agricultural research challenges reveals that there is general consensus on the concerns, but disagreement over how best to address them. It stresses the need to conduct transdisciplinary research and redistribute roles between the state, markets and civil society to address the vulnerabilities of the present agri-food system.

An EU sustainable food chain roundtable launched yesterday (6 May) is seeking to develop a methodology for assessing the environmental footprint of individual foods and drinks by 2011. 

The first ever meeting between agriculture ministers from the world's eight most industrialised nations (G8) called for more public and private investment in sustainable farming to boost food supplies and ensure global food security.

Grain farmers and cattle breeders are staging protests today (31 March) against a French plan to redistribute monies from the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). EurActiv France reports.

Former EU Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler last week called on Europe to significantly contribute to world food security by fulfilling its "production potential", as the continent moves from being a net exporter of foodstuffs to become a net importer.

As the world's population approaches ten billion, issues like climate change, growing scarcity of oil and availability of quality land and water are challenging the planet's capacity to produce enough food for everyone - a paradigm shift that could potentially pave the way for a new global 'food crunch'.

Use of fertiliser usage and other modern agricultural practices can help to reduce greenhouse gases and ensure food security, argued business representatives and experts at a conference yesterday (12 February).

Amid a drive by the European Commission and liberal countries to cut subsidies to farmers and free up agriculture, MEPs have called for a strong European agricultural policy to be maintained, asking the EU executive to propose the creation of a global food inventory and stocks to ensure food security.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on how European farmers can improve the quality of their food and drink to achieve the added value needed to compete with much lower production costs in emerging countries.

Pointing to the ongoing commodity price crisis and the huge diversity of situations faced by European farmers, Parliament's agiculture committee yesterday (7 October) called on the Commission to scale down its proposed reform of agricultural policy.

Emerging issues such as food security and growing consumer calls for quality food should form part of the EU's long-term policy goals, according to a visionary document adopted by European farmers' organisation Copa. 

A thorough reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is necessary to allow the EU to respond more effectively to rising food prices and internal pressures, according to Ivo Hlavac, the Czech state secretary in charge of agriculture, who spoke to EurActiv France in an interview.

Guy Riba, the deputy director of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), highlights the many challenges the world will have to meet by 2050 if it wants to feed its nine-billion inhabitants without destroying its environment. He spoke to EurActiv ahead of a major conference by the French Presidency today (3 July) in Parliament.

Current high food prices are being caused by several complex factors, including high energy prices and poor harvests, according to experts at the Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands.

Fear has spread across the globe and people are beginning to act on impulse to tackle issues such as the food crisis, so it is time to start using our heads, argues Norbert Walter in a 16 May commentary for Deutsche Bank Research.