Tag: farming

Pig numbers in the European Union could fall by as much as 10% and the price of pork could rise substantially when tougher animal welfare regulations come into force next year.

European farmers are likely to fall behind in the competitive world grain market as EU consumer hostility to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) drives away research and prevents cultivation of high-yield and pest-resistant crops.

Farmers are likely to see the annual payment they receive from the government fall in coming years, UK farming minister Jim Paice said, adding he favoured its eventual abolition as global food prices rise.

The European Commission's investigation of organic agriculture provides an opportunity for long overdue critical scientific scrutiny, so that agricultural policies can be based on knowledge and not on ideology, writes Professor Anthony Trewavas of the Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Edinburgh in a May commentary.

The current crisis in the global food system, caused by dramatic price rises, provides an opportunity to assure long-term food security and avoid problems in future, argue three essays in the annual report of the International Food Policy Research Institute.