About: Intensive farming

Intensive farming, French court ruling and sugar tax

Welcome to EURACTIV’s AgriFood Brief, your weekly update on all things Agriculture & Food in the EU. You can subscribe here if you haven’t done so yet. Intensive farming and the Green Deal In a recent tweet, Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski said that...

EFSA suggests ways to avoid mass suffering of unwanted male chicks

Technology to prevent the necessity of killing surplus or unproductive animals should be encouraged to prevent the unnecessary suffering of male chicks, a new report finds. 

MEPs want less EU money going to intensive farming

Lawmakers in the European Parliament's environment committee have voted for a reduction in subsidies going to intensive farming under the common agricultural policy as of 2021. EURACTIV France reports.

Third of Earth’s soil is acutely degraded due to agriculture

A third of the planet’s land is severely degraded and fertile soil is being lost at the rate of 24 billion tonnes a year, according to a new United Nations-backed study that calls for a shift away from destructively intensive agriculture. EURACTIV's media partner, The Guardian, reports.

McDonald’s to cut antibiotics, as UN warns of superbug resistance

In light of the EU egg scandal, fast food giant McDonald's plans to phase out antibiotics from its poultry production chain starting in 2018. At the same time, the UN has warned of increased risk of antibiotic resistance from intensive animal farming.

No need for new rules to protect butterflies from GM pollen, EU report says

European food safety officials found there was no need to widen buffer zones around genetically modified (GM) crops, even though research shows that pollen from GM maize can travel kilometres further than previously thought.

Manuel Valls wants EU nitrates directive ‘to evolve’

Nitrate pollution remains a major problem in France due to its intensive agriculture. The French Prime Minister has resolved to take action, after a new indictment of France by the Court of Justice of the European Union last week.

‘Meat Atlas’ sheds light on hidden costs of beef, pigmeat

Europeans need to more aware of the little-known environmental and social cost of their high-meat diets, green campaigners said at the launch of their global ‘Meat Atlas’ report on Thursday (9 January).

EU gradually turning green in food security debate

SPECIAL REPORT / With the world's population expected to rise to nine billion by 2050, European regulators are pushing for a gradually greener approach to food sustainability, warning that demand for food could cause a number of related crises, such as runaway carbon emissions, waste and obesity.

African farmers face soil erosion, fertiliser puzzle

SPECIAL REPORT / Every year the world loses roughly 24 billion tonnes of fertile soil, with chemical fertilisers singled out as one of the main culprits. Yet, agriculture experts are calling for more widespread use of the substances to improve land fertility and boost yields.

€208m forests initiative launched at UN climate talks in Warsaw

A new $280m (€208m) initiative to help save the world's remaining forests was launched by the UK, the US and Norway at the United Nations climate change talks in Warsaw on Wednesday.

Farming deal ‘too flexible’ but caps largest direct payments

The EU’s freshly agreed agriculture policy reform caps direct payments to the largest farms, but a senior parliamentarian says that flexibility in its enforcement potentially weakens social and green commitments.

Developing nations urged to follow EU in banning toxic pesticide

The UN’s agricultural organisation has urged governments in developing countries to ban a toxic pesticide – already outlawed in the European Union – linked to the deaths this month of more than 20 children in India.

‘Damn tough’ deal on CAP leaves little room for celebration

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.

After landmark CAP vote, the hard work begins

MEPs exercised their power to shape agricultural policy for the first time on Wednesday (13 March), voting to adopt a controversial package of legislation that now faces a fresh round of negotiations with national leaders. EURACTIV reports from Strasbourg.

MEPs, divided and under pressure, prepare for CAP vote

The European Parliament votes today (13 March) on a future agricultural policy that, if approved as proposed, would step back from a generation of liberalisation moves and ease the European Commission’s plan to set new environmental standards for farming. EURACTIV reports from Strasbourg.

EU urged to promote women’s education in Africa

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.

Grape producers toast results of planting rights talks

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.

France seeks to boost aid for livestock farmers

France plans to shift some agricultural subsidies from crop growers to livestock farmers to narrow a gap in revenue and productivity between the two sectors in the European Union's biggest farming economy.

Commission isn’t ready to bury soil directive

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

Looming shortage of key crop nutrient pushes call for conservation

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.

Green farming agenda faces EU budget axe

SPECIAL REPORT / Some EU national governments and lawmakers are pushing to weaken proposals intended to create natural defences against pesticides and fertilisers in crop fields. But they should reconsider their opposition to buffer strips and other natural areas, green advocates say.

EU’s food imports pose ‘tricky balance’ for hungry Africans

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.

An EU cap-and-trade scheme for water pollution? Greens say no

Environmentalists who have gone to court in a bid to kill a US water pollution trading system say it would be a mistake for Europeans to consider a similar cap-and-trade scheme to reduce fertiliser and other agricultural emissions.