While farmers will be concerned about what the EU summit in Brussels later today might do with the EU Budget and in particular the CAP share, there are other problems as well.

The farm-to-fork strategy, which is the agriculture section of the Commissions Green Deal, was put to the public this week looking for feedback and is open until 16 March.

In the three-page communication roadmap issued by DG Sante, not DG Agriculture as farmers might expect, the ambition is “to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable food system that should have a neutral or positive environmental impact, is capable to adapt to climate change and at the same time contributes to climate change mitigation.”

Significant reduction

More specifically, “the strategy will include measures to significantly reduce the use and risk of chemical pesticides, as well as the use of fertilisers and antibiotics. These actions will go hand in hand with actions seeking an improvement of animal welfare.”

In addition to this, the Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski again emphasised his enthusiasm for organic farming in an interview with Brussels-based trade publication Agra Facts.

Belgian farm organisations are organising a protest outside the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels as the heads of state assemble to begin the budget negotiation around the recent proposal produced by Council President, Charles Michel and reported on in this week’s Irish Farmers Journal.

IFA president Tim Cullinan, who is in Brussels for the summit, is joining this protest.

Read more

EU to slash farmer payments