The German presidency of the EU has made some severe proposals to neuter environmental aspects of the upcoming CAP plan. German Agriculture Minister Julia Kloeckner has proposed weakening areas dedicated to nature, taking money from eco-schemes, and potentially protecting CAP from the EU Commission’s flagship EU Green Deal. […]
12 national coalitions, representing over 400 organisations from a wide range of interests, have come together to demand radical reform in CAP. Releasing a co-signed letter to coincide with the informal AGRIFISH meeting Monday 31st August to Tuesday 1st September, the letter is pulls no punches in calling out CAP. […]
After almost five days of intense meetings, EU Leaders agreed on a seven year budget and recovery package yesterday. This includes the MFF (multiannual financial framework, or typical EU budget) of E1.07 Trillion, plus a specific pandemic recovery package of E750 billion, split almost evenly between grants (E390bn) and loans (E360bn). How is CAP impacted? […]
The agriculture section of the EU Green Deal is plagued with contradictions. On the plus side, it finally acknowledges the need to massively develop agroecology. But Farm to Fork advocates for a range of false solutions, including so-called “carbon farming”. All agricultural models cannot coexist, argue Manon Castagné and François Delvaux in this op-ed. […]
Hidden away in a footnote, away from the fanfare of the launch of the EU Green Deal’s Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies, was a nonetheless crucially important document. A document that links vision to the practical CAP work member states are currently conducting. So what’s in it, what’s missing, and what does it say about power relations between the Institutions and the Member States? […]
Despite enormous lobby pressure, the EU Commission’s flagship Green Deal strategies – the Farm to Fork and the Biodiversity Strategies – have retained their initially leaked targets for a reduction in fertilizers, pesticides, antimicrobials, and concurrently, for an increased in organic farming to 25% – and all by 2030. The 10% target for high diversity landscape features has also been retained. […]
As the eagerly awaited EU Commission Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies are about to be released tomorrow, a battle is on for the specifics. […]
This week the European Commission will reveal how it plans to work towards the pesticide reduction targets as set in the Green Deal, via the Farm to Fork strategy and also the Biodiversity strategy. However chemical giant Bayer CropScience has made clear it does not want any binding legislation as part of the new EU Biodiversity Strategy. With specific numbers for reduction in the use of pesticides and fertilizers in the biodiversity strategy in particular, will real targets be dampened down on the 20th May? […]
39 civil society organisations, including ARC2020, have come together to demand that the EU’s Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies remain on schedule for April publication. […]
EU Leaders disagree on CAP, on how it should be funded, and on how that funding should be divided up between different priorities. Meanwhile, there are delays, the parallel farm to fork strategy, talk of transitional arrangements, and now, the global pandemic that is COVID-19 to deal with. Natasha Foote unpacks some of the details. […]
The Farm2Fork strategy is out for consultation at present, closing on 16th March. It is self-described as a sustainable food strategy is key to achieving the goals of the EU’s Green Deal. This strategy “sets out the regulatory and non-regulatory measures needed to create more efficient, climate-smart systems that provide healthy food, while securing a decent living for EU farmers and fishermen.” So how is the process unfolding, and how does – or will – it relate to the CAP? […]
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