EU green deal Archives - Agricultural and Rural Convention

SURe to find excuses – MEPs, Ministers & their PPPs (Persistent Pesticide Proposals)

November 29, 2022 Ashley Parsons

After last week’s clear challenge to the SUR pesticide reform, this week the guns are blazing between MEPs and Commissioners pushing the reform. And in a familiar pattern in EU law-making, many Ministers are backing the business-as-usual block. Will we be reporting on the SUR until there are no more puns to be made? It seems that’s just what many politicians, with thier persistent pesticide proposals, want to enSURe. Ashley Parsons and Oliver Moore report. […]

SUR-e To Have Setbacks – Pesticide Reform Stuck

November 22, 2022 Ashley Parsons

The SUR pesticide regulation reform is facing pushback. Political moves by member states, such as requesting a new impact analysis of the Regulation, will set the reform back by months. Ashley Parsons reports. […]

Pesticide Regulation too Important to Delay – Civil Society Orgs

November 10, 2022 ARC

ARC2020, along with 28 other organisations, wrote and co-signed a letter on the unacceptable delays in introducing the EU’s pesticide regulation, called SUR (Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products). Below is the full text of the letter, which was sent to Ministers for Agriculture, Environment and Health, the President of the European Parliament, AGRI and ENVI coordinators, and members of the AGRI and ENVI Committees. […]

Who’s Afraid of Nature? Restoration Law Under Pressure

November 7, 2022 Ashley Parsons

The Nature Restoration Law, tasked with creating legally binding targets and national plans for the restoration of different ecosystems for every Member State, is facing pushback. A look at how it is being challenged in Ireland and the Netherlands. […]

CAP’s Value, Public Canteens and Cutting Pesticide Use – EU Roundup

October 20, 2022 Ashley Parsons

CAP budget cuts? No, that’s just inflation. An EU Roundup on CAP financing, on pesticide’s – exposure to them, citizen action, facts and figures from a new Pesticide Atlas – and a vision and an action for the canteens of tomorrow. With Ashley Parsons
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Rural Europe Takes Action | The Sámi Environmental Programme

September 22, 2022 ARC

From the Sámi perspective, all matters are environmental matters. The Sámi Environmental Programme is a holistic framework with a long-term, decolonised perspective on sustainability and Indigenous culture. Josefina Skerk, former Vice President of the Sámi Parliament, shares powerful perspectives on life, land and climate justice in a conversation originally published in “Rural Europe Takes Action – No more business as usual”, the policy guide launched by ARC2020 and Forum Synergies in June 2022. […]

Rain-Czech for the Environment | Spectacularly Unambitious 6 Month Presidency announced

July 6, 2022 ARC

On July 1 the Czech Republic took over the EU presidency until the end of the year. So what are the priorities? Reading between the lines, Ashley Parsons offers a quick analysis of the agriculture program and what to expect. […]

Commission Adopts Regulation to Half Pesticide Use by 2030 – But More Work Needed

June 24, 2022 Ashley Parsons

After months of delays, the European Commission has adopted the Regulation on the Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products. The regulation proposes legally binding targets and annual reporting by Member States to reach a 50% reduction in pesticide use by 2030. There are however, some serious issues yet to be resolved. Unpacked by Ashley Parsons. […]

Nature Restoration Law: A Chance for the EU to Make Good on the Green Deal

June 22, 2022 ARC

The European Commission today made a tentative step towards addressing the biodiversity crises, with the announcement of a Nature Restoration Law – the first such move since 1992. Ashley Parsons reports. […]

The Good Food Good Farming Pesticide Check-up

June 14, 2022 ARC

As decision-makers consider the future of pesticide regulation in the EU, Good Food Good Farming is running a citizen science project inviting citizens to do a “Pesticide Check-up” by getting their hair tested for pesticides. The project is open to participation until June 30. […]

War in Ukraine – Food Fight in the EU

March 14, 2022 Ashley Parsons

The war in Ukraine is destabilising food security in Europe. The solution is not to dismantle the Farm to Fork strategy but to act on it faster. Here’s how the scenario is playing out and what’s at stake. […]

War in Ukraine and World Food – What options does the international community have?

March 14, 2022 ARC

Sebastian Lakner assesses the current, rapidly changing situation of agri-food trade and policies. How is the war impacting on agri-food supplies, and what are the responses at EU and national level? This opinion piece is an English language update of an earlier German post on the agricultural economist’s blog. […]

More Food less Feed – Agriculture and the War on Ukraine

March 7, 2022 ARC

An appalling war on Ukraine has manifold impacts. The direct human cost is immense and incalculable. The impacts on the world’s agri-food trade and commodity systems will be huge. The 4 F’s – fuel, feed, fertilizer and of course food are all heavily implicated. So what to do? Will Europe suspend progress on rerouting the food system towards more resilience, by doubling down into the worst aspects of these 4 F’s? Or can some aspects of a deeper iteration of food sovereignty emerge? […]

Rocky Road – EU Regs, Deforestation and a Just Transition for Smallholders

February 24, 2022 Ashley Parsons

After “organic,” “non-GMO,” or even “palm-oil free,” there may be a new label coming to products for EU consumers: “Deforestation-free.” But might there be unintended consequences for some of the world’s poorest smallholders, who also happen to be those least responsible for climate breakdown? Ashley Parsons and Oliver Moore report. […]

Green Deal-ing – Mid February EU News Round

February 15, 2022 Ashley Parsons

With the French Presidency of the EU, some specific areas have come to the fore for farming, food and rural Europe. Under a broad-if-wooly EU Green Deal framework, carbon farming, pesticides, geographical indications, and reciprocal standards (mirror clauses) for third countries have received added impetus in this six month presidency. Ashley Parsons takes us though some of these, and some other hot topics, in this mid month round up for us. […]