News




The European Commission will provide €290 million for the LIFE Environment and Climate Program

The European Commission will provide €290 million for 132 new projects under the LIFE Environment and Climate Program. The new projects will help Europe become a climate-neutral continent by 2050 and put Europe's biodiversity on a path to recovery by 2030. The new financial package provides €223 million for the environment and resource efficiency, nature and biodiversity, and environmental management and information environment. Another €70 million will go to climate change mitigation, adaptation, governance, and information projects.
More information is available here.

The German Agricultural Organization has developed a new animal welfare labelling system for dairy products; the designation will be introduced in Germany from the beginning of 2022

The German agricultural organization DLG, in cooperation with farmers, technical experts, dairies and German food retail chains (incl. Edeka, Netto, Rewe), has developed an animal welfare labelling system. The system should apply from the beginning of 2022, covering milk and dairy products. It is intended to facilitate the division of food into four categories according to the type of farming into the basic, bronze, silver, or gold category. The certification includes 36 criteria that must be met to varying degrees depending on the level of labelling and eight exclusion criteria, which are the basic requirements for animal husbandry. Dairies can use the labels on their products as an added value to provide consumers with information on animal-friendly dairy farming.
More information is available here.

Most plant-based meat alternatives in Britain exceed the recommended salt content of foods

Representatives of the consumer health organization Action on Salt conducted a study focusing on the salt content of plant-based meat alternatives in the UK. The study shows that although plant-based products have fewer calories and more fibre on average than meat products, up to 75% of plant-based alternatives in the UK exceed the recommended salt content of foods.
More information is available here.

The European Medicines Agency has published a report on antimicrobial consumption between 2019 and 2020; their consumption fell by 43% in ten years

On 23/11/2021, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) published a report on the outcome of a European veterinary antimicrobial surveillance project entitled "Sales of veterinary antimicrobial agents in 31 European countries in 2019 and 2020". The report states that sales of antimicrobials for use in animals in European countries were 43% lower in 2020 compared to 2011. The project is based on data from 25 countries that provided complete data for the period 2011-2020. However, it also points to an increase in total drug sales in these countries by 6% in 2020 compared to 2019. The Agency adds that sales of antimicrobials, which are considered critical in human medicine, accounted for only 6% of total sales in 2020, with sales declining significantly between 2011 and 2020.
More information is available here.

The European Commission will not approve national strategic plans unless they provide sufficient support for small and medium-sized farmers

Janusz Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, said last week that the European Commission would not approve national strategic plans unless they provided sufficient support for small and medium-sized farmers. Wojciechowski said the European Commission would reject draft strategic plans that would deny small and medium-sized farmers access to CAP budget funding. The Commissioner has long been a supporter of small and medium-sized farmers, especially supporting the family farming model in the EU. According to the Commissioner, these farms have long been under increasing pressure from industrially intensive farms, with which they are unable to compete. That is why, according to the EU Commissioner, up to 4 million small farmers have been lost in the last decade. As a result, up to 4 million small farmers have disappeared in the EU over the last decade.
More information is available here.