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European agricultural organizations, including Copa-Cogeca, Euroseeds, Fertilizers Europe and CropLife Europe, have commissioned an impact assessment for the implementation of the objectives of the Farm to Fork strategy and Biodiversity strategy. The impact assessment is being prepared by the Dutch Wageningen University. The European agricultural organizations decided to take this step after the European Commission did not respond in the long term to calls from the professional public for a similar cumulative impact study. According to the European media, the impact assessment is practically complete, leaving only the final completion and finalization of the text. The assessment could be published in late September 2021 or early October 2021. So far, the only study on the impact of both strategies is a study by the US Department of Agriculture, according to which the implementation of the Farm to Fork targets could lead to a drop in production in the EU by up to 12%, to an increase food prices in the EU by up to 17%, to a drop in EU farmers' incomes by 16%, or to a drop in EU exports by 20% and, conversely, a strengthening of imports by 2%.

German Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner and Austrian Agriculture Minister Elisabeth Köstinger signed a joint statement on 26/08/2021, criticizing the EU's new forestry strategy for 2030. The main criticism concerns the interference with Member States' sovereignty in forest management. The Ministers emphasize that forests cover 43.5% of European land. According to the Ministers, the unification of forestry policy is not justified, and the strategy should focus more on existing national forestry strategies. On 01/09/2021, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Janusz Wojciechowski will give a presentation on the EU's forestry strategy to the EP's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (agenda is available here).
More information is available here.

The European citizens' initiative (ECI), called European EcoScore, registered by the European Commission on 30/06/2021, started collecting signatures of EU citizens on 23/07/2021. The aim of this citizens' initiative, led by two law students organizing an initiative in Belgium and the Netherlands, is to persuade the Commission to introduce EcoScore labels at European level. The EcoScore should provide consumers with transparent information on the environmental impact of the production of products sold and manufactured on the European market. According to the initiative, the label should appear on all products produced in the EU, both on food and, for example, on textiles. The initiative supports a system like the French nutrition label Nutri-Score, but also gives space to the European Commission's own proposal. The Commission will have to respond to this initiative if it collects at least one million signatures from citizens in at least seven different EU Member States during the year.
More information is available here.

Researchers from the Japanese University of Osaka have succeeded in creating a synthetic version of Wagyu beef using 3D printing. According to scientists, by improving this technology, it will be possible to reproduce "not only complex meat structures, such as the beautiful marbling of Wagyu beef, but also to slightly modify fat and muscle components." To produce synthetic (laboratory) meat, the researchers used two types of stem cells, called bovine satellite cells and adipose-derived stem cells. Based on the histological structure of beef, they then developed a 3D printing method that "can produce tailor-made complex structures, like muscle fibers, fat, and blood vessels". The main driver of development in the field of laboratory-grown meat and alternative proteins is the effort to move away from intensive agriculture, which has adverse effects on the environment and climate, and from unethical slaughter of livestock. The laboratory synthetic meat industry could reach a market value of $214 million by 2025, and $593 million by 2032.
More information is available here.

Canada has decided to continue imposing tariffs on sugar imported from the EU, the European Commission is considering intervention at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Canada is defending itself against the fact that farmers there without tariffs on European sugar cannot lead to fair competition, because European farmers receive support from the Common Agricultural Policy. According to Canada, European rates on Canadian sugar are also 20 times higher. However, sugar production and exports in the EU are in line with WTO rules, and the EU abolished production quotas a few years ago and liberalized the sector. Under the 2017 EU-Canada trade agreement, both parties should abolish established tariffs on refined sugar during the transitional period. The European Commission will analyse Canada's decision and will decide based on the results.
Canada's anti-dumping investigation available here.
The reaction of the European Sugar Manufacturers Association here.