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On 02/04/2021, French farmers demonstrated in 12 departments before regional authorities against the CAP reform. Farmers, who have chosen the motto "France, do you still want your farmers?", do not agree with the eco-schemes proposed under the CAP reform. They are concerned about the way in which funds from the CAP funds are distributed to support priority organic farming and the construction and protection of landscape features. According to French farmers, on the other hand, precision agriculture should be financed from the funds. The budget for eco-schemes has not yet been agreed at EU level, the European institutions support the allocation of 20-30% of the budget of the first pillar, Germany supports 25%.
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The Dutch bank ING has published its own in-depth study of the Farm to Fork strategy, one of the aims of which is to expand the area of organic farming to 25% of the area of agricultural land. According to ING, however, the livestock sector - the dairy sector in particular - will have difficulty achieving this goal. According to ING, the strategy also suffers from the fact that it has so far received only mixed support from farmers, industry, and Member States, and diverting part of the CAP funds to meet Farm to Fork goals will not be easy. Further efforts will also be needed to boost demand for organic production. In its study, ING further states that the 25% target for organic farming can only be achieved if all actors in the chain are involved in meeting the target - farmers, dairy processors, traders, chefs, and consumers who are willing to pay extra for organic production. In addition, according to ING, the costs of farmers, the food industry and consumers will increase in line with the Farm to Fork goals, the bank also states that the largest dairy companies focus on reducing methane emissions rather than expanding organic production.
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The Italian government has presented a proposal for a new animal welfare label for dairy products. The new label was created in response to the lack of transparency in the dairy industry. According to the proposal, the labelling is divided into 6 categories, ranging from 0 to 5, where the green "0" represents animal husbandry that meets European standards for organic farming; "1" indicates free range; "2" means free range for 4 months of the year; "3" represents enriched cage farms; "4" indicates that the cattle were kept tethered indoors; and "5" marked in black indicates breeding where no criteria meet the statutory limits.
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Roberto Berutti, a member of the cabinet of Janusz Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, said on 01/04/2021 that the proposed colour-coded Nutri-Score labelling system should not be seen as the only way to assess the benefits of food for human health. Berutti criticized NutriScore during a public conference organised by the youth section of Italy’s centre-right party Forza Italia, stressing that his views on NutriScore were his personal views. According to Berutti, the introduction of NutriScore would lead to significant negative impacts and damage to the (Italian) agri-food sector. According to Berutti, NutriScore will damage several foods that are protected by PDOs (Protected Designations of Origin) and PGIs (Protected Geographical Indications), which would also be in direct conflict with the Commission's efforts to protect and promote foods with this designation. The European Commission plans to present a proposal for nutrition labelling in the fourth quarter of 2022, preceded by the publication of an impact assessment and a public stakeholder consultation. Berutti also said that the European Commission, including Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans, is heavily influenced by the ideas of major food companies, including Nestlé, Unilever, Mondeléz, and Danone. Berutti emphasized that if these companies are currently considered to be leaders in sustainability, he fears that in the future, their highly processed foods could be labelled "green" for "healthy" foods, jeopardizing many culture-based nutrition systems and tradition.
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The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) tested the content of pesticide residues in food - a total of 12 food products – apples, head cabbages, lettuce, peaches, spinach, strawberries, tomatoes, oat grain, barley grain, wine (red and white), cow’s milk and swine fat. Out of a total of 96,302 tested samples, 96.1% of foods met the set European residue limits. An additional test was performed on 12,579 samples, with 98% meeting the limits, 1% slightly exceeding the legal limit for pesticide residues in food, and for 1% of the samples tested, legal action was taken for violation of the law.
More information is available here.