News

On 04/01/2021, the Commission initiated feedback on the conditions of use of biochar fertilizers. The initiative aims to set conditions for the use of fertilizers from updated EU regulations, which will apply from 16/07/2022. The consultation is open until 01/02/2021, available here.

On 04/01/2021, the Commission launched feedback on the conditions of use of fertilizers - thermal oxidation materials. The initiative aims to set conditions for the use of fertilizers from updated EU regulations, which will apply from 16/07/2022. The consultation is open until 01/02/2021, available here.

On 04/01/2021, the Commission initiated feedback on the conditions of use of fertilizers - precipitated phosphate salts. The initiative aims to set conditions for the use of fertilizers from updated EU regulations, which will apply from 16/07/2022. The consultation is open until 01/02/2021, available here.

On 05/01/2021, the Commission launched feedback on composite food and drink products exempted from official controls at EU borders in the framework of food safety. The initiative will expand the list of exemptions for foreign composite food products (e.g., lasagne, ham pizza and cream liqueurs) that will be exempted from controls on EU food standards. The consultation is open until 02/02/2021, available here.

As of 24/12/2020, France had confirmed a total of 18 outbreaks of avian influenza in six French departments - 7 in Corsica, 7 in Landes, and one case each in Vendée, Hautes-Pyrénées, and Yvelines, and Deux-Sèvres. In the French prefecture of Landes, 40,000 ducks from 25 farms had to be killed for precautionary reasons, and other poultry that were not protected in the interior within a radius of one kilometre from the outbreak.
More information is available here.

Researchers at the Technical University of Munich concluded in their study that organic beef and lamb production has a comparable impact on the environment and climate as production from conventional farms. A study based on calculated greenhouse gas emissions was published in the journal Nature Communications. The demand for more land per farmed animal compared to conventional farms, older age, and less meat produced, according to scientists, balance or even refute the often-mentioned positive aspects of organic farming.
More information is available here.

Slaughter pig prices in most EU Member States did not stabilize even at the turn of 2020 and 2021, they remain extremely low. According to the German Association of Cattle and Beef Producers, prices in Germany have remained at €1.19 per kilogram in recent weeks, the lowest price since January 2011. The German company Westfleisch, which focuses on slaughtering, cutting, and processing pork in the north-west Germany, reduced the so-called "solidarity contribution" for defeats last week. At the time of the introduction of the contribution, the company reduced by €2.50 per slaughter pig, now it has reduced the contribution to €2.0.
More information is available here.

Last week, the European Statistical Office Eurostat published Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries Statistics for 2020. Eurostat statistics show that the risks posed by pesticides to the environment and human health fell by 17% between 2011 and 2018. Eurostat considered the sales of pesticides and the stress factor of substances contained in pesticides when calculating the risk. Eurostat has suggested using this calculation method also to calculate the results of EU Member States in meeting the objectives of the Europe Green Deal.
More information is available here.