News

On 02/12/2020, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Janusz Wojciechowski supported the introduction of a harmonized European animal welfare labelling system. The European Commission has so far stated, including the Farm to Fork strategy, that it will consider introducing the label. Wojciechowski's statement is thus the first direct support for the introduction of animal welfare labelling by the Commission. According to Wojciechowski, the Commission is now determined to present proposals as soon as possible. Labelling should cover the welfare of animals at all levels of the chain - from farms to treatment to transport and slaughter in slaughterhouses. Wojciechowski also said that welfare rules should be strengthened within the CAP, including through eco-schemes. For example, local production should be encouraged to prevent long transports of live animals. The Council of Agriculture Ministers has already drafted its preliminary proposals, which will be discussed during the Council meetings on 15/12/2020 and 16/12/2020.

Germany has confirmed a new outbreak of bird flu in a poultry farm in the Mecklenburg Lake District. 29,000 laying hens were killed. Within a radius of about 10 km, a protection zone was established extending to Brandenburg. There are another 23 poultry farms in the protection zone with more than 600,000 pieces of various poultry, so far without infection. Bird flu was also confirmed on a turkey farm in North Yorkshire, UK, where 10,500 turkeys were killed. A temporary protection zone of 3 and 10 km was established. On 27/11/2020, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) reported the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N5 in Belgium on a farm near the border with France.
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German Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner called on representatives of the meat industry to allow the slaughter of animals even on holidays and weekends. In Germany, around 590,000 livestock are currently awaiting slaughter. Slaughter has been slowed in the country since the spring due to the introduction of new rules to maintain workers' health during the coronavirus crisis. The slowdown in the slaughter process was subsequently exacerbated by the outbreak of African swine fever in Germany.
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On 02/12/2020, EU Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly called on the European Commission to tighten up the EU's pesticide approval system. According to the Ombudsman, the Commission should only approve substances that have a positive assessment and recommendation by the AFSA. The European Commission should also inform the public more transparently about its decisions. The Ombudsman's recommendation is a response to a request from environmental organizations for stricter EU rules but is not legally binding on the Commission.
More information is available here.

On 01/12/2020, the French Minister for Agriculture and Food, Julie Denormandie, presented a plan to increase by 40% the area of land intended for growing protein-rich plants, the plan being included in a new national protein strategy for the next 3 years. The aim is to increase domestic production of plant proteins for feed, and to strengthen agri-food independence. FR imports 4.8 million tonnes of soybeans for feed each year, mainly from South America. The new strategy has earmarked € 100 million from the France Relance Fund for coronavirus recovery until 2030, of which € 1.2 billion is for agriculture.
More information is available here.