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The European Commission plans to present a proposal for EU strategy on the reduction of methane, including methane from agriculture, as early as 14/10/2020. The strategy should also be linked to the CAP strategic plans, which should support methods that will lead to a reduction in the volume of gases produced. According to the draft document, EU Member States should improve their reporting on emissions from agriculture. The European Commission will provide guidance by 2022 to help achieve carbon balance at farm level. By the end of 2021, the European Commission should provide a list of best practices to motivate farms to adopt reduction schemes. The list should also include feed and livestock techniques. Emissions from agriculture, according to the draft version of the document, have fallen by 22% since 1990, but have risen again in the last five years due to the increase in herd size.

EU Member States are working on a common position on the Farm to Fork Strategy. According to the latest version of the working document, Member States recognize Farm to Fork (F2F) as one of the key elements of the European Green Deal, F2F measures should contribute to the development of sustainable food systems in the EU and climate neutrality by 2050. Member States shall encourage the move towards the integration of global, regional, and local food systems in a mutually reinforcing manner and in enhancing food security. In the draft, Member States call for consistency and coherence between EU policies, the F2F, the CAP, and the Biodiversity Strategy. They emphasize the need to ensure a fair income for primary producers, to strengthen the position of primary producers and their cooperatives in the food supply chain, and to base all F2F-related legislative proposals on scientifically based data and impact assessments. Member States also welcome the Commission's efforts to strengthen support for protein crop production. The proposal will be discussed on 12/10/2020 during a meeting of the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA), the text is not yet final.

Last week, US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue warned of the possible impact of the implementation of the Farm to Fork Strategy on food prices in the EU and worldwide. According to Perdue, the implementation of the new strategy could lead to a doubling of global food prices, which is in direct conflict with the need to ensure sufficient affordable food for the growing world population. According to Perdue, the F2F stifles innovation, does not reflect dynamic market developments (Perdue emphasizes that we are now experiencing overproduction, which is affected by favourable weather conditions - it is therefore not safe to adopt such ambitious strategies in easy times), and jeopardize food availability for millions. people. According to Perdue, the objectives of F2F are not based on health or safety threats, but on a subjective decision by the Commission, which poses a major risk to the functioning of international trade. According to Perdue, the United States will in no way engage in foreign policies that restrict or ban its own production methods. According to the US Minister, Farm to Fork will also limit farmers in the use of modern technologies.
More information is available here.

On 08/10/2020, the European Parliament approved an EP legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2018/848 on organic production as regards its date of application and certain other dates referred to in that Regulation. The 2018 Regulation should be implemented 01/01/2021, with the aim of modernizing and harmonizing organic production rules, both for producers in EU Member States and for producers from third countries, who will have to comply with the same rules as producers in the EU. The new legislation simplifies production rules and strengthens control systems throughout the supply chain. Parliament approved the postponement of implementation by one year.
More information is available here.

On 08/10/2020, the European Parliament approved an EP resolution on a European Forestry Strategy. Parliament called on the Commission to include in the EU Forestry Strategy, which should be published in early 2021, appropriate instruments, with forest management models including environmental, social and economic sustainability, which means that forests and forest land need to be manage and use them to maintain their biodiversity, productivity, regenerative capacity, vitality and potential, so that they can perform not only now but also in the future relevant environmental, economic and social functions at local, national and global levels, and do not cause harm other ecosystems. According to the EP, the strategy should be in line with the European Green Deal.
More information is available here.