News

Last week, the European Commission approved a grant of almost €2 million to support the Meat4All project, which aims to develop laboratory meat. According to the project coordinators, meat grown in laboratories should be one of the key foods of the future.
More information is available here.

As of 14/10/2020, Germany had already confirmed 70 cases of African swine fever (ASF), all in feral pigs. Further cases of AFSF were detected in Brandenburg last week, and the German Ministry of Agriculture (BMEL) continues to emphasize that domestic pig farms in Germany have not been affected.
More information is available here and here.

A group of 86 MEPs from different countries and political factions supported the end of cage farming on 13/10/2020 during a webinar organized by Compassion in World Farming. The 86 MEPs sent a joint letter to the European Commission, emphasizing the strengthening of animal welfare measures under the Europe Green Deal and the cessation of cage farming.
More information is available here.

Irish Republican Party Sinn Féin has committed to support farmers with cows without marketable milk production by introducing aid of up to €300 per cow. Sinn Féin calls on the government to adopt a new model in the 2021 budget. The total expenditure on this scheme should reach €107 million.
More information is available here.

On 08/10/2020, the German Presidency presented current proposals for amendments to the Council's opinion on the CAP reform. Regarding the capping of direct payments, the Council is currently discussing the possibility of voluntary capping. If the state decides to introduce capping, amounts over €100,000 will be capped. However, Member States will also be able to decide voluntarily to gradually reduce direct payments, the so-called degressivity. Germany proposes to reduce amounts between €60,000 - €75,000 by up to 25%, amounts between €75,000 and €90,000 by up to 50%, and amounts above €90,000 by up to 85%. Deduction of labour costs should also be a voluntary option for Member States. According to the current proposal, capping should apply to the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS). Regarding the definition of a real farmer, the Council is still considering the principle of voluntariness. According to the information available, Member States remain divided on whether eco-schemes should be set up on a mandatory or voluntary basis by Member States. Member States have also not yet agreed on whether (and, if so, how much) a minimum budget should be allocated for eco-schemes from the envelope for the first pillar of the CAP. The European Parliament is currently negotiating on the same topic, according to initial information, the EP could support the allocation of 30 to 35% of the envelope for the first pillar of the CAP to eco-schemes, in the Council it is more of an allocation of at least 20%. The German Presidency has proposed to allow the use of unspent funds, which could be allocated for eco-schemes, as well as for non-environmental measures. However, this proposal is criticized by the European Commission. EU Member States continue to address the setting of coupled support; according to the latest proposal from the German Presidency, the Council could support an allocation of 13 + 2% (i.e. maintaining the current limits). According to the German Presidency's proposal, the area set aside for non-productive elements should not reach 10% of agricultural land (as proposed by the Commission in the EU Biodiversity Strategy), but only 5% of arable land. According to the representatives of the DE Presidency, an agreement in the Council could be reached by the end of October 2020.
More information is available here and here.