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France has confirmed its interest, despite its own plan to strengthen the sustainability of agriculture and to offer farmers switching to organic farming various forms of tax incentives, to allow farmers to apply for an exemption from the ban on the use of neonicotinoids. France proposes to allow exemptions until July 2023 (initially until September 2020). France shall use a clause authorizing the granting of exemptions to grant exemptions, provided that the risks cannot be addressed in any other meaningful way. Due to significant problems in the sugar beet growing sector, France will therefore allow exemptions, but the exemptions will also be available for the cultivation of other crops. The Committee on Agriculture will discuss the proposal on 23/09/2020 and 05/10/2020. France continues to work to reduce the use of glyphosate, with consumption expected to fall by more than 50% by 2021.
German MEP Martin Häusling (Greens) has not agreed to the French government's decision to present a bill allowing an exemption from the ban on the use of neonicotinoids. He sent a letter to European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans calling for a stricter approach to granting exemptions, as the ban on the use of neonicotinoids was decided at EU level and must therefore be strictly enforced if environmental policy is to remain credible.
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According to representatives of some agricultural organizations, the EU's targets for reducing pesticide use by 50% may speed up the arrival of invasive insect species. As many as 1,800 non-native insects are already present in Europe and are considered invasive, which has an impact on human health and biodiversity. In addition, dealing with damages costs around €20 billion a year. The growing number of invasive species may also lead to the introduction of their natural predators.

The new Commissioner for Trade will be Latvia's Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and the new Irish Commissioner for Financial Services will be Mairead McGuinness (former First Vice-President of the European Parliament), as Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on 09/09/2020. Dombrovskis has held the position of Commissioner for Trade since 27/08/2020, when Phil Hogan resigned from the position due to a discussed violation of coronavirus rules at an August dinner at a golf club.
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EU agriculture ministers met at the informal Council of Ministers on 31/08/2020. Topics discussed included the resilience of food supply chains, country of origin labelling, animal welfare and the transport of live animals, as well as the transition of the Common Agricultural Policy. German Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner emphasized the need to achieve resilience in all three areas - economic, environmental, and social. Klöckner also called for the functioning of the single market to be safeguarded and for demand for local production to be reflected. According to Klöckner, farmers should be provided with relevant incomes, investments should be boosted and the EU's dependence on protein feed imports should be addressed. Klöckner also confirmed Germany's interest in introducing NutriScore as a food nutrition labelling system on the front of packaging. Among the German priorities for the presidency is the issue of animal welfare labelling, which, according to Klöckner, should be based on scientific grounds and should be comprehensible to consumers. According to the German minister, meat prices are so low that it is not possible to guarantee adequate animal welfare. The rules for the transport of live animals should be harmonized and strengthened. According to Klöckner, the EU should not export live animals to third countries. Ministers generally supported strengthening the resilience and sustainability of the agri-food chain and emphasized the importance of self-sufficiency in the context of the coronavirus crisis. Ministers were not united on the country of origin labelling; the main concerns were on the possible disruption of the functioning of the single market as well as fraudulent or confusing practices (example of Chinese adulterated honey). Ministers generally supported the introduction of animal welfare labelling but stressed the need for scientific evidence. According to the Commissioner for Agriculture, the European Commission could carry out a study on animal welfare labelling in the first half of 2021. Ministers also called for a revision of the legislation on the transport of live animals. Prior to the ministerial meeting, Germany and the Czech Republic supported a two-year transition period for the CAP, while France supported a one-year transition period. If a two-year transitional period is approved, France could seek to derogate and implement the new CAP after only one year of the transitional period.

Hundreds of environmentalists protested during the Council of Ministers, calling for radical changes to the CAP to better support climate neutrality and allow more investment in organic farming methods (here).

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On 04/09/2020, the European Commission launched two public consultations on organic farming - action plan for the development of EU organic production. Under the Green Deal, the Commission set a target of achieving at least 25% of agricultural land under organic farming. According to the Commission, the forthcoming action plan will help consumers, farmers, businesses, Member State governments and local authorities to achieve this goal. It will support investment and innovation in sustainable agriculture; will respond to the increased consumer interest in organic food; and increase the demand for organic food. The consultation also includes a three-page roadmap. According to the Commission, the new action plan should complement the new Regulation (EU) 2018/848 on organic production (implementation of the new regulation has been postponed for a year – new entry into force until 01/01/2022). The consultation on the roadmap is open until 23/10/2020, the consultation on the planned action plan is open until 27/11/2020. The new action plan should be adopted in early 2021. It should help boost the growth of the sector, both on the demand and supply side.
More information is available here and here.