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Food commodity prices increased by 0.7% in January 2020 (for the fourth consecutive month) compared to December 2019, up 11.3% compared to January 2019. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food Index 06/02/2020 the price of vegetable oil rose by 7% month on month, reaching a three-year high. Sugar prices increased by 5.5% since December 2019 to the highest level since December 2017. Cereal prices increased by 2.9% since December 2019 to the highest level since May 2018. Prices of milk, butter, cheese and skimmed milk powder increased by 0.9% since December 2019, which is 10.2% more than in January 2019. After eleven months of steady growth, the price of meat fell by 4% in January 2020 compared to December 2019, although it is still 14% higher than in January 2019.
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EU exports of agricultural and food products from December 2018 to November 2019 reached a record € 149.6 billion, 8.7% more than in the previous twelve months. In November 2019, exports reached € 13.43 billion, which is 7.3% more than in November 2018. By contrast, imports fell to € 9.78 billion in November 2019, which is 7.3% less than in November 2018. Imports in the 12 months to the end of November 2019 amounted to € 119.2 billion, which is 2.7% more than in the previous 12 months. The largest increases in imports in November 2019 compared to November 2018 were from China (+72%), Turkey (+59%) and Egypt (+41%). Exports dropped to the US (-9%), Hong Kong (-22%) and Libya (-32%).
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Charles Michel, President of the European Council, intensively negotiates with representatives of the member states of the agreement on the Multiannual Financial Framework. Last week he met with 16 leaders of member countries, the result of the negotiations should be to secure an agreement on the budget ideally already in the upcoming European Summit, which will take place in Brussels from 20/02/2020. Charles Michel should submit a new Negobox (a document summarizing the proposal for specific financial allocations) on 10/02/2020. Last week, 15 EU Member States also confirmed the need to maintain the budget for Cohesion policy at its current level, nor should the Commission finance the 'Just Transition Fund' (part of the European Green Deal) with CAP funds. According to some Member States, a lower budget is also possible, given that there are only 27 EU Member States.

On 31/01/2020, the Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Safety presented three basic areas of impact to the Farm to Fork Strategy - these should be economic (boosting farmers' incomes, ensuring farm viability, food quality and security); environmental and climate impacts (ensuring sustainable use of natural resources, tackling climate change), and social impacts (strengthening employment on farms and rural areas, emphasis on health, strengthening animal welfare). However, there are some tensions between these areas - between social and economic impacts (strengthening environmental, sanitary and quality standards will lead to reduced agricultural yields, maintaining affordable food prices may put the food's economic viability at risk), between economic and environmental impacts (reducing environmental and climatic traces of agriculture, while enhancing agricultural productivity to meet increasing demand, can endanger the viability of farms), also between environmental and social impacts (reducing livestock production can lead to abandonment of agricultural land, depopulation of rural areas, and decline in biodiversity).

The European Commission should publish the Farm to Fork Strategy on 31/03/2020, together with the EU Biodiversity Strategy.
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The European Commission will publish the EU Biodiversity Strategy on 31/03/2020. According to preliminary information, the Strategy could include a proposal to reduce the use of pesticides and mineral fertilizers by "at least 30%" under the 2030 green commitments. The risk of pesticide use should even be reduced by 50% by 2030. At least 10% of the European agricultural land should be earmarked for non-productive and landscape features such as hedgerows and trees. Under this Strategy, the Commission should also propose a new simplified CAP payment for small farms - an initiative like the one-hectare initiative aimed at protecting ecosystem services. The European Union will also have to extend the area of organic farming to 30% of agricultural land. In terms of funding, EUR 20 billion per year should be allocated to finance environmental recovery across European countries, also by 2030. Financial resources should be allocated from a combination of EU funds including the CAP, regional funds, Cohesion funds and Horizon Europe. A significant area (but not further specified) should be allocated to carbon-rich ecosystems. The Strategy will be presented at the end of March, but the proposal will have to be approved by the Member States and the European Parliament. France plans to halve the amount of pesticides used in agriculture by 2025. France will endeavour to implement this objective at EU level.
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