News

The German government seeks to reverse the trend of falling food retail prices in retail chains. German Chancellor Angela Markel and German Minister of Agriculture Julia Klöckner met with representatives of retail chains last week, calling for enhanced support for farmers. The meeting was a reaction to several protests by farmers who criticized the very low food retail prices in the chains. Klöckner stressed that it is not possible to sell food at low prices while at the same time continuing to strengthen food quality and safety standards. According to Klöckner, retail chains should be morally and ethically responsible.
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Spanish farmers protested on 05/02/2020 before the Ministry of Agriculture in Madrid in order to ensure a better position for small and medium-sized farmers in the food supply chain. According to farmers, large supermarkets must stop prioritizing the interests of large suppliers; farmers also called for a fair Common Agricultural Policy, rejected the cuts in the CAP budget, and called for mandatory labelling of the country of origin for all foodstuffs. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, following a protest by farmers, called on large supermarkets to self-criticize their attitude towards small and medium-sized farmers. According to the Prime Minister, large supermarkets should carry out an assessment study and strengthen transparency in order to protect small and medium-sized farmers and livestock production.
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African swine fever (ASF) is still slowly spreading across the EU Member States, except for the Czech Republic. In its report " Epidemiological analyses of African swine fever in the European Union", published on 30/01/2020, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) states that ASF is progressing, though slowly, mainly towards the southwest. Between November 2018 and October 2019, the disease was confirmed in Slovakia, Serbia, western Poland and Belgium. EFSA experts have pointed out the uncontrolled movement of pigs and individuals and poor biological protection and identification of breeding.
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The European Commission called on Austria to ban tail-docking of pigs. According to a recent audit, this practice is still common in Austria even according to EU legislation this practice is not allowed because of animal welfare. The exception is preventive docking to prevent tail biting caused by stress. The competent Austrian authorities also did not take any concrete measures to stop tail-docking and did not introduce the relevant EU legislation into their national legislation. However, audits carried out in 2019 showed that tail-docking continues to be used throughout the EU. The Commission has therefore drawn up a working document with recommendations to Member States to end this practice.
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The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), based on a review of available scientific findings, concluded that glyphosate is not a carcinogenic substance. In its opinion published on 30/01/2020, the Agency states that it has not identified any risks arising from glyphosate exposure - when the herbicide is used as recommended, there are no risks to human health. The potential ecological risk exists in mammals and birds when located in or near the area of application. The risk to terrestrial and aquatic plants is because of wind spray spreading. According to the EPA, it is therefore necessary to amend the instructions for use with a restricted area of use and to set the level of protection against spraying.
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