News

Ministers of Agriculture of the EU Member States will meet on 24/09/2019 at the informal Council of Ministers held under the Finnish Presidency. Options of carbon storage in soil will be one of the key issues to be addressed - the Finnish Presidency is now considering whether to include carbon storage in the currently discussed reform of the CAP post 2020. Procedures that can promote soil carbon sequestration include, but are not limited to, agroforestry, replanting of forests, use of cover crops, or limitation of plowing. The Finnish Presidency summarizes a number of examples of good practice across the EU Member States in a document prepared for the purpose of the informal Council; great attention is paid to the options of agroforestry.

On 22/08/2019, Spain published information on the use of CAP funds. Between mid-October 2018 and the end of June 2019, EUR 2.7 billion was spent on direct income support, while another EUR 1.4 billion went to climate and environment friendly practices. In total, Spain spent EUR 5.2 billion on payments under the first pillar and EUR 1.4 billion on payments for rural development programs. Withdrawals within the first and second pillars exceeded the level of drawdown from the same reference period a year earlier; by the end of this October, additional aid amounting to up to 5% of funds drawn so far from the last reporting period could be disbursed.
More information is available here.

On 28/08/2019, the Member States of the European Union agreed on a package of support measures proposed by the European Commission to compensate for the effects of this year's drought and to increase the availability of feed for cattle. Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan said that the European Commission was in close contact with all Member States and will continue to monitor the situation. Farmers affected by drought will be entitled to receive higher percentages of CAP payments, namely up to 70% of the allocation for direct payments (by mid-October 2019) and up to 85% of the allocation for rural development programs (as soon as the package is formally adopted). In addition, the European Commission will allow exemptions from the greening rules to ensure sufficient livestock feed. Farmers will be allowed to declare fallow land, for example as an area of ecological interest, even when grazed or harvested; farmers will also be able to harvest crops sooner than after the currently mandatory 8 weeks. The package of measures must now be formally adopted, with the deadline foreseen for early September 2019.

According to the latest data from the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC, here), corn yields will fall by up to 2% due to drought this year, sugar beet and potato yields will also be below average. Yields of rye, soft wheat and durum wheat should also be slightly lower in 2019. France will authorize the construction of up to 60 reservoirs to collect rainwater in the context of drought, which should allow the irrigation of agricultural land during the drought.
More information is available here.

Danish Minister for Agriculture and Food Mogens Jensen said that according to surveys, up to three quarters of Danish consumers are interested in eating in a more sustainable way. The Ministry will therefore prepare new schemes to help consumers in this context, but the Danish government has not yet published any detailed information on what the schemes or tools should look like. But Jensen said that this could be a new type of food labelling, while at the same time the Common Agricultural Policy and its options to ensure and promote sustainable food production should be explored.

Latvian Minister of Agriculture Kaspars Gerhards asked Vytenis Andriukaitis, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, to introduce new measures to protect European consumers from the health risks associated with the consumption of eggs imported from Ukraine. Latvia is Europe's largest importer of Ukrainian eggs, but the Latvian supervisory authorities have detected a number of serious violations of European rules on food safety and health. Therefore, Latvia has asked the Commission for stricter monitoring of Ukrainian egg supplies, with particular attention to the risks of salmonellosis. Latvia discovered salmonella in eggs delivered from Ukraine as early as April this year.
More information is available here.