News

The environmental NGO European Environmental Bureau has called for the European Commission to “break the status quo” and draft a radically altered CAP focused on four strategic areas: protection of biodiversity and ecosystems; sustainable rural development; sustainable and healthy consumption; and a transition to sustainable farming. More information on the EEB's website here.

Italy has announced plans to bring in mandatory origin labelling for tomato-based products, bypassing EU procedures and sparking fears for the unity of Europe's single market. Read more.

The European People’s Party - the largest party in the European Parliament adopted a position paper outlining the EPP’s vision on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Christian Schmidt, Germany’s Minister of Food and Agriculture, and Michel Dantin MEP co-authored the report and spearheaded the work as co-chairs of the EPP’s Ad hoc Working Group on the Future of the CAP. The position paper is available here.

The European Commission has agreed to allow national governments to make advance payments to farmers in order to help those affected by the difficult climatic conditions in the first part of 2017. The changes will benefit ten member states (Belgium, Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Portugal and Finland), the most affected by the adverse climatic conditions. More information

Web users worldwide can now view weather and crop conditions in near real-time across the whole of the EU, thanks to the JRC MARS Explorer, a pioneering new e-service from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. The data displayed are based on meteorological station data and crop simulations, originating from the MARS Crop Yield Forecasting System. Lear more.