News

On 01/09/2022, the European Commission adopted new rules that aim to increase the availability and access to organic plant protection products. The new rules fall under the European Green Deal and Farm to Fork goals to reduce chemical pesticides and replace them with more sustainable alternatives. Commenting on the new rules, Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said that transitioning to more sustainable food systems means looking for alternatives to chemical pesticides, a process the Commission intends to facilitate by increasing the number of green and low-risk alternatives on the market.
More information is available here and here.

The UK has been facing an outbreak of bird flu since October 2021, with 115 outbreaks confirmed in less than a year. In August 2022 alone, ten new cases of infection were recorded. The high number of new cases came shortly after the bird flu prevention zone for poultry and captive birds, introduced in November 2021 to help stop the spread of bird flu, was lifted. The risk of spread was already considered low for all poultry; therefore, the mandatory restrictions were lifted on 16/08/2022. Just ten days later, bird flu was confirmed near Cullompton, Devon, where animals from the affected and neighbouring farms were ordered to be culled on 26/08/2022, with further confirmed cases of farmed animals being culled on 28/08/2022 in East Yorkshire and at a poultry farm near Bridlington and on 29/08/2022 at a poultry farm near Constantine in Cornwall and in captive wild birds at a site near Paignton in Devon. In all cases, 3 km protection zones and 10 km surveillance zones were declared around the affected premises.
More information is available here.

The European Commission issued a report on 22/08/2022 focusing on the drought that has affected a large part of the European Union in recent weeks. According to the Commission's report, the drought continues to worsen, with almost half of Europe at risk of drought. Soil and water in waterways are drying up, which adversely affects energy production in power plants and agricultural production. Portugal, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Romania and Hungary are the most affected by the drought, but the Czechia, Slovakia and Croatia are also affected. Throughout the European Union, the drought will affect not only the level of production, but also its quality, the lack of some commodities can lead to their price increase in stores. In addition to cereals and corn, the drought has also negatively affected beekeepers, who expect large losses for this year.
More information is available here.

The world's four largest grain traders Archer-Daniels-Midland Company, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus, who control 70-90% of the world's grain trade, have seen record profits or sales in recent months. According to the forecasts of these companies, demand will still exceed supply until at least 2024, which could lead to further price increases and therefore to even higher sales and profits of these companies. According to the United Nations, food prices have increased by 20% this year, and approximately 345 million people suffer from acute food shortages (up from 135 million before the coronavirus pandemic). According to Olivier De Schutter, one of the chairs of IPES-Food (an expert panel on sustainable food systems), the behaviour of these companies is wrong, given the huge concentration of power there is also a huge risk of profiteering and speculation. Cargill alone reported a total 23% increase in sales for the period 31/05/2021 to 31/05/2022, while margins increased from 2.5% to 3.2%. Voices are therefore beginning to be heard, for now individual politicians, calling for an oligopoly tax to be introduced to prevent the speculation and immoral behaviour of these giants.
More information is available here.

Last year, seven European countries – Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland – decided to support the introduction of the Nutri-Score food labelling system. These countries created the so-called "Scientific Committee of the Nutri-Score", which set itself the goal of evaluating and updating the algorithm according to which the Nutri-Score is awarded. In early August 2022, the Committee proposed changes to the algorithm so that, according to it, the Nutri-Score classification is better based on the nutritional recommendations adopted by European countries. Thanks to the amendments, a better distinction could be made between foods based on sugar or salt content, or between whole grain and refined foods.
More information is available here and here.