Brussels, 15/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - During the debate, in Luxembourg on Thursday 14 April, on the quality of agricultural products, several EU agriculture ministers argued that direct sales and production for local markets had to be supported. Many called, too, for the “quality package” to contain rules applicable to mountain farming.
Several countries, including Belgium, France, Portugal and Greece said they agreed that the “local farming and direct sales” system should be supported in the quality package. Only a few countries, such as Denmark, took the view that putting in place a system with no added value must be avoided and that simplification of the common agricultural policy (CAP) had to be borne in mind. Spain called for work to be done on the definitions and criticisms of direct sales and local farming. The idea of an optional European logo indicating farm sales or production was to the liking of some, such as Finland and Portugal, but was met with reservation by Italy and Austria. Several countries - Germany, Romania, Netherlands and Denmark - wanted to have an impact study before making any more definite comment.
The need for rules applicable to products from hill farming was argued by a number of countries, including Germany, Austria, France and Italy.
Some countries asked for new labels to be created: Finland spoke of “produce of the Arctic” labelling and Greece spoke about produce from islands. Denmark, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom were critical of putting in place new rules on mountain farming. The UK spoke of possible market distortion. An impact study was called for by several countries, including the UK, Denmark, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. A number of countries - Germany, Spain, Italy and Poland - wondered about the definition and criteria.
Three countries (Italy, Austria and Greece) broached the issue of labelling of origin.
At the press conference, European Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloº welcomed the debate on local produce. “For this category of products, which contributes to the diversity of agrifood supply on the European market, there will be proposals in the legislative package on the reform of the common agricultural policy post-2013 to support production and marketing of this type of product”, he said.
The Presidency conclusions on the future of the CAP state the intention of encouraging direct sales and production for local markets. The Hungarian Presidency has stated that, as consumers have confidence in local produce, direct sales have to be encouraged. It notes that small farmers form a large part of the CAP. Adding mountain farming produce to the optional quality terms would make it easier for consumers to identify these specific products. On 27 and 28 January 2011, the Committee of the Regions adopted an opinion which said that local agrifood systems and local products should receive EU support. In its draft report, the European Parliament specifically calls for mountain produce to be added to the optional quality terms. (L.C./transl.rt)