Brussels, 02/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - How can EU farms diversity and production be made an asset for the economy, job creation and the environment? This is the official theme of the programme for the European agriculture ministers' informal meeting to be held in Athens from Sunday 4 May to Tuesday 6 May by the Greek Presidency of the Council.
Agriculture and the agri-food industries currently represent 46 million jobs and 6% of European GDP (gross domestic product). According to Eurostat data for 2013, there are 12.2 million farms across the EU. There are a large number (6 million) of very small farms (less than 2 hectares).
This diversified European agricultural model provides both “competitive products on a large scale and numerous niche products with high added value”, says the Greek Presidency of the EU in a six-page document intended to inform the debate that the agricultural ministers from the 28 EU member states will have in Athens on Tuesday 6 May.
The theme of this discussion - Tranforming the European Agricultural Diversity into Strength - is proposed against a backdrop of increasingly vigorous competition with countries like Brazil, the US and China that have very different agricultural sectors from that of the EU (which has a very large number of small family farms). Added to this are the free-trade negotiations that are under way with the US, Mercosur and Japan, which risk having an impact on the Euroepan agricultural model.
A “less vulnerable” model. “Preserving diversity helps to increase the efficiency, adaptability and resilience of agrculture”, states the Greek Presidency, seeing this as “the foundation for the production of a diverse range of foods”. The document also underlines the role that diversity can play in job creation, particularly for young people, and also in long-term sustainability because “a diversified agricultural model is certainly less vulnerable and more resilient to external shocks” such as diseases or climate change. The ministers will be called to assess the advantages and disadvantages of this diversity, measures that can be taken to preserve it under the common agricultural policy (CAP), and the expectations of those in the food chain.
According to the Greek Presidency, the EU could improve the transfer of research knowledge to farmers - particularly through the new Eastern Partnership for innovation, and could better promote the sustainable use of genetic resources.
On Monday, the EU agriculture ministers will visit a company that makes natural products (http://www.apivita.com ) and a wine-growing area (http://www.domaine-lazaridi.gr/en/facilities/kapandriti ). (LC)