Brussels, 10/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 9 July, Copa and Cogeca warned of a big drop in EU cereals production this year and expressed concerns over a shortage of products to protect crops against pests and disease.
Max Schulman, chair of the 'Cereals' working group of Copa-Cogeca, said: “Latest figures show that the EU-28 cereals production will be down 7.5% this year to reach 296 million tonnes, compared to 320.5 million last year. But we are not yet at the point of harvest. However, the winter crops look in good shape at the moment”.
He went on to stress that farmers should be able to count on the existence of an effective toolkit to protect the health of their crops and on the availability of inputs such as fertiliser. In order to do so, “current European policy in relation to plant protection products must be improved”. Finally, he stresses the need for research efforts to improve plant selection and develop new varieties.
Additionally, new estimates published by Copa and Cogeca show a sharp drop (-10.6%) in EU rapeseed production this year. (Lionel Changeur)