Christine Lambert, President of the Committee of Professional Agricultural Organisations in the European Union (Copa), told the press, on Monday 12 September, that European decisions must “bear in mind that the production potential” of agriculture and food in the EU must not be affected.
“For each decision, there must be a technical, social, economic and environmental assessment to measure the impacts, which was not done at the time of the presentation of the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy”, she regretted.
Pesticides. Ms Lambert recalled the concerns about the proposal on the sustainable use of pesticides. If the announced figures (50% reduction by 2030) were implemented, there would be a sharp drop in production, “which is contrary to the obligations of the moment, namely to produce in sufficient quantity”, she argued. She advocated for a “more pragmatic” approach and denounced the “political figures thrown around without any precise study”. She also called for an acceleration of the validation of marketing authorisations for new molecules and for biocontrol products.
Industrial emissions. Copa-Cogeca has again criticised the proposal to impose pollutant emission thresholds on what are considered to be industrial farms (see EUROPE 12928/21, 12926/2). The current thresholds for poultry and pork should be maintained, according to Ms Lambert. “If they are to evolve, they should not be divided by 13, because that is too demanding”, she warned. The Commission proposed to extend the scope of the text to cattle, pig and poultry farms with more than 150 ‘livestock units’ (i.e. 150 adult cows). However, in her opinion, this project does not correspond to the reality of livestock farming.
Biofuels. The European Parliament will vote this week on the proposed directive on renewable energy (see EUROPE 12992/5). “To say that we are going to reduce the use of biofuels does not seem to us to be appropriate at all”, said Ms Lambert. Industrialists have made investments to build biofuel processing plants. “It’s hard to tell them: you stop for six months, then you start again”, added the Copa president. She pointed out that the area devoted to biofuels is “very small” in Europe (3% of the amount of cultivated land). Copa-Cogeca defends the 7% biofuel incorporation ceiling.
War in Ukraine. Not all countries have taken the same measures, Ms Lambert noted. Measures to allow cultivation on set-aside land and derogations on crop rotation are supposed to be addressed to all EU countries, but this has to be decided by the Member State, she noted.
Drought. Copa-Cogeca wants a European plan for sustainable irrigation.
Ms Lambert mentioned the effects of the drought in Europe. “The topic of irrigation and water storage has come back to the forefront”, she said. She also called on the Commission to quickly validate the national strategic plans implementing the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), as “now is the time when farmers need to know how they can choose their different crop rotations”. The drought is also reflected in a fear of running out of seed (including maize seed).
Large predators. The number of wolves and bears is increasing and “management has been a failure”, because of the damage and the risk of stopping livestock farming in some places, according to Lambert. The subject will be discussed on Friday 16 September at the informal meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Prague.
Nutri-score. For some products with a quality sign, the Nutri-score ranking is “very bad”, Ms Lambert said. Lastly, she opposed the use of meat names for vegetarian products. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)