| Farm to… fail? The European Commission’s work programme for 2024 lists none of the remaining EU sustainable food files, seemingly confirming stakeholders’ worst fears that these proposals will not see the light of day before next June’s EU elections. Despite maintaining that the EU executive will “continue to deliver” on the Green Deal, the remaining agrifood proposals were nowhere to be seen in the work plan. This includes the long-awaited sustainable food systems law, which aims to accelerate and facilitate the transition to sustainable food systems, and the overhaul of the EU’s animal welfare legislation, which has been downgraded from four parts to only one on the protection of animals during transport. The news comes on the back of a new Eurobarometer survey, which found that a large majority of Europeans (84%) believe that the welfare of farmed animals should be better protected in their country than it is now. This means that these missing proposals now face an uncertain future in the next Commission and Parliament. Pesticides The European Parliament’s environment committee is set to vote on its position on the contentious sustainable use of pesticides regulation next Tuesday (24 October). Austrian Green MEP Sarah Wiener and leading lawmakers from other political groups already agreed on what in parliamentary jargon is defined as compromise amendments which will constitute the backbone of the Parliament’s position The main new feature in this position is the request for the Commission to “set a Union 2030 target for increasing the overall sales of low-risk plant protection products and biological control”. Meanwhile, a coalition of 11 EU countries has proposed to scrap national targets entirely in the EU’s proposal to halve the use and risk of pesticides by 2030 according to a leaked contribution to the EU Council work seen by Euractiv but not accessible to the general public. This position could now work its way into the Council’s official position as part of inter-institutional talks. The Commission’s original proposal on sustainable use of pesticides regulation (SUR), presented in June of 2022, proposes the calculation of tailor-made, national reduction targets, which, together, add up to an overall EU target of 50% reduction by 2030. For campaign group Pesticide Action Network Europe, such a move would prove catastrophic. “Experience teaches that, without a result-based approach and clear obligations and rules for member states, no progress in pesticide reduction will take place,” the campaign group warned in a statement. However, the EU’s pesticide lobby, CropLife Europe, pointed out that member states have made “huge efforts” to achieve reductions already. “We believe that the methodology for the calculation of any targets should continue to be use and risk-based,” a representative for the association said. All systems go on NGTs The lead MEP charged with leading the Parliament’s position on a proposal to loosen the rules on new genetic techniques (NGTs), centre-right Jessica Polfjärd, published her draft report this week. Among the amendments proposed in the draft report, one would permit the use of category 1 NGT plants in organic production. Meanwhile, another proposes that NGT authorisations should be valid for an “unlimited period”, while the Commission’s suggestion to label plant reproductive material as part of efforts to ensure traceability and transparency has been removed. To speed up work on the file, an amended timeline has been proposed in hopes of sealing a deal on the Parliament’s position during the January plenary session. This is too fast for the socialists, greens, and the Left, who warned the timing is too tight for practical matters, such as translation of the text and shadow meetings. But for Renew’s Jan Huitema, who pushed for the accelerated pace, the timeline is ambitious but manageable. “We’re hoping to have the trilogues on the SUR and the NGT file at the same time, as the two are linked,” he explained to Euractiv, adding that you need “both the carrot and the stick”. Luxembourg meeting EU agri ministers will meet in Luxembourg on Monday and Tuesday for an Agrifish Council going heavy on the “fish” part. Apart from negotiating 2024’s fishing quotas for the Baltic Sea, ministers will also coordinate with the Commission on the upcoming meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT). As is the norm nowadays, ministers will also discuss the market situation in light of the war in Ukraine, which will be prefaced by an intervention from the war-torn country’s agriculture minister. In a preparatory meeting ahead of the AGRIFISH, EU ministers again stressed the need to use money from the crisis reserve to help support the countries bordering Ukraine. Meanwhile, ministers also raised the current situation in the Middle East as a source of concern in terms of oil and energy prices. Plenary Two reports of interest were debated and voted on during this week’s Plenary session in Strasbourg; an own-initiative report on generational renewal in agriculture and one proposing to increase EU production of plant protein, thus reducing dependence on imports. On generational renewal, MEPs called on the Commission to look into ways to facilitate access to land, as well as the creation of an EU observatory on farmland to monitor trends and prices for land sale and rental. The report also placed an emphasis on training and internet connectivity in rural areas, as well as targeted financial support for young farmers. EU Young Farmers’ association CEJA welcomed the adoption of the generational renewal report, calling for it to “serve as a basis for the upcoming strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture, the discussions on the CAP post-2027 and more generally for the European elections next June”. However, the protein strategy – which laid out plans for the EU to increase its protein production to improve farmers’ self-sufficiency – was met with mixed reactions. While the EU farmers’ association COPA-COGECA called it a “realistic vision” that avoided simplistic dichotomies between food and fuel, others said the report sends “mixed messages” over a clause stating that the EU’s novel food regulatory process is “not fit for purpose”. “Without a coherent vision to support alternative proteins as part of a diversified and resilient protein supply, Europe risks falling behind as the rest of the world creates future-proof jobs in this sector,” said Pauline Grimmer, policy officer at the nonprofit Good Food Institute Europe. | 
