Agrifood probrief

Fri 18 October 2024| View online

Estimated reading time: 4-5 minutes

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Welcome to your daily Agrifood Pro Briefing. Today we round off the week by unveiling a document on the upcoming carbon farming scheme, along with insights into the Commission's next proposal for disaster-hit farmers.

🟡Top story

Experts to tackle key elements of carbon removals certification

Euractiv has obtained a draft outlining key elements of the forthcoming EU-wide framework for carbon farming, which is to be discussed by the relevant expert group next week.  


The working document aims to clarify aspects such as the scope, quantification methods and sustainability criteria for a certification of carbon removals in agriculture and forestry, in line with the Carbon Removal and Carbon Farming (CRCF) regulation.  


Eligible activities, including agriculture practices that store carbon and reduce emissions in soils (e.g. crop rotation, precision fertilisation), would have a minimum duration period of 5 years. For activities on permanent grassland or agroforestry, the period would be 10 years.  


As expected, and to the regret of farming organisations, greenhouse gas emissions reductions in livestock farming are not eligible, but the EU executive will consider whether to include them in the framework by 2026. 


Key issues in next week’s discussions could include liability mechanisms, which address potential cases of reversals of the stored carbon (p.16), and mandatory biodiversity co-benefits (p.19), which NGOs say are essential to ensure sustainability.  

🟡CAP & Agriculture

Rural funds to be used to help farmers, regions hit by disasters

The Commission will propose a regulation allowing member states to use unspent rural development funds for 2014-22 as direct aid to compensate farmers hit by natural disasters. The news, broken by Euractiv Pro Brief yesterday (17 October), is confirmed by a draft regulation we have seen.  


But there is more. The measure is part of a potential €18 billion package of changes to the EU's "structural" funds (Regional Development Fund, Social Fund and Rural Development Fund), which will divert money originally intended to support investment and long-term initiatives into emergency financial aid. 


Although the Commission will present it as a temporary solution to help the six member states hit by Storm Boris (Poland, Romania, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia) and Portugal devastated by forest fires in September, the flexibility will be granted to all member states affected by extreme weather events from January 2024. 


Angelo looked at the draft regulation on rural development and the bigger picture.   

🟡EUCO

EU leaders ready for new tariffs on Russian food

The EU "remains ready" to impose further tariffs on Russian and Belarusian agricultural products, EU leaders said in the Conclusions of their 17 October meeting.  


The reference to food and agriculture was missing from earlier drafts of the document, and was only added in the final version. "The European Council condemns the destruction of port infrastructure and attacks on commercial ships," the EU leaders wrote, adding that the European Council "opposes the weaponisation of food, which undermines global food security."


Earlier drafts referred to the possibility of further "import tariffs on Russian and Belarusian products", without specifically mentioning agricultural products. Latvia, backed by Lithuania, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Sweden, has been pushing since the 7 October meeting of EU ambassadors to include a reference to possible new tariffs on food imports from Russia and Belarus.


Following, the April  Conclusions, Council in May gave the green light for a sharp increase in tariffs on cereals and oilseeds from the two countries, which took effect on 1 July.  

🟡Food & Drink

Retail and no-alcohol beer consumption on the rise

A report by the consultancy Europe Economics for the beer lobby Brewers of Europe has found that the beer consumption in the hospitality sector, which plummeted during the pandemic, is slowly recovering but has not yet returned to normal levels.  


According to the study, hospitality sales in 2022 were still more than 10% lower than they had before the outbreak of COVID. Meanwhile, retail beer consumption was more popular in 2022 than it was in the decade before the pandemic.

  

The study also highlights changing consumption patterns, with non-alcoholic beer, which represented 5% of the total EU beer market in 2022, as the biggest growth area. 

🟡 The Capitals

Paris  - Farmers demonstrate for better social conditions  

The Confédération paysanne - France's third largest, left-wing trade union - yesterday (17 October) called on lawmakers to improve the social situation of farmers at a demonstration outside the French parliament (the National Assembly). The protesters' demands included the right to effective replacement, the right to rest, and the recognition of occupational diseases. The union is also calling for retirement pensions to be calculated on the basis of the best 25 years, a measure currently being debated in parliament as part of the budget vote.


Athens - Greek minister reassures farmers over late CAP payments

In an interview on OPEN TV, yesterday, Greek Agriculture Minister Kostas Tsiaras gave assurances that farmers facing delays in receiving CAP aid will be paid. According to him, the problem lies with OPEKEPE, the Greek paying agency for CAP funds, which has based 2023 payments on 2021 instead of 2022.  


Madrid - Andalusian fishermen protest against European ban on anchovy fishing

At an emergency meeting with the Andalusian government yesterday, fishermen protested against the closure of the anchovy fishery in the Gulf of Cadiz, Industrias pesqueras reported. Having reached their quota, 1,000 seamen and 5,000 indirect jobs are now at risk, the fishermen said. The Commission had proposed a 54% cut in quotas from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025.

The Council called on the executive to reverse its decision. The fishermen say they are “victims of the failure of the European Commission's fisheries management and the indolence of the [Spanish] ministry”.

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Today’s brief was brought to you by Euractiv’s Agrifood team

Today’s briefing was prepared by the Agrifood team; Angelo Di Mambro, Maria Simon Arboleas, Sofia Sanchez Manzanaro, and Hugo Struna. Share your feedback or information with us at digital@euractiv.com.

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