Brussels agreed two years ago to reform its farm practices as part of a drive to eliminate net carbon emissions by 2050. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has seen a drop in grain and fertiliser exports from those countries and raised concerns over food security.
The bloc’s agriculture ministers meet on [March 28] to discuss both short-term measures to alleviate the risk of shortages and price rises and possible changes to its Farm to Fork sustainable food strategy.
French president Emmanuel Macron said the sustainable food strategy was “based on a pre-Ukraine war world” and should be reviewed. The plans would lead to a 13 per cent drop in food production, he said on [March 18]. Macron needs the votes of the country’s powerful farming lobby in elections next month but similar concerns are being raised in other member states such as Spain and Italy.
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Pekka Pesonen, secretary-general of Copa-Cogeca, said the best way to reduce carbon emissions was to increase productivity. He wants new technologies permitted that would allow gene editing to improve the output of animals and plants.
“Roughly speaking, two-thirds of the productivity improvements will come from better genetic material, our crops and livestock.”
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