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A family of action-takers: farmers and food systems workers, elected officials, administrations, researchers and educators, and members of civil society organisations – some friends, many strangers – who came together to call for an integrated policy shift for sustainable farming practices and a resilient food system.
Only since Russian invasion have European leaders started to do necessary calculations, expert says
Poland and Hungary, later joined by Bulgaria, Slovakia and Romania, decided to unilaterally halt the imports of grain and other food products from Ukraine to protect their domestic farmers. The European Commission quickly announced that “trade policy is of EU exclusive competence and, therefore, unilateral actions are not acceptable”. At the same, however, the Commission’s spokesperson also considered that it was “too early” to comment on the legal implications of the Member States’ actions. Instead, the Commission adopted a pragmatic approach. It quickly announced a new support pa...
EU ministers have raised concerns over the compatibility of international plant health requirements with the EU's plan to reduce the use of pesticides, warning this risks ‘jeopardising’ agricultural exports from the EU.
Since 2000, the EU has adopted a very hostile stance towards GMO crops, and it’s carried over into its opposition to new plant breeding techniques (NPBTs), such as CRISPR gene editing. Unlike in many other countries, including the US, Brazil, Japan, England, Canada and Argentina, the next generation of European crops will not be pesticide resistant and more nutritious, or tweaked to resist disease, drought, flooding and browning.