Updates | Agrofood | 15 – 31 October

AGRIFISH Council on 21 and 22 October

The Council reached political agreement on new fish catch limits for important Baltic Sea fish stocks, including herring, cod, plaice, sprat and salmon, in order to ensure sustainable stocks and a viable sector for the future.

The agreement on total allowable catches (TACs) and national quotas for 2025 is in line with the scientific advice issued by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). The agreement sets the maximum quantities of each stock that each Member State will be authorised to catch.

EU fisheries ministers have taken environmental and socio-economic considerations into account, with the aim of ensuring sustainable fishing practices while supporting the livelihoods of fishing professionals.

Fisheries ministers held a debate to provide the Commission with guidance on the EU’s position at this year’s annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).

The ICCAT meeting will take place from 11 to 18 November 2024 and will cover a range of topics, including bluefin tuna, sharks and tropical tuna.

ICCAT is responsible for adopting measures to ensure that fishing in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas is carried out sustainably and that marine ecosystems are protected. The EU is a contracting party to ICCAT.

On agriculture, the Council discussed its priorities for the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2027 with a view to ensuring a competitive, crisis-resistant, sustainable, farmer-centred and knowledge-based sector.

EU agriculture ministers emphasised the importance of the CAP in achieving these objectives. They also emphasised the main objectives of guaranteeing food security while ensuring a fair standard of living for the farming population, concrete solutions and incentives for farmers and reasonable prices for consumers.

The Hungarian Presidency published a set of Presidency Conclusions on this topic, which were supported by 26 Member States.

The Council discussed the latest trends in agri-food trade, an item that regularly features on the Council’s agenda and which was last discussed at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in July.

Ministers held a strategic debate on how all farmers can best benefit from trade in the medium and long term, taking into account its overall benefits for the EU economy.

In particular, the Council assessed current trade flows in agri-food products, ongoing negotiations on bilateral free trade agreements, recent developments at multilateral level and agri-food trade with the EU’s main trading partners.

During the debate, the Council provided political guidelines for making European agriculture more competitive and strengthening the EU’s leading position on world markets.

Ministers welcomed the fact that EU agri-food trade remains on a positive trajectory, with a trade surplus of 33.7 billion euros in the first half of 2024 – an increase of 1.5 billion euros compared to the same period in 2023.

However, they noted the need for more efforts to compensate and support affected farmers in sensitive sectors, so that they can cope with increased competition from third country producers. This will be particularly important in relation to new trade agreements.

EU agriculture ministers also addressed other relevant developments, including China’s recent actions related to agricultural trade, and welcomed the Commission’s actions in the WTO in this regard.

In addition, the ministers reiterated their support for Ukraine and also mentioned that they were looking forward to the swift negotiation of a long-term trade agreement with Ukraine. Some ministers were also in favour of further limiting agri-food imports from Russia and Belarus.

The Council discussed the main challenges currently facing the EU food chain.

The EU food chain, which includes agriculture, food and drink processing, food and drink wholesale and retail, and catering, employs 29 million people – 14 % of the EU labour force – and generates 800 billion euros in added value.

However, operators in the EU food chain face a number of challenges, including climate change, the spread of animal diseases and plant pests, antimicrobial resistance, as well as issues related to the lack of harmonisation of food labelling initiatives.

Another challenge is the disparity between EU and non-EU production standards in areas such as sustainability, animal welfare and consumer information.

During the debate, EU agriculture ministers explored ways to tackle these challenges and boost the competitiveness of the EU food chain, while ensuring a regular supply of safe and nutritious food for EU citizens.

In public session and under the “Other business” item on the agenda, the Hungarian Presidency provided the Council with information on the results of recent meetings:

• the conference on the prevention of food waste (Budapest, 1 October 2024)
• the CAP directors’ meeting (Budapest, 10-12 September 2024)
• the conference of the heads of EU paying agencies (Budapest, 16-18 October 2024).

In addition, several delegations raised a number of points under the “Miscellaneous” heading:

• Results of the meeting of the ministers of agriculture of the Visegrad Group, Bulgaria and Romania (information from the Polish delegation)
• EU response to the consequences of extreme weather events – financing crisis response measures in the European Union (information from the Portuguese delegation)
• Results of the 2024 PeaceBread conference (information from the German delegation)
• Need to extend the application of the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework in the agricultural sector and increase the individual limit per agricultural enterprise (information from the Romanian delegation)
• Revision of the rules applicable to the hunting of cormorants and seals in order to protect sensitive fish stocks (information from the Swedish delegation)
• European coordination for vaccination in the field of animal health (information from the French and Spanish delegations)
• Risk of cancellation of commitments for rural development programmes (information from the Slovak delegation)

(Documentation on the Council is available in Documents and studies)

October’s MARS bulletin from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre points to a difficult start to autumn

According to the October edition of the MARS Bulletin, dedicated to monitoring crops in Europe, the heavy rainfall had a negative impact on the ripening and harvesting of summer crops, as well as on the sowing of winter cereals for the new season.

Yield forecasts for grain maize, sunflower and soya have been revised downwards at EU level, mainly due to a worsening outlook for summer crops in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Croatia and Italy. Yield forecasts for other summer crops were maintained or revised slightly upwards at EU level.

In northern and central Italy, summer crops (especially grain maize and soya beans) were negatively affected by excessively wet conditions during ripening and harvest, thus lowering hitherto positive yield expectations at national level. In Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Croatia, the heavy rains at the end of the season, from mid-September onwards, contributed to a worsening of yield expectations (especially for sunflower and grain maize), which were already low due to the very hot and dry conditions that preceded them.

Excessive humidity also raised concerns about the quality of cereals and the sowing of winter crops

In many other parts of Central and Western Europe, excess moisture conditions were also observed, often associated with torrential rain. The rainfall not only caused delays in harvesting summer crops, but also raised concerns about the quality of cereals and hampered the sowing campaign for winter cereals.

This issue of the Bulletin includes a special section on sowing conditions for winter crops.

(see Documents and studies)

AGRI Commission: hearings of the Commissioners-designate

On 4 November, the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development will hear Christophe Hansen, Commissioner-designate for Agriculture and Food.

On 6 November, AGRI, together with the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, will hear Olivér Várhelyi, Commissioner-designate for animal health and welfare.

INE’s Monthly Bulletin of Agriculture and Fisheries for October

According to the most recent bulletin from the National Statistics Institute, agricultural forecasts on 30 August pointed to campaigns below the productive potential of pome fruit orchards in the Western region, particularly pear trees, whose productivity was once again hampered by adverse weather conditions and recurring phytosanitary problems, namely fire blight and stenphyliosis.

Kiwi productivity is expected to be the lowest of the last five years, as a result of the various problems that affected the formation and development of the fruit throughout the cycle. On the other hand, orange production increased by 25 per cent, as the reduction seen in early varieties (-10 per cent) was offset by mid-season and late varieties that resumed normal production after the bad campaign of 2023.

With regard to nuts, a 15 per cent increase in chestnut productivity is expected, with a normal load of hedgehogs and a better state of health compared to the previous two years. Almond production is expected to reach 80,000 tonnes (+15% compared to 2023), the highest figure in the historical series, as a result of many intensive almond groves coming into full production, mainly in the Alentejo, which largely offset the reductions seen in the Douro Superior.

The wine year was marked by intense pressure from cryptogamic diseases, which caused a generalised reduction in production of around 10%.

The annual irrigated crop seasons have been relatively normal, despite the damage caused by wild boar to cornfields and rice paddies, which have a lot of weeds (millet).

Despite the decrease in productivity of tomatoes for the industry, production is expected to increase by 5%, since the area installed was larger than in 2023.

(More information – namely on Livestock, poultry and rabbits slaughtered, Poultry and egg production, Milk and dairy products production, Fish caught, Prices and agricultural price indices – available in Documents and studies)

Protecting pollinators: new EU monitoring system to safeguard ecosystems

Faced with the global decline of pollinators, the European Commission announced on 21 October that its Joint Research Centre (JRC) will develop a methodology to help EU member states monitor them in a standardised, robust and reproducible way. There are currently no comprehensive studies on the decline of pollinators in Europe and there are large gaps in knowledge about the distribution of pollinators and their variation over time.

Through the STING (Science and Technology for Pollinating Insects) project, the JRC mobilised a group of almost 30 top pollinator experts to develop the methodology contained in the improved Proposal for an EU pollinator monitoring system. The experts from across Europe and beyond are recognised leaders not only in pollination ecology, but also in agri-environmental issues, green economics, citizen science initiatives and emerging technologies such as visual recognition and artificial intelligence applied to entomology.

This methodology will lay the foundations for the “EU Pollinator Monitoring System” (EU PoMS).

The EU pollinator monitoring scheme will be the first of this scope and scale to help combat pollinator decline. It consists of two main components: a basic scheme and complementary modules.

The baseline scheme will focus on the species that are essential to monitor (i.e. wild bees, butterflies, hoverflies, moths, as well as rare and endangered pollinator species) and, using different methods and recorders, will measure their abundance, diversity and occupancy.

Complementary modules will focus on methods that need more in-depth evaluation, but which could provide important measures of other aspects, such as the wider diversity of flying insects.

Over the next two years, the JRC will continue to refine the methodology and extend the scope of the system under the next phase of the project, STING+. The project will provide technical and scientific guidance to the Commission and Member State authorities for the preparation and implementation of national pollinator monitoring systems.

(See Documents and studies)

Soil status in Europe 2024: urgent action needed to reverse soil degradation

Launched on 22 October at the EU Soil Observatory Stakeholder Forum, the State of Soils in Europe 2024 report assesses the state of soil degradation in the EU and other countries in the European Economic Area, including Ukraine, Turkey and the Western Balkans.

The report reveals an alarming state and trends, with soil degradation becoming much worse in recent years, and emphasises the need for immediate action to reverse this trend.

For example, global soil erosion is estimated at one billion tonnes per year across the EU. Currently, around a quarter (24 per cent) of EU soils are affected by water erosion, mainly on agricultural land, with projections pointing to a possible increase of 13-25 per cent by 2050. Unsustainable water erosion affects around a third (32 per cent) of agricultural land. Mechanical agitation of the soil, a common practice in agriculture, can also initiate soil degradation. This phenomenon, called plough erosion, can have a significant impact on cultivated fields. Other forms of erosion include wind erosion and crop harvesting, among others.

Nutrient imbalances are also on the rise: it is estimated that they currently affect 74 per cent of agricultural land. These changes in soil composition can have negative consequences. For example, excess nitrogen is increasing and can be harmful to human health, crops, ecosystems and the climate. Meanwhile, soil organic carbon, which is essential for keeping soil healthy, is decreasing in agricultural areas. It is estimated that between 2009 and 2018, 70 million tonnes of this organic carbon were lost from mineral soils on farmland in the EU and the UK.

The degradation of peatlands is also a cause for concern. These wetlands are essential carbon sinks: they absorb greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and store them, helping to mitigate climate change. When they deteriorate, peatlands can release these gases back into the atmosphere. In the EU, peatland drainage accounts for around 5 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions. It is estimated that 50 per cent of the EU’s peatlands are currently degraded, many of which are irreparably damaged.

The report indicates that, outside the EU, the situation is just as dire – especially in Ukraine, where military activities have caused serious soil destruction. It is estimated that more than 10 million of Ukraine’s 60 million hectares of land have been degraded as a result of the Russian invasion. Recovering from this damage could take decades or even centuries. In Turkey, around 1.5 million hectares of land have salinity problems, which can affect agricultural productivity and the health of ecosystems. In the Western Balkans, more than 100 contaminated or potentially contaminated sites have been identified due to mining and industrial activities, although the true extent of soil pollution in these areas remains unknown.

(see Documents and studies)

Summary of information on food fraud for September 2024

On 18 October, the European Commission published another summary of the information it has collected on food fraud in the European Union.

This periodic summary is mainly based on information published in the media collected by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre and does not necessarily represent the frequency of fraud actually occurring in the Member States of the European Union indicated therein.

(see Documents and studies)

Improved data collection on sustainability thanks to the new farm sustainability data network

The new rules for the Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN) were adopted on 25 October by the European Commission, marking a significant step towards better analysis to support a more sustainable agricultural sector and targeted, data-driven policymaking. From 2025, Member States will collect new data at farm level, providing a more comprehensive understanding of sustainability in agriculture and its economic, environmental and social dimensions.

The new FSDN is based on the long-standing Farm Accountancy Data Network, which has been providing valuable information on the agricultural economy for almost six decades. The Network is a unique source of microeconomic and accounting data from more than 80,000 EU farms every year, and sustainability data on environmental and social issues will now be added to the new FADN.

The update to the NSDS is the result of close cooperation with the Member States, who have worked together with the Commission to develop a framework that responds to the need for solid data, while ensuring harmonious implementation and minimising the burden on farmers and national administrations.

In addition, the NSDS will facilitate access to and use of information from different sources, following the “collect once, re-use many times” principle. This will contribute to reducing the workload of farmers and national administrations, both at national and EU level. It will also provide a more complete picture and enable better-informed decisions by bringing together information from the FSDN network, the CAP and IACS strategic plans, on farming practices, environmental impact and economic performance, among other topics.

According to the Commission, the implementation of the NSDS opens up new opportunities to better analyse the sustainable performance of farms, both for farmers participating in the network and for other non-participating farmers, thus promoting a more sustainable and competitive agricultural sector. The recommendations of the Strategic Dialogue on the future of EU agriculture recognise the importance of the new NSDS for assessing sustainability indicators, testing data collection methods, monitoring sustainability at farm level and contributing to the future EU benchmarking system.

To ensure a smooth transition to the new data compilation framework, the regulation introduces a phased implementation approach, allowing member states to gradually adapt their systems and processes over time. In addition, the regulation includes a review clause, which will allow the Commission and Member States to review and adjust the framework as necessary, taking into account the results of the first years of application.

The transition to the NSDS is supported by significant additional EU-funded resources in the form of a one-off contribution to set-up costs of 50 million euros, which will be allocated to Member States at the end of 2024 to facilitate smooth implementation. In addition, ongoing annual EU funding will be increased to support the annual operation and maintenance of the NSDS, and can also be used by Member States to provide incentives for farmers to participate if they so wish.

(See Documents and studies)

European Commission: EU Agri-Food Trade Monthly Report

According to the latest report, released on 28 October, in July 2024 the EU’s agri-food trade surplus increased by +8 % compared to the previous month, reaching 6.1 billion euros, a figure similar to that of July 2023.

This follows an already strong first half of 2024, thanks to increased exports. Between January and July 2024, the surplus rose to 39.7 billion euros, an increase of 1.1 billion euros compared to the same period in 2023.

Since January, cumulative EU exports from January to July have totalled 137.2 billion euros, 3% more than in the same period in 2023.

Cumulative imports between January and July totalled 97.5 billion euros, 2% more than in 2023.

(See Documents and studies)