Most commented:
The new PDO strengthens the presence of Spanish agri-food products of distinctive quality, bringing the total number of designations recognized by the European Union to 399.
e Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development has registered 238,301 applications for aid from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the 2018 campaign, as reported by the Minister Rodrigo Sánchez Haro at a press conference in Seville, which, in addition, has presented the mobile application of the InfoPAC Board “so that the beneficiaries can be better informed about the processing of the aid”.
Agri-food Cooperatives of Spain considers the EU budget proposal for the period 2021-2027 presented on May 2 by the president of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker, and the Budget Commissioner, Günther Oettinger, as disappointing and disappointing.
The United States, including Spain, has decided by majority vote the definitive restriction of three neonicotinoid insecticides that were in suspension since 2013. These are clotiadinide, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam. The decision is based on the negative report issued by the EFSA (European Food Safety Agency) which concludes that these products pose a risk to bees and other pollinators. However, it does not have accounts in the section of ANSES (French Agency for Food, Environment and Health and Safety at Work) and JRC (Joint Research Center) on the availability and feasibility of alternatives that protect crops.
The Union of Small Farmers and Cattle Ranchers has shown its uncertainty about the important reforms that the European Commission is proposing in its draft new Common Agricultural Policy. Although they recognize that the debate on the future CAP “has only just begun”, it does seem that Brussels intends to design a more decentralized CAP, more audited and revised and greener. “Of course it does not seem that they intend to make life easier for the recipients, but complicate things even more,” they say.
The European Commission calls for a more flexible, equitable and sustainable Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that guarantees the future of agriculture and food, as stated in a communication adopted on November 29th, which outlines the principles that go to allow this common EU policy, the oldest of all, to remain effective in the future.
The Spanish countryside breathes easy, after meeting on November 28th the decision of the European Commission to finally authorize, for five more years, the use of the glyphosate herbicide. Gone are two years of negotiations and extensions that has had our agricultural sector in suspense, since, Spain would have been the country that would have been harmed the most, if the pressures for its prohibition have prospered, as it is assured from the agrarian union UPA. For its part, the ALAS alliance, which integrates UPA and ASAJA, Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias de España, FEPEX, and the Spanish Association of Conservation Agriculture / Living Soils, appreciates that the official scientific agencies of the EU have been heard. endorse the use of this product, although it regrets that the renewal has not been for the fifteen years allowed by the regulations.
The Socialist MEP and Vice-President of the Committee on Agriculture in the European Parliament, Clara Aguilera, has called on the European Commission to take urgent steps to halt the progress of Xylella fastidiosa, which is already affecting several countries in continental Europe, including Spain and more concretely to the regions of the Valencian Community and Baleares. Aguilera recalls that no administration should “evade its responsibility to stop the plague” and calls for compensation for affected producers.
Since April 4th, Muuu’s collaborative livestock management platform, the first product of the Faarm company, specializing in the development of technology that facilitates the exchange of information on the origin and route of food to a fairer and more transparent food industry, has been offering its services in Spain. In this line, the Muuu platform is aimed at producers, veterinarians and associations of the beef sector, which allows a complete traceability of the meat circuit.
Representatives of ALAS (Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture) met on April 6th with Felipe Sicilia, spokesman for Agriculture of the PSOE in the Congress of Deputies, to request the agreement of their Group with the importance of giving precedence to scientific criteria when deciding about the extension of the authorization of the use of glyphosate, showing, thus, its commitment to the Spanish field and with the scientific criteria that have always guided its decisions regarding the tools for the sustainability of the European agricultural model.
Member organizations of ALAS, Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture (ASAJA and UPA, Agro-food Cooperatives of Spain, the Spanish Federation of Associations of Producers Exporters of Fruits, Vegetables, Flowers and Living Plants (FEPEX) and the Spanish Association of Conservation / Soils (AEAC / SV)) have celebrated the scientific opinion of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) according to which “the scientific evidence available does not permit the classification of glyphosate as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction”.
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has chosen the winning European consortium in the Food4Future call to lead EIT Food. This consortium will develop pioneering initiatives of innovation and education to promote the construction of sustainable chains of food supply in which the consumer will have a leading role.
The Union of Small Farmers and Ranchers (UPA) has warned that the free trade agreement with Canada, recently approved by the European Parliament, will harm the interests of many people and sectors, benefiting only the large multinationals. For this organization, CETA is postulated as a new “unfair agreement” in which European society -and especially the primary sector – “will not make anything clear and will appear new competitors that will hinder their survival”.
The Coordinator of Organizations of Farmers and Ranchers (COAG) has presented its study on the impact that could have the TTIP in the Spanish agricultural sector. This has been prepared at the request of Friends of the Earth and presented in an organized event with VSF Global Food Justice, Platform not TTIP, Rural Platform and Engineering Without Borders Galicia.
The Congress Palace Toledo will host on Friday, October 14th, a meeting between citizens and the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Phil Hogan, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Environment functions, Isabel García Tejerina, and the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Development, Francisco Martínez Arroyo. An activity that will serve to initiate a dialogue face to face with representatives of institutions and citizens on issues of the European Union that really matter to them and that are relevant to their present and future.
The Acting Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, in an appearance in La Moncloa, expressed “the sorrow of the Spanish Government” about the outcome of the referendum in the UK, which has won the option defending the exit of Britain from the EU. In addition to sending a message of “peace and serenity”, Rajoy has announced that it will meet with leaders of the main Spanish political forces before attending the European Council meeting to be held next week.
