Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Personal tools
Sections
You are here: Home topics Agriculture
Document Actions

Agriculture in the EU

Latest Agriculture news from the European Union.

EU wine market reform - guide 01 May 2008, 23:04 CET
The Council of Ministers on 29 April formally adopted a wide-ranging reform of the Common Market Organisation for wine, on which agriculture ministers reached a political agreement in December. The changes will bring balance to the wine market, phase out wasteful and expensive market intervention measures and allow the budget to be used for more positive, proactive measures which will boost the competitiveness of European wines. The reform provides for a fast restructuring of the wine sector in that it includes a voluntary, three-year grubbing-up scheme to provide an alternative for uncompetitive producers and to remove surplus and uncompetitive wine from the market. Subsidies for crisis distillation and potable alcohol distillation will be phased out and the money, allocated in national envelopes, can be used for measures like wine promotion on third country markets, innovation, restructuring and modernisation of vineyards and cellars. The reform will ensure environmental protection in wine-growing regions, safeguard traditional and well-established quality policies and simplify labelling rules, for the benefit of producers and consumers alike. The very restrictive planting rights system will also be abolished at EU level from 1 January 2016 onwards. The European Commission will now begin the process of adopting the detailed implementing regulations to allow the reform to enter into force on 1 August 2008.

Banana Split, How EU Policies Divide Global Producers: Policy Issues in International Trade and Commodities Study Series. 31 09 April 2008, 16:29 CET
This publication looks at the likely impact of the change of arrangements for the import of bananas into the EU. At present banana prices within the European Union are almost double world levels. These prices are maintained by restrictive import quotas and tariffs that generate rents that accrue to producers and distributors. The European Union is obliged to remove its quantitative restrictions and replace them with tariffs that are likely to give preference to existing quota holders from ACP countries. Indications are that a relatively small proportion of the rents are currently accruing to ACP producers and the loss in rent would be more than offset by the expansion of EU imports.

Implications of the EU Banana Trade Regime for Selected Import Markets: Economic Analysis and Political Dimension 09 April 2008, 16:25 CET
This work focuses on the German and French banana markets, the two largest single importers of bananas in the EU, characterized by opposed pre-COMB banana regimes. In addition, the US banana market, the single largest banana importer worldwide, characterized by a free trade policy, is also analyzed.

Banana Wars: The Price of Free Trade - A Caribbean Perspective 09 April 2008, 16:21 CET
In the Caribbean Windward Islands, one in three jobs and half of export earnings depend on bananas. But from the end of 2005, the European Union will give up the last non-tariff measures designed to protect this trade. Looming over the islanders are unemployment, poverty, further emigration, and the almost inevitable switch to growing illegal drugs. Banana Wars tells how the US government, answering the grievances of a single American corporation, forced the World Trade Organization to nullify a European Community commitment to protect small Caribbean banana growers. The international trading system lacks the flexibility needed to give states like the Windward Islands the protection that they need to survive, while powerful supermarket chains insist on ever-lower prices, to the short-term benefit of consumers but the serious detriment of growers. This book calls for new EU arrangements to help the Caribbean banana industry beyond 2005 and for the WTO to give greater consideration to the needs of very small states with vulnerable economies.

Feed Marketing - guide 06 March 2008, 17:08 CET
The European Commission adopted on 4 March 2008 a proposal for an EU Regulation which considerably simplifies the existing procedures for labelling and marketing animal feed and pet food, while making the overall system more efficient and maintaining the same high level of protection of animal health, animal welfare and public health. The EU livestock sector, which contributes to almost half of all EU agricultural output, will benefit from modernised rules that will help promote its competitiveness. The freedom of the feed industry to innovate will also be boosted by these changes - the compound feed and pet food industry represents a turnover of roughly EUR 50 billion in the EU. Finally, the 62 million households in the EU that own pets will be in a better position to evaluate the real content of the pet food they buy.

GM Food & Feed 14 January 2008, 14:18 CET
EU legislation covering genetically modified (GM) Food & Feed.

Novel Foods - EU Authorisations 14 January 2008, 14:19 CET
European Commission Decisions authorising the placing on the market of novel food.

Safe Novel Foods in the EU 14 January 2008, 14:24 CET
The European Commission on 14 January 2008 adopted a proposal to revise the Novel Foods Regulation with a view to improving the access of new and innovative foods to the EU market, while still maintaining a high level of consumer protection. Under the draft Regulation, novel foods would be subject to a simpler and more efficient authorisation procedure, which should enable safe, innovative foods to reach the EU market faster. Moreover, special provisions are made for foods which have not been traditionally sold in the EU but which have a safe history of use in third countries, in order to create a more proportionate system and positive environment for trade. The proposal also sets out certain data protection rules, which aim to protect newly developed foodstuffs once authorised, and encourage companies to invest in developing new types of foods and food production techniques.

Revised Common Market Organisation for wine: main points 19 December 2007, 23:38 CET
European Union agriculture ministers on 19 December 2007 agreed reform of the Common Market Organisation (CMO) for wine. The changes are aimed at bringing balance to the wine market, phasing out wasteful and expensive market intervention measures and allowing the budget to be used for more positive, proactive measures which will boost the competitiveness of European wines. The reform provides for a fast restructuring of the wine sector in that it includes a voluntary, three-year grubbing-up scheme to remove surplus and uncompetitive wine from the market. Subsidies for crisis distillation and potable alcohol distillation will be phased out and the money, allocated in national envelopes, can be used for measures like wine promotion on third country markets, innovation, restructuring and modernisation of vineyards and cellars. The reform will ensure environmental protection in wine-growing regions, safeguard traditional and well-established quality policies and simplify labelling rules, for the benefit of producers and consumers alike. The reform, which is budget neutral, will enter into force on 1 August 2008.

Law of the Common Agricultural Policy: The Single Payment, Cross-compliance and Enforcement 20 November 2007, 18:18 CET
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the pan-European mechanism for regulating farming produce and prices. A new scheme came into force in May 2005. The Single Payment Scheme replaced a number of existing direct subsidy schemes, including the Arable Area Payments Scheme and the Sheep Annual Premium Scheme. The aim of the new scheme is to afford farmers greater flexibility to respond to the demands of the market by 'decoupling' subsidies from production. In addition, food safety, animal and plant welfare, and environmentally-friendly practices have gained increasing importance and will receive greater financial rewards. The change represents the biggest shake up in European farming for many years. The aim of this new work is to produce a comprehensive and authoritative work on the law, regulation and enforcement of the common agricultural policy as it affects England and Wales.

Reforming the Common Agricultural Policy: History of a Paradigm Change (Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics) 20 November 2007, 18:15 CET
"Reforming the Common Agricultural Policy" presents an unprecedented comparison of three successive major reforms of the CAP. It shows the influence of related issues such as international trade negotiations and budget constraints. It demonstrates that endogenous factors such as the opening of the policy network and policy feedback were key to producing and accelerating change. Contrary to what is sometimes argued, the result of this cumulative change is a clear change in the paradigm of agricultural policy, from a 'dependant' paradigm into a multifunctional one.

Food Supply Chain Management 20 November 2007, 18:12 CET
"Food Supply Chain Management" is edited by Michael A. Bourlakis and Paul W. H. Weightman. The food supply chain is a series of links and inter-dependencies, from farms to food consumers' plates, embracing a wide range of disciplines. "Food Supply Chain Management" brings together the most important of these disciplines and aims to provide an understanding of the chain, to support those who manage parts of the chain and to enhance the development of research activities in the discipline. "Food Supply Chain Management" follows a 'farm to fork' structure. Each chapter starts with aims and an introduction, and concludes with study questions that students in particular will find useful. Topics covered include the food consumer, perceived risk and product safety, procurement, livestock systems and crop production, food manufacture, retailing, wholesaling and catering. Special consideration is also given to supermarket supply networks, third party logistics, temperature controlled supply chains, organic foods and the U. S. food supply chain. A final chapter looks at the future for food supply chain management. Michael Bourlakis and Paul Weightman, the editors and contributors to this timely and fascinating book, have drawn together chapters from leading authorities in this important area, to provide a book that is an essential purchase for all those involved in the supply of food and its study. Those involved in the food supply chain within food companies and in academic establishments, including agricultural scientists, food scientists, food technologists, and students studying these subjects, will find much of great use and interest within its covers. Libraries in all universities and research stations where these subjects are studied and taught should have several copies. Dr Bourlakis and Dr Weightman teach and research at the School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, U. K. Also available from Blackwell Publishing: "The Microbiological Risk Assessment of FoodS", Mortimore and C. Wallace, 0 632 05648 7; "Listeria, 2nd Edition", C. Bell and A. Kyriakides, 1 405 10618 2; "Salmonella", C. Bell and A. Kyriakides, 0 632 05519 7; "International Journal of Food Science and Technology", published 10 times per year, ISSN 0950-5423; and "Metal Contamination of Food, 3rd Edition", C. Reilly, 0 632 05927 3.

European Agriculture: Enlargement, Structural Change, CAP Reform, and Trade Liberalization 20 November 2007, 18:09 CET
This book provides an in-depth look at Europe's changing agricultural and food markets, focusing on the impacts of recent policy reforms, enlargement of the European Union (EU), and trade liberalisation. The papers included in this book braid together four important themes in European agriculture and food markets: the impacts of EU enlargement on productivity growth and catching up in the Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs), the influence of food quality standards on market structures in the CEECs and on trade, the impacts of common agricultural policy (CAP) reforms on EU and world markets, and the costs of adjusting to CAP reforms in specific sectors. The insights provided in these papers into the empirical interactions between policies, institutions, and market outcomes, both domestically and internationally, are valuable to policy makers and researchers interested in the future of European agriculture.

EU Health Check to streamline Common Agricultural Policy 20 November 2007, 11:45 CET
The European Commission on 20 November 2007 unveiled its blueprint for streamlining and further modernising the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy. The so-called 'Health Check' of the CAP will build on the approach which began with the 2003 reforms, improve the way the policy operates based on the experience gathered since 2003 and make it fit for the new challenges and opportunities in an EU of 27 Member States in 2007. The reforms have modernised the CAP, but the Health Check represents a perfect opportunity to take the policy review further. It will ask three main questions: how to make the direct aid system more effective and simpler; how to make market support instruments, originally conceived for a Community of Six, relevant in the world we live in now; and how to confront new challenges, from climate change, to biofuels, water management and the protection of biodiversity. Today's Communication is designed to kick off a wide-ranging six-month consultation. Next spring, the Commission will return with legislative proposals, which it hopes will be adopted by agriculture ministers by the end of 2008 and could come into effect immediately. During 2007 and 2008 the Commission will develop its approach to the budgetary review 2008/2009. The Health Check constitutes a preparatory action within this framework, without prejudging the outcome of this review. It fine-tunes the 2003 reforms and contributes to the discussion on future priorities in the field of agriculture.

Reform of the EU support scheme for Cotton 09 November 2007, 16:15 CET
The European Commission on 9 November 2007 proposed a revised reform of the support scheme for Cotton. The new proposal maintains the support arrangements from the current regime, which was annulled by the European Court of Justice because of shortcomings in the impact assessment carried out by the Commission. The proposal foresees that 65 % of the aid should be "decoupled" (i.e. no longer linked to production) and 35 % remain linked to cotton production, in the form of area payments. The Court judgment did not question the reform's approach (i.e. the change of support system) but found that the Commission had failed to carry out an impact study that included labour costs in the calculation of production costs, and failed to assess the effect of the reform on the local ginning industry. The new proposal follows the completion of an in-depth impact assessment and a wide-ranging consultation of stakeholders.

EU cotton market 02 November 2007, 16:41 CET
Cotton is an arable crop used both for its seeds, from which oil and oilseed cakes are made, and for its fibre. Today in the EU, cotton is only a small sector which accounts for less than 2 % of world cotton production and less than 0.0025 % of the EU's UAA (utilised agricultural area). The EU is a net importer of cotton. Support for the production of cotton under the Common Agricultural Policy started in 1981, with the accession of Greece. Since then the regime has been revised regularly. Today the EU's main producing countries are Greece and Spain, with some production also in Bulgaria and Portugal.

GM Food in the EU 24 October 2007, 15:23 CET
GMOs are organisms such as plants, animals and micro-organisms (bacteria, viruses, etc.), the genetic characteristics of which have been modified artificially in order to give them a new property (a plant's resistance to a disease or insect, improvement of a food's quality or nutritional value, increased crop productivity, a plant's tolerance of a herbicide, etc.). In order to ensure that this development of modern biotechnology, and more specifically of GMOs, takes place in complete safety, the European Union has established a legal framework comprising various directives and regulations.

Bluetongue disease and the EU - guide 04 October 2007, 12:53 CET
Bluetongue is a non-contagious, insect-transmitted, viral disease of domestic and wild ruminants.

Bluetongue disease : EU measures 04 October 2007, 12:51 CET
Bluetongue is a non-contagious, insect-transmitted, viral disease of sheep and wild ruminants. It is not known to affect humans.

EU Food Safety Regulatory Committees 07 May 2013, 15:51 CET
Following the adoption of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January2002 setting out the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety, the regulatory committees consisting of representatives of the Member States that have a key role in decision-making on food safety issues were reorganised within a single new structure, the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health. This new Standing Committee replaces the existing Standing Veterinary Committee, the Standing Committee on Foodstuffs, the Standing Committee on Animal Nutrition and part of the Standing Committee on Plant Health (plant protection products and pesticides residues). The new Committee will assist the European Commission in the development of food safety measures. Its mandate covers the entire food supply chain, ranging from animal health issues on the farm to the product that arrives on the consumer's table, thus significantly enhancing its ability to target risks to health wherever they arise in the production of our food. The Committee will consist of representatives of the Member States and be chaired by a European Commission representative. The structure of the six other Standing Committees remains unchanged.

Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) - search by category 09 December 2009, 23:13 CET
In 1992, the European Union created systems known as PDO (Protected Designation of Origin), PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) and TSG (Traditional Speciality Guaranteed) to promote and protect food products. A TSG (Traditional Speciality Guaranteed) does not refer to the origin but highlights traditional character, either in the composition or means of production.

eAmbrosia the EU geographical indications register 25 October 2023, 21:23 CET
eAmbrosia is a legal register of the names of agricultural products and foodstuffs, wine, and spirit drinks that are registered and protected across the EU. It provides a direct access to information on all registered geographical indications, including the legal instruments of protection and product specifications. It also displays key dates and links for applications and publications before the geographical indications are registered.

Geographical indications and traditional specialities 14 September 2020, 22:01 CET
EU quality policy aims at protecting the names of specific products to promote their unique characteristics, linked to their geographical origin as well as traditional know-how. Product names can be granted with a 'geographical indication' (GI) if they have a specific link to the place where they are made. The GI recognition enables consumers to trust and distinguish quality products while also helping producers to market their products better.

EU food quality label systems 27 September 2007, 16:06 CET
in 1992, the European Union created systems known as PDO (Protected Designation of Origin), PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) and TSG (Traditional Speciality Guaranteed) to promote and protect food products.

European Community Animal Health Policy 2007-13 19 September 2007, 12:16 CET
The European Commission adopted on 19 September 2007 a Communication setting out the EU's animal health strategy for 2007-13. The Communication provides the framework for animal health measures over the next 6 years, taking into account extensive feedback from stakeholders and potential challenges in the future. The Commission's aim is to put greater focus on precautionary measures, disease surveillance, controls and research, in order to reduce the incidence of animal disease and minimise the impact of outbreaks when they occur. The Communication also stresses that all those with an interest in animal health with have clear responsibilities in ensuring that the goals of the new strategy are met, so that the EU's animal health policy is as robust, efficient and effective as possible in the years ahead. It also highlights the need for an integrated approach in animal health policy-making, inter-linking it with other Community policies.