BETA

Activities of Edouard FERRAND related to 2015/2227(INI)

Plenary speeches (1)

Enhancing innovation and economic development in future European farm management (A8-0163/2016 - Jan Huitema) FR
2016/11/22
Dossiers: 2015/2227(INI)

Amendments (16)

Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
H. whereas the EU is the biggest exporter of agricultural products worldwide, making the agri-food sector a key economic pillar of the Union employing 47 million people in 15 million downstream enterprises in fields such as food processing, retail and services, and contributing to a positive trade balance of EUR 17 802 euro that represents 7.2 % of total value of EU exports; whereas the EU is, equally, the biggest importer of agricultural products worldwide and whereas certain imbalances, in particular that of vegetable proteins for animal feed (soya meal), need to be offset more effectively by means of ambitious programmes;
2016/01/21
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
I. whereas the competitiveness of the common agricultural policy (CAP) is mentioned as one of the key goals in Article 4(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013, and increasing productivity and ensuring reasonable prices as mentioned in Article 39 TFEU can be best achieved through innovation; whereas since this increased competitiveness cannot be achieved through lowering social standards, our measures for dealing with social dumping, whether by Member States or third countries, must be improved;
2016/01/21
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Ka. whereas given that the unprecedented crisis affecting European agriculture, and particularly the livestock sector, is a threat to the survival of all sectors, it makes no sense to seek to encourage investment, research and development without first stabilising producers' incomes and helping them to overcome the financial losses they have suffered;
2016/01/21
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K b (new)
Kb. whereas the talks on the transatlantic free trade agreement (TAFTA) currently under way with the United States are a threat to European agricultural and agri- food production standards; whereas putting in place such an agreement would not only pose a new threat to the income of most farmers, but also be a step backwards with regard to the environment, animal welfare and food security; whereas agriculture and the agri-food sector should therefore be taken out of the talks so as to preserve the potential for agricultural innovation in the European Union;
2016/01/21
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K c (new)
Kc. whereas since the proliferation of free trade agreements between the European Union and third countries encourages social and environmental dumping rather than innovation, agriculture should be excluded from these agreements and those already in force should be revised to this effect;
2016/01/21
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Is strongly convinced that economic development and sustainable production are not mutually exclusive and are achievable mainly through innovation; stresses the need to support innovation in technology and governance by providing regulatory coherence, clarity and room for entrepreneurship, and urges the Commission to ensure that innovation is explicitly taken into account in forthcoming reviews and reforms of relevant legislation; highlights the fact that European agriculture is able to produce high-quality and high-added value products together with profitable, knowledge-based solutions in order to feed a growing and more demanding world population;
2016/01/21
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Welcomes the increased use of RPASs for farming purposes, since this can lead to savings in crop protection material and water usage; notes that a proposal for legislation is forthcoming in the revision of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)’s basic regulation, so that all drones would fall under EU competence; calls on the Commission to ensure that there arecalls on the Commission to encourage the Member States and their competent authorities to apply clear and unambiguous EU-wide standards and rules for the civil use of RPASs and that forthcoming legislation takes into account the specific conditions under which drones operateir specific use in agriculture;
2016/01/21
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
9. Welcomes the production of animal protein for feed and food through growing insects that can deliver an efficient conversion of organic residual streams into protein and nutrients with a lower climate impact and using less water than most conventional farm animals; is concerned that the current legislation on processed animal protein does not take into account the specificities of the production process for insects, since use of insect proteins is obstructed by outdated regulatory frameworks that make slaughterhouse requirement applicable to insects; urges the Commission to clarify this issue;deleted
2016/01/21
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Is alarmed at the weakness of current CAP crisis provisions; calls on the Commission to introduce mechanisms such as minimum prices for European agricultural products; finally, urges it to conduct a global review of ways to ensure fairer margin sharing between producers, processors and distributors;
2016/01/21
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 206 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Is concerned at the EU trade deficit in vegetable protein for livestock and calls for substantial funding to be earmarked for measures to reduce the deficit as rapidly as possible; notes that pilot projects for crops such as alfalfa are showing promising results in terms of farmers' incomes and also the environment; considers that is appropriate to continue along these lines by increasing available funding and developing research into a larger number of plant varieties;
2016/01/21
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 243 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
18. Calls for a continuous development of innovative new breeding techniques for plants, as this is of vital importance for the efficient development of new varieties, contributing to the development of plants with higher yields, greater nutritional value and better resistance to pests, diseases and adverse weather conditions; believes that many new breeding techniques provide unprecedented opportunities to reduce the environmental impact of conventional agriculture; disapproves of the current administrative and regulatory burdens; urges the Commission to encourage new techniques and ensure access to biological materials for SMEs in the breeding sector, and expects it to give primacy to innovation in this respect;deleted
2016/01/21
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 263 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
19. Highlights the possibility of using financial instruments to help improve stable returns and margins; notes that only five Member States have taken up the extended possibilities under the new Rural Development Programme to make use of market-compatible financial instruments in order to address market gaps; calls on the Commission to facilitate access to capital, since lack of such access is often a barrier to innovation;deleted
2016/01/21
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 282 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
22. Welcomes the opportunities opened up by the European Innovation Partnership AGRI (EIP-AGRI) for applied research within the agricultural sector, but is worried by the fragmented way the EIP- AGRI is implemented as part of national or regional Pillar II programmes; asks the Commission to look into the possibility of changing the EIP-AGRI cofinancing mechanisms in order to ensure effective research that is better linked to the market and is driven by real entrepreneurial needs, creating cross-border research focus groups and better participation possibilities for businesses, with a more active involvement by the Commission in terms of providing an explicit innovation and research agenda linked to Horizon 2020 programmes;deleted
2016/01/21
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 299 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
24. Stresses that the CAP should be more focused on farmers’ needs while not compromising policy goals; stresses the need for a more flexible legislative framework that is better aligned to deliver synergies with other sectors such as chemicals, health and technology, by enhancing knowledge crossovers, integration of resource use and better understanding of reciprocal effects in order to optimise their interplay and better integrate with the circular economy; stresses further that a market-oriented CAP will enhance the innovative power and competitiveness of the European agricultural sector by reducing government intervention and stimulating entrepreneurship;
2016/01/21
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 307 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
25. Considers innovation to be an essential tool and a key horizontal policy priority for the CAP to develop, implement and achieve the objectives of the CAP reform 2014-2020; calls on the Commission, therefore, to provide a more ambitious overarching strategy with measurable outcomes in order to align and focus research and innovation vis-à-vis policy priorities; stresses that the CAP should provide more flexibility for the use of newly developed techniques and practices without an increase in burdensome rules and procedures; believes that a horizontal priority for the European legislative framework should be to ensure sufficient leeway for pilot programmes and testing for innovative techniques;
2016/01/21
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 311 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25 a (new)
25a. Is concerned about the proliferation of free trade agreements between the EU and third countries that are encouraging social and environmental dumping; is particularly concerned about the transatlantic free trade agreement (TAFTA) negotiations, given that they are threatening to compromise European agricultural production and food processing standards, including those relating to animal welfare, the environment, food safety, labelling and traceability; calls on the Commission therefore to seek the exclusion of agricultural matters from the transatlantic free trade agreement negotiations;
2016/01/21
Committee: AGRI