BETA

Activities of Pär HOLMGREN related to 2022/2183(INI)

Plenary speeches (1)

Ensuring food security and the long-term resilience of EU agriculture (debate)
2023/06/13
Dossiers: 2022/2183(INI)

Shadow reports (1)

REPORT on ensuring food security and long-term resilience of the EU agriculture
2023/05/10
Committee: AGRI
Dossiers: 2022/2183(INI)
Documents: PDF(324 KB) DOC(137 KB)
Authors: [{'name': 'Marlene MORTLER', 'mepid': 197427}]

Amendments (76)

Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 2 a (new)
— having regard to the Commission communication of 31 March 2010 entitled ‘An EU policy framework to assist developing countries in addressing food security challenges’ (COM(2010)127),
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 a (new)
— having regard to its resolution of 15 January 2020 on the European Green Deal (2019/2956(RSP)),
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 b (new)
— having regard to its resolution of 20 October 2021 on a farm to fork strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system (2020/2260(INI)),
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 a (new)
— having regard to the UN General Assembly resolution of 28 July 2022 declaring access to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment a universal human right;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 7 b (new)
— having regard to the UN resolution entitled ‘Transforming our World – the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, adopted at the UN Sustainable Development Summit on 25 September 2015 in New York (the 2030 Agenda),
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 9
— having regard to the Voluntary Guidelines of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) on the responsible governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests in the context of national food security (2012) and, the CFS Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (2015), and the CFS Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition (2021),
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 11 a (new)
— having regard to the report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on the development of plant proteins in the European Union of 22 November 2018 (COM(2018) 757),
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
B. whereas the war against Ukraine and the ensuing significant increases in input prices and speculation are leading to a significant cumulative distortion on global agricultural, fisheries and aquaculture markets, in particular on the cereals and vegetable oil markets; whereas food production and access to food must not be endangered or used as a geopolitical weapon; whereas, however, the Commission has repeatedly confirmed that food availability has not decreased in the EU, and that the EU’s grain exports have even increased;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
D. whereas, according to the FAO, the concept of food security is not limited to the provision of food, but also encompasses the internationally recognised human right to food and stable affordable access to healthy and nutritious diets for all, yet no human right is so frequently violated;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
E. whereas, as a result of the global supply crisis, the FAO estimates that the war in Ukraine, the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the climate and the biodiversity crises have combined in 2022 to push international food and feed prices have continued to rise significantly above their already high levels; whereas, in order to identify and preventeliminate food speculation, that fuels food price volatility, the EU must adopt new adequate regulation and operators need to become more transparent with regard to their share of value added throughout the food supply chain;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
E a. whereas global food insecurity is not primarily caused by a shortage of supply but by conflicts, unequal food distribution and food affordability1a; _________________ 1a WFP and FAO. 2021. Hunger Hotspots. FAO-WFP early warnings on acute food insecurity: August to November 2021 outlook. Rome
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
F. whereas, while 63% of low-income people worldwide are employed in agriculture and the overwhelming majority of them work on small farms, and many people are at risk of food shortages and hungerhunger; whereas food insecurity and malnutrition are driven by conflict, climate extremes, economic shocks, and market structures, combined with the high cost of nutritious foods and growing inequalities; whereas the availability of food varies due to climate, seasonality and limited production1 ; _________________ 1 https://www.ifad.org/en/covid19
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 112 #
F a. whereas well designed agricultural and food policies, including a repurposing of subsidies, can reduce the cost of sustainable and nutritious foods and increase the availability and affordability of healthy diets sustainably and leaving no one behind 1a; _________________ 1a FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO. 2022. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022. Repurposing food and agricultural policies to make healthy diets more affordable. Rome, FAO
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
G. whereas the future food security of the European Union is directly linked to the ambitions of the Farm to Fork Strategy and the Green Deal; whereas the cumulative effect of Green Deal related legislation must not lead to a decline in EU food production that could jeopardise food security in the EU, as food security depends on resilient and sustainable food systems in the short and long term; whereas the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy adopt holistic approaches not only to preventing a climatic and biodiversity crisis in Europe, but also to ensuring food security, improving nutrition and public health and ensuring the affordability of food, while generating fairer economic returns for farmers in the supply and value chain and strengthening the position of primary producers by improving sustainability, by addressing the climate crisis, soil health and an existential ecosystem collapse, and by increasing autonomy for farmers and supply chains;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
G a. whereas the first mid-term review of the Farm to Fork strategy is planned for mid-2023 and will consider the findings from the Commission’s study on the drivers of food security;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G b (new)
G b. whereas short-term measures to tackle immediate food production and distribution challenges and support the most vulnerable must not jeopardise the EU’s long-term goals of resilience and sustainability; whereas EU food security cannot undermine third countries’ food security and food sovereignty;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G c (new)
G c. whereas the Farm to Fork Strategy outlined several important initiatives, including an EU contingency plan for ensuring the supply of food and food security in times of crisis within the legislative framework, to further accelerate the transition towards a sustainable food system by the end of 2023;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G d (new)
G d. whereas the Farm to Fork Strategy aims to reduce the use of farm inputs and notably to decrease the overall use of chemical pesticides by 50 %, of the most hazardous pesticides by 50 %, and of fertilisers by at least 20 % by 2030;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G e (new)
G e. whereas the status quo according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services report, shows a clear trend towards productivity decreasing owing to ecological simplification and agroecosystem collapse 1a, which is linked to over-reliance on artificial inputs, and collateral damage, e.g. soil erosion, loss of topsoil, pollinator decline affecting yields, loss of beneficial species underpinning productivity, a lack of resilience against pest attacks, droughts and flooding, impacts reducing the yields of fisheries and aquaculture production and a redistribution of marine fish stocks, as also outlined in the IPCC’s Special Report published in 2019; _________________ 1a Hallmann, C.A. et al., ‘More than 75 percent decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas’, PLoS ONE, Vol. 12, No 10, PLOS, San Francisco, 2017.
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 140 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G f (new)
G f. whereas attacks on the European Green Deal targets and on the transition to sustainability are based on the assumption that there will be a significant productivity lag while functional biodiversity builds up or agronomic techniques using natural processes replace functions previously carried out by synthetic inputs; whereas a huge number of independent, peer- reviewed scientific studies show that productivity does not decrease in nearly two thirds of cases, that losses are limited to a short transitional period and that productivity even increases in certain cases 1a; _________________ 1a Tamburini, G. et al., ‘Agricultural diversification promotes multiple ecosystem services without compromising yield’, Science Advances, Vol. 6, No 45, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, DC, 2020.
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G g (new)
G g. Whereas the pesticide-yield modelling that exists often assume the worst case scenario, i.e. a switch from one day to the next in pesticide use to nothing, without any transition or mitigation measures, and even given the intrinsic limitations of modelling approaches, some are not carried out by agricultural experts or do not consider all alternative techniques, or are not peer-reviewed, or have a heavy bias with respect to economic interests (e.g. USDA), etc.;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G h (new)
G h. whereas the cliff edge scenario portrayed in some of the modelling is unlikely to occur considering the full EU legislative proposal on pesticides, as this includes transitional and mitigation measures to soften the curve and speed up the transition time for adaptation i.a using IPM and other approaches to limit pest occurrence, take-up via CAP interventions e.g. eco-schemes and climate-agri-environment measures to build up functional biodiversity including predators of pests, and insuring farmers against any losses during the transition; whereas mitigating measures that aim to replace the action carried out by chemicals and replace it with actions carried out by living systems and biodiversity, will also limit susceptibility and thus regulate pests, and will have also enormous co-benefits for climate resilience; whereas the revised pesticide law is not proposing zero synthetic pesticides but a 50% decrease, and IPM allows for them to be used as a last resort once other non-chemical mitigation and preventative measures have been taken; whereas the role of public/EU funds in any case is to support the farmers who take the financial risk throughout the transition;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 154 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
H a. whereas most Europeans’ diets are not in line with recommendations for healthy eating, which include increased consumption of sustainably and regionally produced plants and plant- based foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and legumes; whereas there is a need to address the overconsumption of meat and dairy, and ultra-processed products, as well as products high in sugars, salt and fats 1a; _________________ 1a European Parliament, Resolution of 20 October 2021 on a farm to fork strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally- friendly food system, 2020/2260(INI)
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
I a. whereas there is a need to reconsider the EU land use in order to ensure food security, as nearly two-thirds of the EU's cereals are used for animal feed and around one-third for human consumption; whereas 3% are used for biofuels 1a; _________________ 1a KELLY, P., 2019. The EU cereals sector: Main features, challenges and prospects, EPRS: European Parliamentary Research Service. Retrieved from https://policycommons.net/artifacts/13347 83/the-eu-cereals-sector/1940587/ on 12 Dec 2022. CID: 20.500.12592/rjvbmx.
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I b (new)
I b. whereas supporting the large-scale feeding of animals with food or arable land that could otherwise be allocated for human consumption is an inefficient use of calories and results in the EU being a net importer of calories 1a; whereas a reduction in the consumption of animal products and a transition to self-sufficient farming of livestock fed on EU grasslands and legumes would make it possible to move the EU from being a net importer to a net exporter of calories and reduce its carbon footprint, and would contribute to restoring biodiversity, storing carbon in EU agroecosystems and reducing the EU’s dependence on natural gas and fossil fuels for fertiliser production; _________________ 1a Sciavo, M et al., An agroecological Europe by 2050: What impact on land use, trade and global food security?, IDDRI, Paris, 2021.
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I c (new)
I c. whereas the 1996 Rome resolution of the farmers' organisation La Via Campesina first defined food sovereignty as the right of people and countries to define their own agricultural and food policies; whereas this concept aims at enabling each country to feed its own population and to be independent; whereas the Farm to Fork Strategy’s intention to reduce farmers’ dependency on external outputs is in line with this definition;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I d (new)
I d. whereas the 1994 Marrakech Agreement and in particular the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture have contributed to the specialisation of agricultural regions; whereas this specialisation has led to regions with high levels of exports and others that are almost fully dependent on imports: whereas this situation is not resilient to crises, such as wars, and is one of the factors contributing to the current global food instability;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I e (new)
I e. whereas in the EU, nearly 57 million tonnes of food waste (127 kg/inhabitant) are generated annually with an associated market value estimated at 130 billion euros; whereas at the same time, some 36.2 million people cannot afford a quality meal every second day; whereas the top contributors to food waste in the EU are households (53 %) and processing (19 %), 11% being wasted at the primary production stage;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I f (new)
I f. whereas gender inequality influences the distribution of labour and leads to a disproportionate and unpaid care burden on women and girls; whereas it is necessary to ensure the protection of women’s and girls’ rights at all levels and provide space for them in decision- making processes in the agri-food sector; whereas women and girls are most impacted by climate change and disasters, leading to increased vulnerability due to compounding risks; whereas gender inequalities have a direct impact on nutrition, shaping food dynamics in the household and community;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
1. Notes that the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have once again demonstrated the need for the EU to strengthen its food security andby reduceing its dependence on imports from outside the EU; welcomes the adoption, due to the exceptional current circumstances, of temporary, supporting the shift to sustainable plant-rich diets and rebalancing the proportion of EU land used for production of animal feed with that for producing human food; stresses the exceptionality and the temporary nature of the certain measures adopted to increase EU production during the 2022/23 harvest season, which will contribute to food security;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 211 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Emphasises that while the negative impact of the war in Ukraine on global food security has been significant, this crisis has built up on the existing systemic failures in the food system, and that sufficient short- and longer-term measures need to be adopted to address hunger and malnutrition in Europe and beyond; highlights the need to develop appropriate tools to address future food crisis in a sustainable way, compatible with our objectives on climate and biodiversity, rather than resorting to disruptive short-term solutions and increased international trade;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 235 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Notes the enormous cost of inaction 1a and the continued deterioration of the functional biodiversity needed to maintain yields and fertility and agricultural productivity; underlines therefore the need for improving resilience of agro-ecosystems by increasing biological, genetic and structural diversity to maintain yields and spread risk of crop failure; notes for example that drought costs the EU 9 billion euro every year - and this is forecast to increase as climate change and ecological collapse kick in; notes the UN and FAO clearly warn that delaying the transition to sustainable, resilient food systems will cost society and farmers even more, the longer it is delayed; _________________ 1a IPCC, 2022: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, B. Rama (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, 3056 pp., doi:10.1017/9781009325844.
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 240 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to take the necessary measures to provide farmers with planning security and guarantees, making it possible to maintain and, if necessary, increase food production in the EU; calls on the Commission to ensure that farmland is used primarily for the production of food and feed, while ensuring the implementation of the necessary measures to reduce GHG emissions and reverse biodiversity loss, in line with the Farm to Fork and the Biodiversity Strategies, the upcoming Nature Restoration Law, the CAP objectives and the need to ensure food security in the long term;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 252 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Highlights that the two major middle- to long-term threats to farming and food production are climate change and the ecosystem collapse; notes that the latest IPCC report forecasts acute future problems for agriculture, the ecosystem stability, water availability and food security; notes also that agriculture relies upon healthy ecosystems, notably functional soil ecosystems, and a sufficient population of pollinators and predators of pests; highlights that more than 75 % of global food crop types, including fruits and vegetables rely on animal pollination;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 257 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2 b. Calls therefore on the Commission and the members states to focus their efforts in making EU farming and food production more resilient and in decreasing drastically the negative impacts of this sector on climate and the ecosystems, notably by strengthening its autonomy and increasing the diversity of food crops, decreasing its reliance on fossil-based inputs and by moving to more sustainable diets; calls on the Commission to support further investments that can accelerate the green transition and secure sustainability and autonomy, both in the EU and in developing countries;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 279 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that the European Green Deal could beis a milestone in the EU transition to a greener and more sustainable economy, while pointing out that many of the resulting measures might have adverse effects, which have not yet been properly assessed, on EU farms and food security; calls on the Commission to carry out a comprehensive assessment of the cumulative impact of Green Deal legislative proposals on the EU farming sector; calls on the Commission to ensure that the mid-term evaluation of the Farm to Fork strategy reflects on a comprehensive assessment of the cumulative impact of Green Deal legislative proposals on the EU farming sector in a holistic and systemic manner, covering all dimensions of sustainability, be they environmental, economic or social, including health;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 304 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Notes that the number of farm animals is growing in the EU and that animal products represent 22 % of food exported by the EU; highlights that 60% of crop surfaces in the EU are dedicated to producing feed, and that close to 30 millions of tons of soybeans and soybeans products are imported in the EU every year, leading to an extractive, high carbon footprint and fragile model, linked to deforestation;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 306 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Notes the multiple benefits of highly productive rotational grazing systems already working very well in e.g. mid-USA, New Zealand, and the EU, that reduce production costs by cutting out imported feed, allowing grazers to break even; notes that leaving the meadow sward ungrazed for longer by rotating the livestock, allows vegetation to grow higher, remain cooler and trap moisture as well as producing more fodder, also allowing a range of plant species to grow, flower and set seed, which makes the system less susceptible to heatwaves and droughts, the roots grow deeper, kickstarting life in the rhizosphere and creating topsoil, sinking more carbon and allowing the plants to resist drought; highlights that more flowering plants also means more pollinators and so higher yields in surrounding areas;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 307 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Calls on adapting the size of the EU herd to the planetary boundaries and what the EU land can support, allowing at the same time to reach the objectives of the methane pledge and the Paris agreement; highlights that such a transition must be supported by a systemic strategy at EU and national level in order to avoid unbearable disruptions, as well as at farm level ; notes that a comparable profitability with reduced herds can be achieved for herbivore animals farming by switching to pasture based grazing, allowing to cut of input costs;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 308 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3 c. Calls for food for people to be prioritised over feed for an EU population of farm animals that exceeds the EU’s food needs, and believes it could contribute to the robustness of the EU food system 1a; _________________ 1a Sun, Z., Scherer, L., Zhang, Q. et al. Adoption of plant-based diets across Europe can improve food resilience against the Russia–Ukraine conflict. Nat Food 3, 905–910 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022- 00634-4
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 309 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 d (new)
3 d. Underlines the importance of seed security and diversity, notably of promoting EU-grown plant proteins to deliver locally sourced food and feed stuffs with high nutritional value while granting farmers access to quality seeds for plant varieties adapted to the pressures of climate change and low input farming systems, including traditional and locally- adapted varieties and heterogeneous material:
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 310 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 e (new)
3 e. Points out that gene-edited plants and animals are patented and should therefore be avoided as they would further contribute to market concentration in seed, plant and animal production and the increase of input costs, in addition to them not providing any advantages over agro-ecological systems, which have proven benefits in terms of biodiversity and the climate when it comes to alleviating food insecurity; calls on the EU and its Member states to prevent patents on biological material used in or produced from means of conventional breeding and to safeguard the freedom to operate and the breeders’ exemption for all conventionally bred varieties;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 324 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Calls for closing nutrient cycling loops, shorter food production and supply chains, reducing external inputs and balancing outputs better with the carrying capacities of farmed areas, inter alia to make farming more resilient and autonomous both on-farm and EU level;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 331 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 3 a (new)
Sustainable healthy diets and sustainable food systems
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 334 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4 b. Notes that a shift towards healthier and sustainable diets rich in legumes, vegetables and fruits in Europe could substantially alleviate pressure on global grain supplies and land demand 1a; _________________ 1a Pörtner, L. M., Lambrecht, N., Springmann, M., Bodirsky, B. L., Gaupp, F., Freund, F., Lotze-Campen, H., Gabrysch, S. (2022): We need a food system transformation - In the face of the Russia-Ukraine war, now more than ever. - One Earth, 5, 5, 470-472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2022.04.0 04
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 335 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 c (new)
4 c. Calls on the Commission to present an ambitious proposal for an EU Sustainable Food System Framework Law establishing a clear and measurable path towards food system sustainability in the EU; highlights that such a law should ensure coherence among all existing and future food-related policies, including the EU’s external policies and shift consumption towards sustainable and healthy diets, including support for a higher consumption of legumes, vegetable and fruits; promoting favourable food environments with increasing the affordability and the availability of sustainable and healthy food, while ensuring that prices paid for sustainable production and incomes earned by farmers are fair; calls on the Commission to use this draft law to strengthen the responsibility and engagement of large food businesses in the transition towards sustainability and to recognize animal welfare as a requirement for a sustainable food system and encouraging a shift towards animal husbandry which respects planetary boundaries, as well as animals‘ physiological and behavioural needs;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 338 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 d (new)
4 d. Emphasises the latest United Nations State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report’s findings that agricultural subsidies often target the production of staple foods, dairy and other animal source foods, while fruits and vegetables are relatively less supported, while they are needed for a healthy nutritious diet; notes that a repurposing of EU farm subsidies to incentivise more the production of foods contributing to healthy sustainable diets would have an impact on the affordability of such diets, hence on food security 1a; _________________ 1a FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO. 2022. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2022. Repurposing food and agricultural policies to make healthy diets more affordable. Rome, FAO
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 348 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
5. Calls for the EU to speed up the adoption of legislation on the use of new cultivation techniques in order to increase yields and make cropestablish prospective technology assessment to assess pros and cons of new cultivation techniques with a view to make agricultural systems more resilient to climate change and new pathogens, particularly in view of the droughts and water shortages that are afflicting an increasing number of EU Member States; points out that some new cultivation targets canmay promote sustainable agriculture, which is not possible without systemic innovation; based on the principles of agroecology;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 354 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Notes the significant potential of agroecology to close nutrient cycles, maintain and increase fertility and productivity both in the EU and in third countries, reduce erosion and loss of farmland, adapt to climate change and water stress, stem and reverse biodiversity loss, reducing eutrophication events and avoiding associated collapse of fisheries and fishers’ incomes, and ensure farmers’ continued farming and incomes as well as their profitability; notes that in terms of mineral fertilisers, EU farmers can already improve nutrient use efficiency by 20% while increasing yields and lowering carbon footprints by 20%; calls for mainstreaming successful approaches and exchange of these best practices;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 360 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5 b. Notes further the benefits for farmers of agroforestry including silvo- pastoralism, paludiculture (grazing marginal areas and recreating wetlands and sinking carbon) in providing crops such as fruit or nuts, timber, meanwhile protecting soil from erosion, regenerating the rhizosphere and building topsoil, sequestering carbon, and providing shade;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 363 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5 c. Notes the benefits of permaculture and soil-based approaches such as non chemical no-till, shallow ploughing, and carbon friendly techniques that keep pasture swards intact such as zipping/sod seeding (instead of ploughing and reseeding as pasture renewal), as well as intercropping, under-sowing with permanent cover crop including leguminous species, and other innovative organic farming techniques, etc;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 368 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 5
AI and precision crop managementInnovation in the food and farming sector
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 369 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Stresses that data on agriculture and farmland is of public interest, for food security and for environmental protection, and that this data needs to be made available to the public;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 370 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 e (new)
5 e. Underlines the importance of EU funding for research and innovation, including participatory research as implemented by EIP AGRI, as a key driver in triggering a systemic change and accelerating the transition to a more secure, sustainable, healthy, and inclusive European food system, while facilitating investments needed to encourage agro- ecological practices in both social and technological innovation; highlights the need for efficient mainstreaming of the research and innovation in the agri-food sector as well as peer-to-peer knowledge sharing; calls for 30 % of the budget for research and innovation in agriculture to be ring-fenced for organic and agro- ecological approaches, both in national research and innovation programmes and European frameworks (e.g. Horizon Europe);
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 378 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
6. Emphasises that digital technologies and precision crop managementinnovation in agriculture can provide forward-looking solutions to the challenges arising when it comes to monitoring deforestation, the use of pesticides and fertilisers or water consumption for agriculture; calls on the Commission to step up and accelerate the use of digital innovation to modernise EU agriculture, enabling farmers to realise their full production potentialsustainable digital, social, commercial, marketing and agronomic innovation in agriculture, enabling farmers to realise their full production potential, while optimising nutrient cycling and respecting their ecosystem limits, and safeguard their incomes in the context of green transition;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 384 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Notes that innovations in organization and commercialisation models are as valuable as technological innovation for food security and the resilience of our food systems, and should be supported as such;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 387 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
7. Points out that, while that space data and AI technologies can be a source of much valuable information for agriculture, it can still only be put to very limited use, as in most cases it is not freely available or is too complex to be processed by farms or local authorities; calls for inon the Commission to ensure that data collected or creasted use of such data and technologieswith help of public funds stay public and are not appropriated by private companies, and that data collected on farm belong to the farmer; calls for increased use of such data to help farmers through the green and digital transitions, while ensuring the resilience of EU agriculture;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 404 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Calls for more stockpile and storage facilities in the EU, especially publicly owned, as demonstrated by the disruption of supply chains experienced during the Covid crisis;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 408 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8 b. Highlights the strategic necessity of decreasing our dependence to fossil- based inputs and notably fertilizers, in order to alleviate the impact on climate change of the farming sector and to increase our autonomy from Russia’s exports;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 409 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 c (new)
8 c. Notes that the rising of farm inputs costs adds to already high production costs and endanger farmers’ revenues;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 410 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 d (new)
8 d. Notes the costs to human health of excess ammonia from fertilisers and livestock waste, responsible for 430 000 premature deaths each year in the EU 1a, as well as costs associated with crop losses; _________________ 1a Guthrie, Susan, Sarah Giles, Fay Dunkerley, Hadeel Tabaqchali, Amelia Harshfield, Becky Ioppolo, and Catriona Manville, Impact of ammonia emissions from agriculture on biodiversity: An evidence synthesis. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2018. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_repo rts/RR2695.html.
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 411 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 e (new)
8 e. Calls therefore on the Commission to further strengthen the Farm to Fork Strategy target on fertiliser use reduction, and to support, through all appropriate policies, practices to make soils more fertile through home-grown measures that ensure independence from imports of fertiliser or gas, such as crop rotation, composting and the use of animal waste within the limits of the Nitrates Directive; highlights that fertiliser use constitutes an estimated 50 % of energy use in agriculture, when considering both direct and indirect use; stresses that rising energy prices have a consequent effect on rising synthetic fertiliser prices, which means that advice on finding agronomic alternatives can be the most cost-effective policy option 1a; stresses the importance of farmers receiving technical support from independent farm advisory services so they can use the most appropriate and effective agroecological techniques; highlights the proven ability of organic agriculture to produce food without the use of synthetic fertilisers; _________________ 1a Poux, X., & Aubert, P. M. (2018). An agroecological Europe in 2050: multifunctional agriculture for healthy eating. Findings from the Ten Years For Agroecology (TYFA) modelling exercise, Iddri-AScA, Study, (09/18)
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 412 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 f (new)
8 f. Notes the cost to human health of pesticide use, notably the 1.6 million unintentional poisonings per year in the EU 1a, and in particular the effect on farmers’ health especially certain neuro- degenerative diseases and cancers; notes that non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer widespread among regular pesticide users, has been classified as an occupational disease of farmer and agricultural workers in France following a supreme court ruling, and is now recognised by the health insurance system; notes in particular the recent ruling in favour of one farmer’s case against Bayer- Monsanto of acute toxicity resulting in serious neurological damage from a herbicide; _________________ 1a Boedeker W, Watts M, Clausing P, Marquez E. The global distribution of acute unintentional pesticide poisoning: estimations based on a systematic review. BMC Public Health. 2020 Dec 7;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 413 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
9. Regrets the blanket ban on the use of pesticides in sensitive areas being mooted by the Commission, since this would pose a significant threat to the livelihood of many farmers and severely limit their output.deleted
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 444 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
10. WelcomNotes the inclusion in the Commission communication on ensuring the availability and affordability of fertilisers (COM(2022)0590) of a strategy to help farmers cope with exceptionally high costs; considers, however, that while it contaiit falls short of expectations many valid medium and long- term policy recommendations, it fails to provide adequate support for farmers in the current crisid misses an opportunity to decrease reliance on increasingly costly artificial inputs, which could have very serious implications for food security;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 446 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Commission to raise the limits for the use of nitrogen fertilisers derived from animal manure, e.g. RENURE2 , in line with the limits currently applicable to fertilisers; calls on the Commission to consider a temporary exemption to bring down the cost of fertilisers for now, while seeking the introduction of long-term framework provisions to promote a circular economy on farms and reduce dependence on third-country resources; _________________ 2 RENURE: REcovered Nitrogen from manUREdeleted
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 460 #
Motion for a resolution
Subheading 7 a (new)
Fostering affordable food in the EU
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 463 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11 a. Reminds that farmers receive, on average, only 27% of consumer expenditure on foods consumed at home and a far lower percentage of food consumed away from home, and that, as a consequence, food affordability is mainlyinfluenced by other factors than production costs at farm level 1a; _________________ 1a Yi, J., Meemken, EM., Mazariegos- Anastassiou, V. et al. Post-farmgate food value chains make up most of consumer food expenditures globally. Nat Food 2, 417–425 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021- 00279-9
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 465 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 b (new)
11 b. Recognises that market speculation, manipulation and the trading of food commodities can artificially inflate wholesale prices and lead to market volatility; calls, in that regard, for an immediate and temporary ban on speculative practices such as short selling, sovereign debt and credit default swaps, ‘futures’ stock options and the high- frequency trading of food commodities that can result in market manipulation, predatory pricing and profiteering; calls on the Commission and European Securities and Markets Authority to work with national regulators to bring forward an urgent proposal to temporarily ban short selling and safeguard food commodities on stock markets, including by revising the currently very permissive EU position limit regime, and to take into account volatility when setting those position limits; notes that the ongoing review of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFiD) is a unique opportunity to tackle food speculation by introducing strict limits to the capacity of a trader to speculate on food commodities and fixing the current the loopholes in the regulatory framework;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 467 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 c (new)
11 c. Calls for the establishment of emergency financial support to ensure access to food for households living in poverty within the EU, through, inter alia, an increase in funding for the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 469 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 d (new)
11 d. Stresses the need for full use of school schemes in order to ensure deprived children have access to food; highlights, furthermore, the utility of public procurement programmes in fostering public support for purchasing from smallholders and local producers when sourcing nutritious food for distribution, to guard against food insecurity;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 472 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 d (new)
11 d. Highlights that 88 million tonnes of food are wasted in the EU each year, with associated costs estimated to be EUR 143 billion; stresses that addressing food waste would have an immediate positive impact on food security; reiterates its call to take the measures required to achieve the EU food waste reduction target of 30 % by 2025 and 50 % by 2030 compared to the 2014 baseline; stresses the need to avoid loss of food during storage, to facilitate the donation of food through the coherent implementation of liability law and to encourage the recovery of food waste; calls on supermarkets, in particular, to urgently address the issue of preventable food waste through alternative options such as the roll-out of reduced price promotions and working together with local community projects, such as food banks, to alleviate local food poverty and insecurity;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 475 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
12. Reiterates that food losses and food waste can be avoidCalls on the Member States to consider legislating on further unfair trading practices that create food waste, in addition to those already covered by the Unfair Trading Practices Directive 1a; calls for the upcoming initiatives on marketing standards to prioritise the reduction of food waste; stresses that consistent overproduction also risks creating food waste; calls for improved monitoring of food waste across the EU, in particular that generated at farm level; calls on all Member States to establish and implement food waste prevention programmes that fully integrate the principles of the circular economy and include the promotion of short food supply chains, which lower the risk of generating food waste; Reiterates that food losses and food waste can be partly prevented if measures are taken to reduce the presence of pathogens in food, for example by ensuring proper hygiene and the use of improved technologies along the entire value chain, as well as the regular publication of information regarding these interrelated factors; _________________ 1a Directive (EU) 2019/633 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on unfair trading practices in business-to-business relationships in the agricultural and food supply chain, OJ L 111, 25.4.2019, p. 59.
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 498 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
13. Calls on the Commission to develop a realistic biofuel production scenario, since the discontinuation thereof would also eliminate protein-rich by-products, thereby significantly exacerbating rather than helping to alleviate the food crisisHighlights the high indirect land use change impact of crop-based biofuels because, notably, of deplacement effects, also linked to human rights abuse, land grabbing and global hunger in third countries; calls on the Commission and the Member States to rapidly put in place temporary suspension measures for the production and blending of crop-based biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels in order to secure additional food supplies, stabilise global food commodity markets and phase out crop-based biofuels, not including advanced biofuels, by 2030;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 508 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
14. Considers that a contribution to food security can be made by sustainable and high-yield farming that preserves natural resources such as soil, water and forests and takes advantage of the opportunities offered by bioenergy and the bioeconomy;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI
Amendment 509 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14 a. Gender Equality 14a. Notes that gender inequalities limit agricultural productivity and efficiency; recalls that women and girls’ empowerment is crucial for nutrition, preserving health, food security and resilience-building; points out that strengthening the role of women and girls remains a challenge for agriculture and for food and nutrition security; calls on the European Commission and Member States to support women's entrepreneurship, employment and political representation, ensure the inclusion of gender perspective in the management of food security and ensure the participation of women in the decision-making process related to this field, including those women belonging to discriminated minorities;
2022/12/15
Committee: AGRI