Proteins: Robust strategy needed to reduce EU’s dependency on imports, say MEPs
- EU’s farming policy to encourage production of protein crops at home
- Imports from abroad to be diversified and focused more on the EU’s neighbourhood
- More research into increasing profitability and yields of protein crops
EU must do its utmost to increase and improve protein crops production at home and diversify imports from abroad, the Agriculture Committee said on Tuesday.
To this end, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) must be updated to make cultivation of soya and other grain protein crops more profitable and competitive, says the draft non-legislative resolution on the future EU strategy for the promotion of protein crops the Agriculture Committee adopted by 35 votes in favour to one against, with six abstentions.
MEPs want:
- voluntary coupled payments for all protein crops in all regions, not only for those in difficulty,
- protein production also on ecological focus areas - for both conventional and organic farming, and
- a leguminous component for rotation systems on arable land.
Nitrogen-fixing protein crops can help farmers cut usage of synthetic nitrogenous fertilisers and thus reduce both, their input costs and negative impact on the environment, note MEPs adding that the future EU’s farming policy should take this into account.
The CAP should also aim to:
- develop local and regional protein production and processing chains,
- support greater self-sufficiency of farms with animal feed and adapt the animals’ diets to their real needs - e.g. grass fodder instead of soya meal for ruminants, and
- cut waste by improving harvesting, storage and processing systems, and by making greater use of precision agriculture to adjust plant and animal feed inputs.
Boosting research
MEPs want first to establish an EU platform supported by the European arable crops market observatory to identify protein cultivation areas, determine protein production capabilities and catalogue all research done so far on proteins. The EU should then heavily invest into integrated and targeted research to make protein crops more economically attractive and their production more competitive and to increase their yields.
Importing less and focusing more on the EU’s neighbourhood
MEPs criticised soya production in South America for being a major factor behind land use change, deforestation, soil erosion and pesticides’ contamination. The future EU protein strategy must reduce the Union’s major deficit in vegetable proteins, which makes its livestock sector dependant on feed imports from third countries, they say.
The EU’s autonomy in soya and other proteins’ supply can be achieved through closer cooperation with Union’s neighbours and diversification of protein imports, says the approved text. But the imports must meet the EU’s social and environmental standards and should preferably be GMO-free, MEPs say.
Quote
“The EU urgently needs an ambitious protein supply plan to reduce our dependence on imports of soya and other protein products from third countries, speed up the transition towards more sustainable farming systems, reduce emissions linked to deforestation, and boost biodiversity and the circular economy”, said rapporteur Jean-Paul Denanot (S&D, FR).
“Today we adopted our proposals for a robust plan for vegetal proteins in Europe that, I hope, are going to be taken up by the Commission and the Council. To bring about a real change, we need to have strong legislative measures with clear incentives for farmers in place as soon as possible”, he added.
Background
The EU is suffering from a major deficit in vegetable proteins, which are used to feed the livestock, and is dependent on imports from third countries. The European production of protein-rich matter rose from 24.2 to 36.3 million tonnes between 1994 and 2014, but at the same time the consumption increased from 39.7 million tonnes to 57.1 million tonnes, increasing thus the Union’s overall deficit from 15.5 to 20.8 million tonnes.
The EU Commission is expected to develop the EU’s strategy on tackling Union’s deficit in plant proteins and reducing its dependency on protein imports by the end of 2018.
Next steps
The Agriculture Committee’s ideas will now be scrutinised by the Parliament as a whole, probably during the 16-19 April plenary session in Strasbourg.
Tuesday, 20 March 2018
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development
In the chair: Czesław Adam Siekierski (EPP, PL)
Type of document: Non-legislative resolution
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