A broad coalition of groups from Europe’s agricultural and food industries has called for better and smarter policy making to foster innovation and create jobs in a bid to improve productivity and efficiency in the EU agri-food chain.
The alliance claims that to date the EU has done little to encourage innovation in the agri-food sector and in some cases it has been hampered by decision makers. It believes a more streamlined policy agenda that places the promotion of innovation and its very core could deliver a safe, high-quality and affordable food supply and greater choice for consumers.
The group, which includes suppliers of machinery, seed, fertilisers, crop protection, animal health, as well as farmers and companies from the food and drink sector which together account for some 30m jobs, presented its joint policy recommendations in a document entitled “vision for unlocking the potential of agriculture and food industries in the EU” during a meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Athens on 6 May.
“Innovation is essential to increasing agricultural productivity in a sustainable way, and to helping feed the world’s rapidly growing population,” said Jean-Charles Bocquet, director general of the European Crop Protection Association. “The crop protection industry is committed to ensuring that our products are used in a way that delivers benefits to society and protects the environment, safeguards health and promotes biodiversity. We are product to joining this broad coalition of agriculture and food chain stakeholders in calling for a regulatory framework that fosters innovation. Working together, we can achieve these goals and more.”
In the document, the signatories underline the importance of providing a safe supply of food not only for EU citizens but also beyond Europe’s borders, and to do so in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner. At the same time, it highlights the economic weight of the sectors involved in Europe’s agri-food chain and of their importance in achieving overarching EU policy goals such as higher employment and economic growth.
Among the key recommendations are calls to foster research efforts; the reinforcement of innovation partnership initiatives on sustainable agriculture and diet health, and the effective enforcement of intellectual property rights.
It also suggests that a specific unit should be set up to promote agricultural productivity, resource efficiency and competitiveness, as well as the establishment of a Food Knowledge and Innovation Community in 2016/17.
