A plenary (full) session of the European Parliament is set to hold two votes today (Thursday, October 19) on key issues in EU agriculture, namely generational renewal and protein animal feed.
Both votes follow on from reports on these issues by the parliament’s agriculture committee. The reports were passed in the committee and sent to the plenary session of the parliament for the consideration of all MEPs.
The parliament will have its say today when the votes take place.
The report on generational renewal was passed by the agriculture committee late last month by 43 votes in favour to 0 against, with one abstention.
This report said that the future of agriculture is dependent on generational renewal, and that the EU should seek to create policies to attract young farmers to agriculture.
Issues surrounding the price and availability of land were identified by agriculture MEPs as barriers for young people entering the farming sector.
The committee’s report proposes using EU legislation to improve the functioning of national farmland markets and to address land concentration.
Price controls on land sales and rental; long-term usage guarantees; and pre-emptive rights are some of the measures being sought by the agriculture committee.
One Irish MEP who has already given his backing to this report – though not himself a member of the agriculture committee – is Seán Kelly, who said yesterday (Wednesday, October 18) that he is concerned by the age profile of European farmers.
He emphasised the need for “robust policies” to support young and new entrants into the sector.
Kelly said that young farmers can be “catalysts for innovation and sustainability in farming practices”.
“They are more likely to introduce fresh ideas and embrace sustainable agricultural methods,” he said.
EU protein feed
The other vote taking place today – on increasing the EU’s independence and production of protein feed – is based on a report from the committee which was also adopted in late September, on a vote of 33 to nine, with three abstentions.
Agriculture committee MEPs agreed that the EU must reduce its dependence on imports of protein crops from other countries.
The majority of MEPs voted in agreement that EU farmers must be supported in order to produce protein crops and to create more self-sufficiency in Europe.
Only 29% of the high-protein feedstock needed to balance animal feed originates from the EU, which makes the EU heavily dependent on imports of high-protein plant content from third countries.
The agriculture committee said that the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have made it apparent that the EU needs to diversify its food and feed supply chains in order to reduce its dependence on inputs from foreign suppliers, according to the committee.