An Irish MEP has said that the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the ensuing supply chain instability, affected the attitude in the EU to food production.
Speaking to journalists in Brussels this week, Fianna Fáil Ireland South MEP Billy Kelleher indicated that the invasion, and knock on impact on energy costs and food inflation, called food security into a question in a way it hadn’t been previously.
In answer to a question from Agriland, he said: “I think there is an understanding that you can’t assume that we have enough food in the world to feed people. That sort of thinking is there.
“Of course the next question is from a European perspective, could there be a shortage on the continent itself; in other words, could there be a food shortage in Europe.
“Possibly what people are saying is, well, we can always purchase from elsewhere, but if you purchase from elsewhere and you don’t have enough food in the world overall, well then you’re going to create a scarcity for the poorest people on the planet,” he added.
Kelleher said that would not be in the EU’s interest, nor would it be ethically right.
However, questions remain over whether this change of attitude will make its way into actual policy.
“I do know the [Strategic Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture] has taken place. You can argue it was set up very, very quickly, facing into elections in June, and some member states were under huge pressure with farming protests.
“We need to have a stable food supply to Europe, and we do need to maintain output over a period of time, and we can’t just be turning on and turning off agricultural policy with different ideas on how we produce food, and what type of food we produce, and how much it should cost,” Kelleher added.
The MEP said that certainty is required in food production.
He went on to say: “But the one thing I’ve certainly seen is that when there is a huge upheaval in a geopolitical sense, it can have profound implications on European citizens, even though theoretically, there not directly affected, but we are so interdependent.
“So you take fertiliser for example, lots of fertiliser came from Belarus and from Russia; the gas that produces fertiliser in the EU came from Russia, so very quickly we were very, very vulnerable, exceptionally vulnerable.
“I think there is an awareness that the world is never guaranteed to have enough food, and we have obligations in Europe that, in the event of their being food shortages, that we’re not taking from the poorest, so we have to make sure that doesn’t happen in the first place,” Kelleher said.