While grain has become a "means of war" and solidarity with Ukraine is a top priority right now, pressing the pause button on environmental and climate protection would be fatal because "climate crisis will not pause either", a senior official at the German agriculture ministry told EURACTIV.
To help solve the food price crisis, Germany must quickly send aid to import-dependent countries but also change its diet and consume less meat, Niels Annen, parliamentary state secretary at Germany's economic cooperation and development ministry told EURACTIV Germany in an interview.
The EU's determination to become a global leader in sustainability will be matched by investments in solutions to deliver on the commitments set out in the EU's new food policy, Commissioner Stella Kyriakides told EURACTIV.com in an exclusive interview.
The European Food Safety Authority will keep UK experts in its ranks despite Brexit, because science does not recognise borders "and we want to have the best people", the EU food watchdog chief told EURACTIV.com in an exclusive interview.
Being equipped with the right methods to assess industry’s rapidly changing innovation will be a key challenge for the European Food Safety Agency, (EFSA), Bernhard Url, the EU food watchdog's chief, told EURACTIV.com in a wide-ranging interview.
With the new European Green Deal, all actors across the food chain will need to adjust to new EU standards. But policymakers also have to make sure EU industry is protected against unfair competition, MEP Maria Spyraki told EURACTIV.com.
Veganism is certainly not for everyone, particularly when it comes to mother and children, as it is deficient in some important minerals and vitamins, Henning Steinfeld, an official from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), told EURACTIV in an interview.
The next re-authorisation process for the controversial glyphosate weedkiller should also include an assessment of a potential ban of the substance in terms of food availability, biodiversity and farmers’ income, Bernhard Url told EURACTIV.com in an interview.
Short food supply chains have a multidimensional role to play. They can help revitalise European farms by encouraging young people to work the land, but they also provide cheap and healthy food to consumers and attract tourists, campaigner Geneviève Savigny told EURACTIV.com in an interview.
The European Commission has learned its lesson from the glyphosate controversy and is coming forward with “bold proposals” on transparency, says Bernhard Url. The raw data of all industry-funded studies related to pesticides will be made publicly available under Commission plans, he told EURACTIV in an interview.
The leader of Britain's farming union, Meurig Raymond, hopes that the agriculture-related decisions made in London after his country leaves the EU will be more science-based and less emotional than is currently the case in Europe.
What has been mixed in the current dual quality food conversation is ‘quality versus recipe’, as consumers have different preferences on sweetness and saltiness and we just have to accept it, FoodDrinkEurope leader told EURACTIV.com in an interview.
The requirements of food production can be met without GMOs but we should not eliminate the broader benefits that biotechnologies can provide, Daniel Gustafson told EURACTIV.com in an interview.
Food quality in Western Europe can differ greatly to what Central and Eastern European shops stock on their shelves. S&D group MEP Daciana Sârbu spoke to EURACTIV Romania about the issue and promoting local produce.
Studies on the safety of GMOs, glyphosate or other pesticides could enjoy higher levels of trust from the general public if there were stronger guarantees that the science behind them is really independent, says Bernhard Url, executive director of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
The European executive will reform the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) by the end of 2017. José Bové and Éric Andrieu argue for an agricultural system that puts the environment, human health and small businesses first. EURACTIV’s partner Ouest France reports.
If new plant breeding techniques fall under GMO legislation, SMEs in Europe will be severely hit, Dr Teresa Babuscio said in an interview with EURACTIV.com
The EU's Common Agricultural Policy should focus on investments to become more competitive in the global market and get less dependent on subsidies, MEP Jan Huitema told EURACTIV.com in an interview.
The EU-US free trade agreement, TTIP, is a big lie, says Thilo Bode, the director of the NGO Foodwatch, discussing his latest book on the transatlantic trade deal.
Israel is an example to other countries of how an arid land can become self-sufficient in producing food, says Giuseppe Sala, the organiser of the 2015 World's Fair in Milan, which will focus on food security.
The world faces a severe food security crisis as a result of climate change, soil erosion and population growth. Food security is a much greater threat to national security than armed aggression, Lester Brown told EURACTIV in this exclusive interview on the fringes of the 'Forum for the Future of Agriculture'.
Inaction to halt speculation on agricultural commodities and continued biofuels policies is paving the way for a re-run of the 2008 food price crisis in 2010 or 2011, argues Olivier De Schutter, UN special rapporteur on the right to food, in an interview with EURACTIV.
Liberalising global agricultural trade without any regulation would threaten global food security as private investment funds would buy huge amounts of land in developing countries and produce for a profit rather than to feed the poor, warned Jacques Carles, founder of French think tank Momagri.
The European Union should resist the temptation to cut support for its common agricultural policy and instead give farmers the right tools to increase food production in Europe, EU Farm Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel told EURACTIV in an interview.
