The European Parliament adopted by 542 votes to 33,
with 109 abstentions, a resolution on a European strategy for the
promotion of protein crops - encouraging the production of protein
and leguminous plants in the European agriculture
sector.
Members recalled that the EU is suffering from a major
deficit in vegetable proteins due to the needs of its
livestock sector, which is dependent on feed imports from third
countries.
The EU devotes only 3% of its arable land to protein
crops and imports over 75% of its vegetable protein supply, mainly
from Brazil, Argentina and the USA. The current situation carries
major risks, especially for the EU livestock sector, as
price volatility on international markets has substantially
increased.
In this context, Parliament proposed to implement a
major European strategic plan for the production and supply of
plant proteins, based on the sustainable development of all
crops throughout the Union.
It called for:
- the Commission to take immediate actions aimed
at avoiding any reduction in the current production level of
protein crops, taking into due account the environmental benefits
deriving from the conventional cultivation of nitrogen-fixing crops
in EFAs;
- the establishment of a European platform,
supported by the European Crops Market Observatory to identify
protein cultivation areas, determine protein production
capabilities and catalogue all research done so far on
proteins.
Plan’s objectives:
Parliament recommended supporting, in particular under the CAP, the
cultivation of soya in the EU by making it profitable and
competitive, as new varieties are currently opening up fresh
possibilities for some regions where the crop can adapt. It
recommended that vegetable protein crops such as soya, alfalfa,
broad beans, peas and crops such as clover, sainfoin and many other
legumes be reintroduced into large-scale cultivation and forage
systems.
The resolution also encouraged the need to:
- develop local and regional protein production
and processing chains by establishing groups of farmers and by
creating closer links between arable crop farmers and livestock
farmers;
- assist, via the CAP, operators taking risks by
entering short supply chains for protein-based food and
feed;
- support greater self-sufficiency of farms in animal feed at both farm and regional
level and for ruminants as well as for mono-gastric animals,
including through on-farm feed production;
- increase the profitability of these crops and to develop practices such as crop
rotation (over a minimum of three years) and under-sowing for
leguminous crops, and increase the mixing of varieties and crops in
the pulse (clover/rape, triticale/peas etc.) and forage (grass,
clovers, meslins, etc.) production sectors, in order to shift
towards a more sustainable agri-food system, supporting a shift
from input-intensive crop monocultures within and outside the EU
towards a diversified agro ecological system;
- invest massively in research, particularly on crop varieties, to make protein
crops more economically attractive and their production more
competitive and to increase their yield.
Plan’s
instruments:
Members stressed that this plan calls for the mobilisation and
coordination of several EU policies: the CAP; research
policy; environmental and climate action policies; energy policy;
the neighbourhood policy and trade policy.
It is important for the CAP to support
protein crop cultivation by means of different measures such as
the voluntary coupled payment – which should not be
restricted to crops and regions, in difficulty in order to give
scope for more action – and the greening payment, and by means
of the second pillar, particularly through agro-environmental
measures on organic and other types of farming, investment quality,
the Farm Advisory System (FAS), training and of course
innovation.
Parliament stressed the need to:
- introduce new instruments to help increase the
supply of plant proteins, in particular soya, and to ensure
equitable implementation across all the Member States;
-
secure autonomy in soya supplies
by cooperating more closely with the EU’s
neighbourhood. Members supported the establishment of
transparent product labelling systems based on certified
production standards, such as the Danube Soya and Europe Soya
standards;
- adjust the second pillar of the CAP to provide better
recognition of and remuneration for the contribution of crops that
feed pollinators at critical times of the season (early
flowering plants in spring) and their role in fighting pollinator
decline.