Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development Ordinary meeting
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AGRI European Parliament
Follow its sittingsMaria Noichl
There's a direct context between heavy rains trickling down, etc. So I'd be interested in how we evaluate this mission's soil. You were talking about 100 points where good things are happening, labs providing information about the condition of the soils. But there's something else I would like to ask. Obviously, you're responsible for soils in the commission, and I'd like to draw your attention to the fact that with the new gap, there's a situation whereby everything to do with soil that came under eco schemes beforehand was 100% funded from Brussels, which could support soil, has been got rid of, it's now co-financing.
So on the one hand, we're saying that soil is the main issue in Europe. But on the other hand, we don't have 100% funding through the CAP. And member states are supposed to put something in there as well. But what about member states that don't get the funding? So in the future, I think we have to ensure that there will be funding, and we should have 100% support for well-cultivated soil.
But then obviously, this question of soil monitoring as well, obviously, what are we supposed to do with it? We've seen a bit of a belly flop beforehand. But you were talking about mission and the question of links to climate, water, and cancer. The things what are the links? Because you were saying that there are four different points, but maybe cancer, leave that on one side.
I'm not a doctor, so I won't say much about that. But soil, climate, and water are not three separate missions. It is a single mission. So I wonder whether anywhere this has all been linked together, or whether we have these individual pillars one next to the other. So thank you very much indeed for doing something in the commission about the soil because it's urgently needed.
Gilles Pennelle
UNIDENTIFIED Next speaker, Jos Penale for the Patriots, please. Thank you, Chairman. Well, if someone is familiar with soil, it's a farmer.
A farmer is a gardener on his land, maintains the soil on a daily basis, and is responsible for the good health of the soil. And I'm saying this because some people still tend to stigmatize them, say that they're predators. And we've heard that here and elsewhere. Since day one, the farmer understood that back in the Neolithic age, cultivated soil has to be irrigated and fed. But irrigation is an extremely important issue.
And here in this committee, at some point, we need to start thinking about water storage and irrigation, which is going to become increasingly important. And livestock breeding is also a guarantee of good soil quality. You can't reduce a bovine stock for reasons of ideology, for example, but at the same time, maintain good soil quality, because limiting meadowland is putting other priorities forward and maybe therefore impoverishing soil. Now organic farming doesn't protect the soil more, unlike what people have said. Some of the organic inputs are bad for the soil as well.
So let's trust our farmers. Let's involve them in these living labs that we heard about. We need our farmers. We need a flourishing farming world in our countryside, because the less farmers we have, the less healthy our soils will be.
Bert-Jan Ruissen
Thank you, chair. And thank you to the commission as well for your presentation on the EU Commission for Soil Health. Healthy soil is incredibly important. I think I'd agree with the commission on that, and what others have already said about that. Healthy soil is important for our food production.
It's important for biodiversity. And I think it's also very important to invest in the soil quality. And hence, it's very important to adopt good practices and exchange those practices. And I think the missions that the EU is organizing can provide an important role in doing this, and it's important to underscore continuing these missions even under the new Horizon programs. So the exchange of good practices is extremely important.
Now where I'm more hesitant is the approach that's being chosen within the framework of the soil framework directive, which is focused very much on controlling soil quality, with all the monitoring obligations. And you'd be right in asking questions about whether that level of centralized decision-making is important. If it's national or regional, then surely the soil is important. What is cross-border about that? But, okay, we've got the soil directive.
And I'm a bit worried about bureaucracy, red tape. Hence, the question I'd like to put to the commission is what's the state of play when it comes to the implementation of the soil directive? And how is the commission ensuring that the farmers aren't being confronted with an overwhelming administrative burden because of the soil directive?
Ciaran Mullooly
Thank you, chair and colleagues, and thank you indeed for the presentation this morning. Renew welcomes this practical approach and this practical proposal to protect, to restore, and to maintain healthy soils across the European Union. I think this is exactly the kind of initiative we should support. It's practical. It's science-based and grounded in the real experience of farmers and rural communities right across our union.
Agriculture is already facing the effects of climate change. We know that flooding, drought, and wind erosion. And we know that healthy soil performs better. It holds water better, supports stronger growth, and gives greater resilience in difficult conditions. We've seen this on the ground.
We should also remind ourselves that it can take a thousand years to create just one centimeter of soil, so that soil can disappear in one torrential rainstorm. This is why prevention is so important. So once soil is damaged, restoring it is neither quick nor indeed easy to do. What is especially positive about this mission is that it links research with practical action. It is not research for the shelf.
It's research designed to deliver solutions that can work at the coalface of farming and make a real difference. So I'm pleased to say that I support this. And Ireland hosts a full mission-aligned living lab to the Sol Cartes project. It brings together the technological university of the Shannon with Ballyhara development, Clock Jordan Community Farm, Loop Head, and the Kraken Seeds Limited company, all working together at the coalface of farming across Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary. It's a very good example of how the European policy comes together with local communities and researchers to deliver practical results.
Healthy soil is indeed the foundation of sustainable agriculture, food security, and resilient rural areas. I wish you well in achieving the results, the goal of establishing 100 live labs in the EU, and I'll do my part to encourage more in my region. For that reason, Renew is very pleased to support this proposal. Thank you.
Tilly Metz
Thank you very much. On the one hand, I am very happy about this mission, soil. And, but on the other hand, I think we know exactly what to do in order to have healthy soils. And we are completely aware, and so is the commission, of the need to implement really a one health approach because, as also Maria Neuschel said, if we speak about climate, if we speak about water, it is all linked. We know what to do to avoid erosion, therefore, we need to avoid bare soils.
We need cover crops. We need more agroforestry. We need paludiculture. We need to reduce synthetic chemicals on the soil. We need to enhance diversity above and below the ground.
So and we need, of course, as I said already, reduce the risk of floods and droughts. And this approach will then lead to more fertile farmland. And please, let's not spread this information. We know that intensive farming is bad also for the soils and for the water. But, of course, if we have a livestock that respect the natural boundaries, yes, then we can speak that this could be hand in hand by protecting also the diversity of the soils.
But saying that intensive farming is good for the soils, I found that a little bit. I don't know the word in English, sorry, for that. So we need to protect the water, the soils, and this is also in the interest of the health of the farmers, of the health of our citizens, and it's guaranteeing the future of our culture, of our farmers, and of our food sovereignty. So just let's act and use this 40 billion that I mentioned in a coherent way. Thank you.
Luke Ming Flanagan
Thank you very much. A very important thing to do. Without soil, we won't have food, and without food, we won't have life. So it's fairly obvious we've got to protect them. I think what we're trying to do here makes a lot of sense, but it is only going to measure the health of our soils.
It isn't necessarily going to improve the health of our soils. And to improve the health of our soils, various different directives, regulations were mentioned: nature restoration, water framework, lots of other things were mentioned. But ultimately, to do a lot of this stuff, we need to incentivize farmers to do a lot of this work, and to incentivize them, well, surprise surprise, we need money, and we now have less money than ever. I would have been in favor of the nature restoration law, but what I wouldn't have been in favor of is there was no actual real budget put in place, and if you do that, all you do is turn people against doing what needs to be done if you don't provide funding. And at a time when there is less money available for farming, less money available for everything other than buying tanks and guns to basically kill people, and you'd have to question how serious we are about the soil.
One area that I haven't heard mentioned yet is the whole idea of agroforestry and the benefits of that, but yet again you need money to incentivize people to do this, and we have never made less money available. So if you have a shopping list, and we do have a shopping list, and they are essential goods that we're looking to buy, unfortunately, we're going to the shop with no money. At the moment, we're a bit like a child at Christmas with a big long list, but I have news for you, Santa Claus isn't going to pay for this. We've got to pay for it. It's really important to do.
I agree with the idea of it and actually be worried about what results we're going to find, though, because we're not investing enough in this area.
Ivan David
We are talking about the relationship between soil quality and farming. Actually, the correlation is not as simple as it might seem because farming, when done well, can contribute to improve soil health and soil quality, but it can also lead to soil degradation. This can be linked to intensive livestock farming, also growing utilitarianism, this kind of orientation, and also the fact that less and less manure is brought onto the fields, which reduces soil productivity. Irrigation can be beneficial, but it can also mean that some water streams simply disappear. This is what happened next to the Aral Sea or a lake where a major river no longer flows into the lake because all of the water is consumed for irrigation. At the same time, it needs to be said that if we use deep wells for irrigation, which used to be the case in ancient Mesopotamia, this resulted in soil salinization and the soil becoming infertile.
So yes, we need these measures, but there are no easy solutions for improving soil health and soil quality. Generally speaking, if we remove a green cover, then there is not enough humus, which would normally form naturally. It used to be as happened in Ukraine over hundreds and thousands of years, with black soil being created this way. And if we do not add manure to the fields, then, of course, the organic component in the soils goes down. So again, the correlation is not so easy, and we need to maintain our soil in good health.
Thank you.
Daniel Buda
Thank you very much indeed for all your inputs. Before I give Mr. Kangofano the floor, I would like to stress some of the questions regarding soil. Farmers, I believe, are the people most involved in the question of soil quality and maintaining that quality, indeed, because it's something that can't be replaced. Your tractor breaks down, you can replace it.
Animals can be replaced, but you can't replace the soil. Farmers are fully aware of what maintaining soil quality is all about because the profitability, the yield of their farms depends on the quality of the soil. So clearly, it's very important for us to have the best practices and make them available to the farmers. I would like to stress the partnership with universities, with the academic world. We have to find the best cooperation channels and make those available to farmers, so that they can implement on their farms.
Very often, work around the clock. They don't have the time to see what they can do to reduce salination of the soil that we heard mentioned beforehand. So we need research. We also need financial support for the farmers. We need to follow a track of maintenance for future generations.
We need to use our soils in a rational way. Someone was saying beforehand, we need to solve the housing problem through renovating rundown houses as they exist now. We have to understand that farmers know that they need good quality soil, and that we should also be concerned about the sustainability of soil for future generations. Farmers need information that they can then use on their farms to ensure the sustainability of the farm, but also to maintain this wealth for future generations. So, sir Darek, you have 8 minutes to respond to the questions which have been asked.
Thank you very much, Mister Thel, and thanks to all of the participants in this discussion. I really thank all of you, because I think we all agree that soil is important. There is consensus in this meeting room that soil is crucial for farmers. I mean, normally, when I come here, we and the commission come and we get questions from you. This time, I am here to tell you openly, please help us.
Help us to disseminate this sole mission program. We need your input. You are from 27 nationalities. You are very well connected at home. We are going to spend money in the next few years, and we want openly your help to disseminate the soil mission.
Let me reply to some of the points which were raised today. Mister Doffman, I think he's not in the meeting room, but the indicators of the 60% soil degraded come from the joint research center, and it covers agricultural soil, but also all kinds of soil. And, actually, for agriculture, the figure is even worse. So those are indicators public used by the joint research center and all duties to improve the quality of soil. Second to madam Moyle, again, thank you very much for her remarks.
And, we want to reach 100 living labs. That's the objective. So we are in 45. Very likely, we will reach more than 100 living labs, which is already very good. And the beauty of the living labs, as some of you said, is that it's farmers talking to farmers.
If there's something I learned in my career in DG Agri, it's that farmers listen to farmers. Farmers maybe don't listen to me, but farmers listen to farmers. And it's very important that we do these living labs with the involvement of farmers. And, again, we are 45. We need to have more, and we want your help to have more living labs.
I totally agree with you. We don't work in silos. I agree with what you said about one health. We work with the College of Water. Of course, we work with the College of Water.
Of course, we work with the College of climate change. We don't work in isolation. The missions are interconnected. But I am here for the sole mission. I'm asking openly for your help.
For mister Penel, I will answer in French because I fully agree with something he said, that we should trust our farmers. I fully agree with that. It's what he was saying about good soil quality. As I was saying beforehand, one of the interesting things behind this project is that we are working with farmers. It's not purely academic research.
It's research and work done in the field with farmers. And I believe that will help us improve soil quality with them, and then because farmers listen to other farmers.
And your congratulations for what you did yesterday. Well done. Thank you very much. A fantastic report you produced on behalf of DG AGRI. On the Soil Framework Directive, I took your point about bureaucracy, I knew.
And, I mean, this new directive, there are no new obligations for farmers, as you know. So we are confident that farmers will not be affected, and our colleagues of this environment are monitoring this directive. So I hope your point will be taken into account. I was particularly pleased to hear our Irish colleague, Mister Muloney, about the living lab in Ireland in Tipperary. Indeed, it's one of the most famous examples we have.
I hope we would have more. Again, we have money. We are going to spend the money, and we want your help to boost these living labs all around the 27 member states. I also agree with madam Mertz on the one implement one health indeed. I think it's totally agreeable.
For Mister Flanagan, we do have money for his concern. He mentioned, in particular, agroforestry. In the calls, we are going to make public which are public, 370000000. There is one particular topic to financial agroforestry, and we do have a partnership of financial agroecology, which is not exactly agroforestry, but we do have money, €370,000,000. And again, my message is please help us to spend well this money in your countries.
And I think that was all, mister Buddha. You know, I agree with you, what you said. And I want to get again to reiterate my message. I'm here to try to get your interest in the mission soil. We need you.
We have money. We're going to spend it. So please help us in disseminating the mission of SOUL in your authorities. Thank you very much, Mr. Buda.
Thank you very much indeed for your comments there. Yes, we are all aware of the importance and the need to have this exchange. So I think that your input has been very positive. Farmers are obviously interested in exchanging good practices among themselves. They're less interested in communications from the authorities.
There's a degree of resistance there. But obviously, it's up to us to provide them with the necessary information, the necessary framework in order to be able to have this experience exchange because we're all interested together in the sustainability of our farming world, food security for future generations. It all depends on healthy soil. So we are part of your efforts to spread that information. If the financing is available, it has to be spent on our common objective, which is soil health.
That said, I would like to now move to the next item on our agenda. The director has arrived, I see. This item addresses the situation in the Middle East and its implications for the agricultural sector. The war has upset maritime traffic and damaged energy infrastructure throughout the entire region. Energy prices have increased, and global trade has taken a downward turn.
Among other consequences, there's also been a drop in regional fertilizer exports. And fertilizers that are being exported have been affected by increases in production costs, particularly nitrogen-based fertilizers, which depend on gas coming from the Gulf States. And that further complicates a situation which has already been deteriorated by the invasion of Ukraine, and shows yet again how vulnerable and dependent Europe is. It's not easy to predict how the conflict will evolve. And so I'm very grateful to miss Brigitte Mison from DG Agri for having joined us today in order to share with us the commission's analysis of the situation and, in particular, stress that, in particular, to hear from her the measures to come from the commission to mitigate the impact.
Madam, I will give you the floor for 10 minutes, and then I will ask coordinators and members to raise any questions they may have.
Brigitte Misonne
Many thanks, chair. Good morning, honorable members of parliament. I understand that you are giving me 10 minutes. So it's the first time I have such a generous time dedicated to me, so thanks for that. I agree with your introduction.
We are in a particular situation that requires an exchange of views. So the Middle East crisis is indeed having a serious impact on the global economy and food security, in particular. Its effects are felt worldwide. Prices of energy and fertilizers, as you just mentioned, Cher, have steeply increased since March. Some figures for you: plus 54% for crude oil, plus 59% for gas, plus 20% to 50% for fertilizers, depending on the type of fertilizer.
So, what does it mean for farmers? It means, of course, rising input costs that are putting pressure on EU food production and contributing to inflation. In particular, escalating energy and natural gas prices are driving up fertilizer prices in the European Union. Even before the conflict escalated, the fertilizer market was under pressure for a series of reasons, including the anticipation of CBAM certificates to be paid in 2027. In the first four weeks of the conflict in the Middle East, EU prices further increased for most fertilizers.
Again, a set of percentages for you. Urea prices went up by close to 50%. If you want an exact number, that would be between $2.30 and EUR 2.50 per tonne compared to February, so before the conflict. While other nitrogen-based fertilizers increased by around 20% to 25%. So, that's where you see the difference in increase, depending on the type of fertilizer.
There are concerns here and there, so not overall, but sporadic concerns for certain spring crops or for the fertilization of the pastures. But overall, we assessed that fertilizer needs for this year's spring applications appear largely secured, and EU grain prices remain broadly stable. This gives some reflection time for us to better assess the upcoming impact on agricultural production. Seen from today, the outlook is uncertain, with continued volatility expected. Where does our attention focus now?
We focus on fertilizer needs for the next harvest, for the harvest of 2027, for which farmers will start planning their fertilizer needs in the coming weeks. Energy is another big concern for farmers. It's another big item in their costs, notably through diesel for machinery, but also gas and electricity for housing, for cold storage, for livestock and fruit and vegetable farms, among others. With time, we count between 3 to 6 months. Price increases for energy and fertilizers will trickle down to food prices.
The cost of energy for machinery and fertilizers represents between 10-35% of total cost of agricultural products, depending on the member states. In the food processing sector, because we do not look only at the agriculture part, but also at processing and retail. In the food processing sector, energy costs represent around 2% of the total costs. To give you another item for comparison, transport and warehousing inter processing costs in the inter processing sector represents 6.5% of total costs. And then in the retail sector, direct energy costs represent some 1% to 2% of the total costs.
In other words, there are extra costs in all stages of the food supply chain: agriculture, processing, and retail. Other potential impacts could come from possible shortages of food packaging, food contact materials, food-grade carbon dioxide, or feed additives and vitamins. Concerns also relate to the possible cumulative impact of prolonged disruptions in logistics and trade flows, leading to increased costs and reduced reliability of trade. The blockade of the Hormuz Strait is affecting EU trade with the region. And this, according to our assessment, amounts to some €12,000,000,000 annually.
But now you will tell me the situation has somewhat changed. As we all know, two days ago, a two-week ceasefire was announced. And as part of this ceasefire, Iran is to allow safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. In response to that announcement, because markets also react only to announcements before reacting to what happens on the ground. So in response, prices for crude oil dropped by 15% to USD 93 per barrel yesterday morning.
And gas prices dropped as well by 17% to €44 per megawatt-hour yesterday morning. So you see the immediate impact of what happens or what is announced. Nevertheless, it is not yet clear if and how quickly ship traffic in the Strait of Hormuz could attain prewar levels during the two weeks of the ceasefire, and therefore, how much oil and gas can reach world markets. Regarding the economic consequences, all will depend on whether the ceasefire holds, how quickly trade in oil and gas is restored, and to what extent prices reach prewar levels. Challenges linked to high and volatile energy and fertilizer prices pose risk for EU agricultural production and competitiveness and are a particular source of concern.
I'm, of course, eager to listen to your perception of those developments, and I will be pleased to give you more details when I intervene after your various interventions, including going through what we have in mind as a course of action from the commission side. But if you agree, Chair, I would first want to listen to honorable members of parliament, and I will come back afterwards. Many thanks.
Thank.
Daniel Buda
Thank you very much, madam director. I'm just trying to check the current price of a barrel of oil. A $110, it is. So it seems to have gone up over the recent days. I'll be speaking on behalf of our coordinator, Mr. Herbert Doffman.
So, madam director, you've given us a detailed analysis of the current situation, a situation we're aware of. We know what's going on on the ground in our own member states. Today, farmers are under unacceptable pressure. We've got the war in Ukraine. Then we have the increase in the cost of the price of fertilizers because of carbon tax.
We've asked the commission to postpone the implementation of that. And now we have a crisis where I have to say, the farmers cannot cope by themselves with these challenges. I think we need to call a spade a spade. We need to have some sort of intervention to help farmers get through April and May. There's no point giving the farmers money after the sowing campaign in May.
What's going to happen in August if they haven't got the fertilizers they need in the spring? So it's extremely important that the European Commission intervene immediately and set up support mechanisms, financial instruments that will allow farmers, on the one hand, to buy the fuel they need, and also, on the other hand, to buy the quantities of fertilizers that they find absolutely necessary that they need to use at the most opportune time. Because there's another problem, madam director. The quantities available on the market at the moment in Romania, the farmers are telling me that apart from the high prices of fertilizers, there's a shortage of fertilizers. They don't have suppliers they can rely on to provide fertilizers regardless of the price you're prepared to pay.
And that's why I'm saying there has to be an immediate intervention to make available financing to farmers to allow them to deal with the increased prices on the one hand that farmers are facing, but also to make sure that there's enough fertilizer on the market for them. If we react too late, it will be too late to correct things at a later stage. I know that you will mention options that the commission may have at its disposal, but I'd first like to give the floor to other colleagues, other coordinators, Ms. Maestro for the social syndemocrats.
Thank.
Cristina Maestre
Thank you very much indeed. Well, we're very grateful to the European Commission for providing us with this information. I think we here and society as a whole are fully aware of what a war means and how it's always the same people that pay the cost of war. Some people are making money, but they're a long way away. Trump is lining his pockets because of this war.
But we're seeing the 55% increases in fuel prices will be going up to 60%. And our citizens are struggling to deal with these prices, including our farmers. And we always end up at the same points that we have in common, the fragility of the sector, speculation, because we're seeing speculative movements going on right now as well. On food prices, we've seen how inputs have increased, the difficulties the farming sector has to access those inputs, and how immediately we are seeing prices going up for wheat, maize, soya, which has gone up exponentially, palm oil, coffee are the most affected. And that's obviously affecting the costs for oils, animal protein, breads, things that we or the least well-off classes consume most.
There isn't a single two, but I do know there are many options. And I'm rather surprised that, given what's going on, the European Commission has still not rolled out one of them. There's a lot to be done, but we have to start, yes, by controlling price fixing that's in the hands of third parties, a lot of them speculators. We also have to strengthen our farmers. And with all of these crises, with all of the shocks going on in the farming sector, the only thing the European Commission is offering is a CAP reform, which is going to further weaken the sector.
So eyes wide open is even more wide open to hear what the commission is going to come up with, which it hasn't managed to come up with in a full month now. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Daniel Buda
Before giving the floor to the next speaker, I'd just like to mention that Jeremy Dassault is here representing farmers from the West of France. So welcome here in our committee. I wish you every success in everything you do. So we'll continue now with Mr. Penal for the Patriots.
Gilles Pennelle
Thank you very much, Chair. Well, it's obvious that the war in the Middle East has a very important impact on our farmers, both on fuel and fertilizers. But I'd like to come back to the fertilizer issue. In reality, the European Union shoulders a large amount of responsibility. And even before this war, that was the case.
Our behavior, our approach to Russian gas, first and foremost, but also in certain member states, such as in France, a ban on exporting this form of shale gas, whereas the Americans are exporting shale gas in large amounts, and also CBAM. I was the only one here, the only group that voted against this originally. And now we're seeing the price of fertilizers skyrocketing, while at the same time, this is my fourth point, the European Union has not found itself in a position to assert itself as having autonomy on fertilizer production. The massive crisis in 2022, no lessons have been learned. So we've seen this war in the Middle East, which once again is revealing our weaknesses, our vulnerabilities.
Because this crisis, obviously, is showing that we are completely and hopelessly dependent. We have no strategy to implement a fertilizer production in-house. The best way of confronting this crisis and indeed future ones as well, because unfortunately, we know we live in a world which is incredibly unstable. The best solution then to confront these crises is for us to produce our own. I know for some people, produce production or to produce is rude, but that we should be producing our own things and not having to import.
We need to link up with other great powers. Also, some people see that as a dirty word as well. But more and more, the cases that were dependent on other areas because of free trade agreements. We're seeing this with fertilization. The crisis in the Middle East is just worsening a situation that already existed.
The commission should not start talking about the news, watch things as they go by idly, and finally act to show that the commission can help us regain our independence.
Jessika van Leeuwen
thank you very much, chair. Since the escalation of the Middle East conflict and disruption in the traffic of the Strait of Hormuz, energy prices have gone up. We see this ourselves in petrol stations, but farmers are seeing a steep increase in production costs. Due to the increase of natural gas prices, the production of nitrogen fertilizers is up 70% to 80%. We are now in a seeding process, and farmers need to choose their conventional crops or alternative ones that require less nitrogen.
We are at risk of running into shortages for, for instance, maize. But we have a simple solution: apply more manure. But we can only do this with a revision of the nitrate directive, and we need it now. When will the commission finally understand that this is the solution to a problem we have? There was no mention of this in your statement, so I would really like to ask you, please go back to commissioner Roswell and say that we expect action now.
A second very concerning situation is about the fact that this whole crisis has an impact on the prices of amino acids, like lysine, which is the first limiting amino acid for pigs, and methionine, which is the first limiting one for cows and feed additives. They went up by almost 70%. And as a European Union, we're extremely dependent on amino acid imports. Without these amino acids, our animals cannot produce as efficiently and as sustainably and will require more feed, resulting in higher greenhouse gas emissions. It also risks an increase in the need for therapeutic antibiotics.
So is this really what we want, Commission? Is this really in line with sustainable agriculture, the sustainable livestock production that we have in mind? It completely undermines what the EU stands for. So we need also a strategy on how to limit the price increases on amino acids and feed additives, and we also need a long term strategy on how we think we're going to decrease our dependency on third countries. Thank you.
Elsi Katainen
Thank you, Chair, and thanks for the commission. This ongoing situation in the Middle East has already had a significant impact on the European agriculture sector, and we don't know if the situation is getting any better. At the moment, it doesn't look good. This situation also highlights the importance of the Commission's Fertilizer Action Plan. One concrete step is to make natural cycling more efficient and easier to implement.
This requires rethinking the waste framework directive so that treated manure is no longer classified as waste. Rather, it should be understood as a valuable resource within a circular bioeconomy. I would like to ask how the Commission is taking this into account in the development of the new action plan? And how is the commission going to deal with the increase in the prices of inputs? Are there any support measures, financial assistance, or other medicating measures planned?
We have to achieve a stronger independence regarding our energy and fertilizers. This situation is increasingly weakening farm profitability, which is truly desperate in this profitability situation when the commission is even cutting the agricultural subsidies. How does the commission intend to ensure that unfair trading practices are prevented and that products receive a decent produce price on the market? Thank you.
Luke Ming Flanagan
Thank you very much. In order to get out of a place where you don't wanna be, you've gotta work out how you got there in the first place. And this one word will explain exactly why we are here today, and that is Trump. Donald Trump. If Donald Trump wasn't trying to cover up for the fact that he is a pedophile, we wouldn't be dealing with this, because this man will do absolutely anything to take attention away from the sort of monster that he is.
And unfortunately, we are now paying the price. So the number one thing we could do here today is to appeal to American politicians to impeach. He is the person who has brought us here. Immediately, what can we do? Because this problem needs to be dealt with immediately.
We need to look at rules around minimum VAT rates on fuels. We also need to look at, as a previous speaker mentioned, the nitrates directive if there is an issue with spreading natural fertilizer which we are going to potentially have to depend upon, we need to do something about that. We also need to look more long term, as many of the previous speakers have said, and at the beginning of this mandate and with the election of this commission, we heard the two-word phrase strategic autonomy. But the only thing we have striven for strategic autonomy on, as far as I can see, is producing the weapons of death, guns, bombs, tanks and military stuff. What we should be looking at is strategic autonomy when it comes to how we fertilize our crops, strategic autonomy when it comes to energy through electrification, strategic autonomy when it comes to production of our proteins, and to be realistic when we set livestock levels so they can actually be fed off our land because ultimately what we have found is we are on our own.
Ireland joined the European Union, and we were told the positives were we could do more together. We could actually do everything together if we concentrated on it and made a plan and did it, because whether we want to do it or not, we are going to have to do it, so we're as well to plan for it.
Daniel Buda
Ladies and gentlemen, the European Parliament is a space where we ensure freedom of speech, but I think we should all be careful that we stick to speaking about the subject of debate, rather than raising issues that have nothing to do with our committee. Mister Flanagan, you're talking about Donald Trump. This is perhaps not of interest because we're looking at agriculture.
Ivan David, please.
Ivan David
Chair, please allow me to disagree strongly. We do need to address the causes and the origins of the current situation, and these are not inside farming. So from this agricultural committee, we cannot deal with these. The situation was caused by repeated aggressive action by the US. For many years, the US used to be presented to us as the main ally of the EU.
And now we must be asking ourselves the question, to what extent does the EU continue to be a beneficial partner for the EU? This is a key question to be asked. It's not only about Trump because Maidan, the Maidan revolution in Ukraine, was funded by the US with similar intention to weaken the competition and to gain advantage. Although, in the long term, military experts in the U. S.
Have been warning against any attacks against Iran, because Iran precisely might try to block the Hormuz Strait, which is what happened. So these are the true causes of the current situation. And as for the EU, I am convinced that we must ensure and make our utmost in order that the commission doesn't make the situation deteriorate further. We must seek ways to compensate for the missing supplies. And, also, through ETS allowances, we must not make the fertilizer production in the EU even more expensive. Thank you.
Daniel Buda
Thank you very much. Now next speaker, Missus Deloche, for one minute, please.
Valérie Deloge
Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. The flames from the Gulf are engulfing our fields. The Strait of Hormuz is a strategic passage where 30% of fertilizer trade goes through, and that is a choke point for us. It's getting worse from week to week. We're already captured by not being able to get the gas from where we want, and the price of urea going up hurts even more.
And we're seeing this problem occurring at a time when we need to plant new seeds for this year. The fields are disappearing. Crops will disappear, and this is affecting French exports as well. It's not the first time that fertilizer has been hit by this sort of crisis. We've seen this coming back again.
And bad things come in threes. We're getting the food crisis that's also gonna affect us, following on from this war. We're seeing this come back again and again. So where's the strategy at the European level? There need to be measures taken to protect our farmers.
How does the commission intend to stimulate fertilizer production within the European Union in order to protect our agricultural independence? Thank you.
Dario Nardella
Thank you, chair. Well, unfortunately, the American president Trump's scenario of trying to stage issues in the Persian Gulf to avoid us talking about other things is a problem. We're seeing a clear violation of international law, and we, the Europeans, are footing the bill for all of this, starting first and foremost with the price of fuel, but also the cost of food. Now people haven't spoken about this a lot. The issues of the Persian Gulf, that is an absolute crucial center of trade for these issues.
We're seeing 30 to 35% of the world production of urea that goes through this, and ammonia exports as well. Then we have the problem of fuel. For fertilizers, we don't have any strategic reserves that are coordinated at the international level. And all of this has an effect on prices. Prices have skyrocketed for rice, fruit, and cereal.
The FAO has a report on the impact of the war on the whole global agro food system that says that farmers' incomes could be reduced in a very short space of time by 200%, and this is something that's gonna affect them directly. So I have a question. Why isn't the commission immediately reacting by establishing an emergency plan for the agro-food sector? This isn't a commodity. It's a strategic asset of European interest.
Why not accelerate the fertilizer plan, because we have a dire need for that at this stage? Thank you.
Ciaran Mullooly
Thank you, chair, and thank you to the commission for the update on, as you say, chair, what we know of what's going on in Europe at the moment. I'm watching pictures, chair, on my mobile phone of tanks, army tanks going into parts of my member state, Ireland, sent there by the Irish government this morning to remove farmers from the sides of the roads, public roads, where they are protesting over the price of fuel. And I'm saying to myself, is this an immature reaction? Is this should we not be trying to create some dialogue with farmers and show them positivity in terms of what can be achieved in the coming months? But no, we're going with a hammer.
And I remind the members in this room that this decision was made by the president, the Taoiseach of our country, who'd be president of Europe in July. This is his mature judgment. Is this to go out with a hammer this morning, sending in the defense forces, an army to take farmers. Farmers need answers. They need dialogue.
They need hope. They need commitments going forward. They need from the member states, the tax issue, the VAT issue has to be relooked at immediately. But this house, this commission has to play its role. We need to see urgent stated flexibility, which will allow people to be prioritized in the coming months.
And I think the commission asked the commission to look at expanding and fast tracking state aid for haulage, agriculture, fisheries who are on their knees as well, our rural SMEs, and households dependent on home heating oil. I really think we need a new EU level emergency fund. We need, we're going to need this. It's not a short-term problem. We're going to need a new RRF-style emergency resilience instrument at European level.
We're going to need it in autumn. We should start preparing for it. So I appeal to the commission to start progress on this issue immediately. And for God's sake, treat individuals as human beings. Do not be sending tanks out to remove farmers from the side of the road.
It's disgusting.
Christine Singer
Thank you very much. The conflict in the Near East is really like dropping a stone in water, and the ripple effect is reaching us here in Europe. And what we don't see is a direct supply crisis, but a cost explosion throughout the added-value chain. And when the Gulf Of Hormuz is, of course, if it's blocked, well, then diesel is more expensive, fertilizers are more expensive, and therefore, our food is more expensive. So it's not really a question of supply, but it's a lack of transparency because price shocks actually occur faster than reliable information can.
So we would like to ask the commission, how reliable is your data on the amount of fertilizer available globally? Where are their deficiencies? And what are the market expectations? And how do you see the producers are going to be able to continue in the Near East and in the Middle East? And then, how do you see the impact of energy production in those areas being hampered in the long term?
And what kind of results would you see on global food security? And what is the status of the implementation of the European fertilizer action plan? Thank you.
Pekka Toveri
Thank you, speaker. Thank you for the commission for a good briefing. I'd say that one only thing we can be sure about is that we're gonna face crisis coming decades. New crisis will come after Iran will come something new. So we need a long-term preparedness.
And as my colleague, mister Penel, said, I would be very interested to hear what the EU commission is to do to prevent this kind of surprises to affect us as deeply. We need to be more resilient. We need to be more sustained. But for example, in fertilizers, what are the actions we are now taking in order to be self-sustained, not depending on the dictatorships like Belarus and Russia in these issues, and also taking into account that the long supply chains we are depending on. Now this crisis in Hormuz may be a message what the things will be like in the future, that the maritime lines are congested and the straits are also taxed or used to stop and blackmail us around the world, and how commission is analyzing these possible maritime threats in the future.
Thank you.
Benoit Cassart
Chairman, I'm worried. I'm worried to hear the commission's reaction to the fertilizer crisis. They're telling us that there's security of supply for this season. But then on the other hand, they're saying that there is a guaranteed stability of cereal prices. Now do you realize you're talking about the stability of a price, which is, well, below the production cost?
I find that really worrying. It's not reassuring at all. And let me explain why. Right now, production costs, like fertilizers, are far too high because of the fact that Europe has no strategy or autonomy in production terms, but also because we have environmental standards, which have forced fertilizer prices up. So the European farmer is stuck between sales prices attached to world prices, which are low, and these production costs.
And that's the cancer that's eating away at European agriculture. And that's basically what needs to be changed. This is a great example of the situation of the fertilizer crisis, of what's strangling European agriculture. Thank you.
Thank.
Camilla Laureti
You, chair. Well, we're all looking at the consequences of the war in Iran and the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, given the air sources of energy and that lion's share of fertilizers that we need for agriculture pass through this strait. So looking at the cost of energy, it's not just our farmers who are paying the bill for this. And we're seeing that everybody is having to pay, because a secondary effect is an increase in the cost of food. So I think there are two steps we need to take.
First of all, an emergency measure to help out at this juncture, because at this point in time, our farmers are having to spend more to produce in the same way, and the consumers are paying more for food. Secondly, however, we shouldn't make these crises worse. Let's not waste these crises. We need to look to increasing strategic autonomy in both terms of the sources, which need to be more renewable energy sources, not fossil fuels, and also look at fertilizer production. Let's work more on this sector of organic fertilizers.
Let's do better there. That will help everybody. It will help the European agricultural soils as well, but also our strategic autonomy won't need to pay the consequences if this happens again when wars like we've seen in Iran erupt. Thank.
Willemien KONING
In some countries, including The Netherlands, farmers can't use their own manure that's produced as fertilizer. They have to import it. So getting rid of actual manure to import a chemical fertilizer is a bit silly. There should be possibilities now to allow farmers to use their own manure more, so they don't need to buy chemical fertilizer. Can the commission think about this in main lines, and adopt the laws?
Thank.
Daniel Buda
colleagues. Now I'm going to give the floor to the director to give us some brief remarks concerning what the colleagues have just said. It's not that we are going to evaluate the situation in terms of Trump or Israel, but rather what we can do. We have to, as the EU, have the ability to take action independently. For example, with the seeds in Romania, we have a factory which is able every year to produce 2.3 tons of seeds, and now it's closed.
It's closed because of the current developments. And so if the commission doesn't take action in order to ensure the production capacity, so we're no longer dependent on what the president does or not? I think those are the crucial questions because we have an infrastructure that we should be able to use, so why aren't we using it? Because we're dependent on imports. Colleagues, it's quite a challenge for the future.
And of course, it concerns ensuring food security, food production, so we're dependent on fertilizer, fuel, and other aspects as well where we could potentially be dependent. So I think it would be like to hear something in concrete terms. What kind of concrete measures could be taken to support agriculture today, not tomorrow, not later, because they need help right now in order to ensure and guarantee the food supply in Europe? Please, the commission.
Brigitte Misonne
Thank you, Chair, and thanks to all the honorable members of Parliament who took the floor. I think that we can safely say that we have, sorry.
Brigitte Misonne
Shared perception of risks coming from the present situation for the farming community, the farming sector. We also have a shared objective. And several of you have mentioned the importance of strategic autonomy. And yes, we agree that this Middle East crisis shows again how crucial it is for Europe to develop this open, strategic autonomy. With regard to fertilizers, as you know, we have already taken measures at the start of this year.
So before the conflict, several of you again have referred to the fact that there were problems already with regard to fertilizers before the conflict started. And those measures were, in particular, to open tariff-free quotas for ammonia, urea and certain nitrogen fertilizers from countries other than Russia and Belarus. So this was done. The second measure was to have a so-called flat 1% markup applied to the default values for embedded emissions from fertilizers, which is significantly lower than in other CBAM-affected sectors. So we have not waited to take those measures.
They have been taken. And at the same time, we are working on this fertilizer action plan that several of you have referred to as well. So this plan is about to be shared, but we have next Monday a high-level dialogue with all stakeholders concerned, stemming from farmers to fertilizer industry to academics, researchers, etcetera. And we want to wait for the findings of that particular dialogue to make sure that we have assessed all the elements before finalizing this fertilizer action plan. But to give you an idea of what we have in mind for the fertilizer action plan, let me just refer to two types of measures: short term ones and long term ones.
Again, many of you have referred either to the short-term or the long-term need in this respect. So we will tackle both in the fertilizer action plan. And let's say that we have in mind four main axes. So the first one, and again, it has been mentioned by several of you, is to reduce our dependency on imports. The second one that goes hand in hand with that first axis is to increase domestic production.
So, again, strategic autonomy. And there, of course, hand in hand with our climate objectives, environmental objectives, we will promote, we will continue promoting the decarbonization of the fertilizer industry in Europe. Then the third axis will be to support farmers to use fertilizers more efficiently. There, I'm referring to precision farming, to how to make the use of fertilizers more rational, more efficient. And the fourth axis, also mentioned by some of you, is to promote the uptake of bio-based and low carbon fertilizers.
And of course, in that aspect, we are looking at all the possible valorization of manure, maybe not manure as such. We know the various constraints. But the derivatives, the technologies that are available to make it more transportable, for instance, to try to have a better approach also at European level between areas with surpluses and areas with deficits, for instance. So we have a lot of ideas that we will put in the depth fertilizer action plan. It will not be just a one-off, okay?
We put a plan on the table. We will continue our very close engagement with all the parties concerned: farmers, of course, the EU fertilizer industry, research academia, all commission services. Many of you have mentioned other legislation than the Common Agricultural Policy. So we will work on all those fronts together and in a continuum. Yes, we are closely monitoring the situation.
And yes, you also have access to those elements, if only by looking at prime time news. But what we do is also to try to increase transparency wherever possible on all aspects of fertilizer production, trying to make sure that the relevant elements in terms of production, trade, stocks, etc., prices are available to all. We are conscious that we are not yet there. We have a market, a fertilizer market observatory. It is not covering the full range of data that I'm mentioning.
But yes, we try to increase as much as we can the engagement of those who need to provide those data, respecting all confidentiality rules, etc. This takes time. This also requires trust between the various actors. So, it's a rather long-term process. But each time we have something that is possible to share, we share it.
And if you have a look at the fertilizer market observatory, you will see the latest reports published every month of where we are for the main fertilizers in terms of prices, and how they evolve from one month to the other, comparing also with historical levels. Some of you have mentioned state aid. Yes, indeed, colleagues from DG Competition, you know that state aid falls under the remit of DG Competition. They are also looking into state aid flexibilities, state aid temporary frameworks, state aid openings to try to help as much as possible. Some of you have mentioned support for farmers for fuel, diesel in tractors, etcetera.
This is mainly covered by member states' measures. And we are also compiling what member states are doing. And a number of them have been active already, trying to provide relief to their farmers. With regard to a fertilizer shortage, let me recall what I said in my introductory presentation. Our data, of course, we believe that they are reliable.
Our data show that apart from sporadic cases, most of fertilizer needs for the spring applications are available to farmers. So they are covered for the spring applications. The focus is to concentrate on the next harvest, the 2027 harvest, to make sure that fertilizer needs can be covered and can be affordable, of course, not just available but affordable. So that's where we will be working in the fertilizer action plan. So just to give you the overall picture of what we have in mind.
Yes, we are acting. No, we are not just looking at what is happening and reporting on that. We are acting, but we try to have a holistic view of it. And that takes a bit of time. And that's why, hopefully, early May, we should be able to go live with a comprehensive fertilizer action plan.
Many thanks.
Thank.
Daniel Buda
Thank you so very much, director, for that presentation and response. And the colleagues perhaps thought we could get some more concrete responses. But still, it was good if the commission could be aware of the fact that this is a war. And in wartime, then you have to take serious actions. You have to make communications.
You have to monitor and surveil to see this situation, and it could be too late if you wait to react. It has to be you have to be reacting in a rapid, resolute fashion, and it cannot all be up to the member states. And you have to, for example, in Romania, we were talking about reducing the VAT on fuel. But, I mean, that's one thing you can do, but we have to be aware of how difficult it is for farmers right now. May, June, July, if you have not been able to take any action now during the spring, it's simply going to be too late.
So we need some concrete responses from the commission. Those farmers who've been following along with today's meeting, well, they're expecting something from us. In a church, you turn to God and ask for help. And here, I think there's also the commission's responsibility in this case as well. But thank you very much for your participation, dear colleagues.
We have nothing under AOB. Just let me tell you that the fourth and fifth of May in Brussels, we're going to have our next meeting. And thank you very much, and have a nice afternoon.
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