Anew reportfrom the European Market Observatory for Fishery and Aquaculture Products (EUMOFA) shows how a series of crises—the COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine—have transformed Europe’s fisheries and shellfish sector. Between 2019 and 2024, the seafood supply chain in Europe faced three major crises in quick succession. First, the COVID-19 pandemic, […]
The Commission adopts a temporary state aid framework to support sectors affected by the crisis in the Middle East
The European Commission has adopted a temporary state aid framework to enable Member States to support the EU economy in the context of the Middle East crisis. The Temporary Framework for State Aid Measures in Response to the Crisis in the Middle East (METSAF) is a specific, temporary framework designed to address the effects of the […]
The Commission is releasing emergency funds to protect the fisheries and aquaculture sectors from the crisis in the Middle East
The European Commission has activated the crisis mechanism of the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF), which enables Member States to provide financial compensation to fishermen, aquaculture producers, processors and retailers whose livelihoods have been affected by the consequences of the conflict in the Middle East. This measure, which applies retroactively from 28 February […]
Commission proposes measures to support generational renewal in agriculture
The European Commission has presented last September 21 a ‘Strategy for Generational Renewal in Agriculture’, setting out a clear roadmap to support young farmers and attract more people to farming. The strategy aims to double the share of young farmers in the EU by 2040, with a goal of young and new farmers constituting about […]
Smart farming applications for more sustainable and efficient agriculture
The EU-funded SQAT project is developing a mapping service to tackle soil quality and sustainability issues in the agricultural industry. There has been a large uptake of precision agriculture applications in the past two decades. However, the way most farmers collect information about their soils remains mostly the same. Better data on soil properties would […]
Short-term outlook of agricultural markets: uncertainty remains a constant feature of EU farming
Agriculture remains impacted by several events outside of farmers’ control, such as climate and geopolitical crises, which continue to exert pressure on farmers. These have implications on productivity, trade, consumer demand, prices and ultimately on farmers’ income. Since the last short-term outlook (autumn 2023) and despite some favourable but limited developments in input costs, their […]
CORDIS: Boosting Europe’s wine sector with artificial intelligence
The introduction of precision farming in vineyards could help winegrowers to increase production efficiency and the competitiveness of this important sector. Today, the agricultural sector as a whole is under intense pressure. Farmers not only have to feed a growing world population, but also work more sustainably to protect the environment for future generations. Climate […]
Eurobarometer: Protecting animal welfare is essential for Europeans
Protecting the welfare of animals is essential for Europeans, as shown by the results of a Eurobarometer survey published. The Commission has been acting to improve animal welfare for over 40 years, progressively improving the lives of animals and adopting welfare standards in legislation that are amongst some of the highest in the world. This […]
Organic farming in the EU: a decade of growth
The share of EU agricultural land under organic farming increased by more than 50% over the period 2012-2020, with an annual increase of 5.7%. In 2020, 9.1% of the EU’s agricultural area was farmed organically. On average, though with substantial variation across Member States, organic farms are bigger than conventional farms and run by younger […]