In focus areas
Ban on crop protection
The European Commission decided on Wednesday 14 June that there will be a ban on plant protection products in ecological focus areas.
A majority of parliament, 363 members, opposed the European Commission's proposal. However, a total of 374 votes are needed to reject the European Commission's proposal.
Prohibition is not environmentally friendly
"The European Commission's proposal to ban the use of plant protection products in ecological focus areas is not at all environmentally friendly," said Albert Deß, spokesman for the EPP Group in the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee. He regrets the result of the vote.
Protein cultivation is in danger
'With the proposal, the European Commission is endangering the EU's GMO-free protein cultivation and the associated protein strategy. That is why the required food must be imported from South America', says Deß. He reminded members that yields per hectare in South America are quite lower than in the EU. This would require approximately 1,2 hectares for 450.000 million tons of protein feed. In European hectares, that would only be 300.000 hectares.
To cultivate the imports, crop protection products are needed. In addition, the crops would not be GMO-free. So, according to Deß, this leads to the opposite of what the Commission wants. Imports from South America would also consume 44,6 million liters of oil. "That's not environmentally friendly."
Kimberly Baker
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