food

The EU agri-food chain Observatory (AFCO) held its first meeting on Wednesday 17 July. Its objective is to better understand the functioning of the supply chain and bring increased transparency on prices, structure of costs and distribution of margins and added value, while respecting confidentiality and competition rules. The launch of this Observatory was first announced in March 2024 as one of the measures to strengthen the position of farmers in the food supply chain and reinforce the trust between all actors throughout the chain.

Solar Foods is a Finnish food tech startup that has created a way to produce a new, natural source of protein just out of air and electricity. What started as a research project carried out by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and LUT University has now grown into a successful start-up with more than 20 employees. Solar Foods has set itself an ambitious target: to revolutionise food production and help solve world hunger and the environmental problems caused by agricultural practices.

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, reported the European Commission. On average, though with substantial variation across Member States, organic farms are bigger than conventional farms and run by younger farm managers.