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In addition to input costs remaining above long-term average and some agricultural commodity prices declining, EU farmers have had to face diverse and difficult weather conditions in spring, leading to reduced yield projections and quality for several agricultural commodities. However, some early signs of improvements are arising at the horizon. For example, fertilisers have become more affordable following the drop in natural gas prices. While still above the general inflation rate, EU food inflation starts to stabilise.

There is considerable scope to improve soil health in Europe, according to a new report by the European Court of Auditors. The EU’s financial watchdog is critical of the bloc’s efforts to date to ensure sustainable soil management, and finds that the European Commission and EU countries did not make enough use of the financial and law-making tools at their disposal.

Global agricultural and food production are projected to continue to increase over the next ten years, but at a slower pace of growth than the previous decade due to demographic trends, according to a report released today by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The rural revitalisation platform has been launched last week during the Rural Pact Policy Action Lab event on depopulation. It stems from the EU Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas and its objective to support stronger rural areas by 2040.

The platform gathers information and resources for rural communities facing population loss, ageing and demographic decline. A wide range of stakeholders are invited to use the platform, from regional and local authorities to Local Action Groups, national CAP networks and any rural stakeholders working to revitalise their territory.

Today, the Commission adopted a package of measures for a sustainable use of key natural resources, which will also strengthen the resilience of EU food systems and farming.

The consumption of mineral fertilisers (nitrogen and phosphorus) in agricultural production in the EU was 10.9 million tonnes in 2021, equivalent to a year-on-year decrease of 2.2% compared with 2020 and a cumulative decline of 6.4% from the relative peak in 2017.

The Commission proposes to mobilise additional EU funding for EU farmers impacted by adverse climatic events, high input costs, and diverse market and trade related issues. The new support package will consist of €330 million for 22 Member States. In addition, Member States today approved the €100 million support package for farmers in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia presented on 3 May. Several other measures, including a possibility of higher advance payments should support farmers affected by adverse climatic events.

Teenovator is a national training programme for 16-17 years’ old young people, voluntary and free of charge. It was launched 5 years ago and this year there were over 500 participants from all over the country. Two mentors provide them entrepreneurial knowledge and experience in innovations for 9 months to help them build soft skills, prepare business plans, evaluate ideas, draft financial plans. They learn all that is necessary to start a business right away with minimum risk of failure.

According to reports seen by the Irish Independent, in order to meet the ambitious climate targets the Irish government has proposed putting up EUR 600 mln to pay for the culling of 65,000 cows per year over a three-year period.

The Irish government intends to have the country functioning with zero carbon emissions by 2050. In order to meet such lofty aims 10% of all livestock in Ireland would need to be “displaced” in the years ahead.

European Commission published a study on the contributions of the European Network for Rural Development (ENRD) and the National Rural Networks (NRN) to the implementation of the EU’s rural development policy. These two networks led to stakeholders being more involved in the day-to-day implementation of rural development projects in the period 2014-22. This resulted, among other things, in better implementation more suited to local needs.