Europatat, European Potato Trade Association
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Inside this issue:

Activities Europatat

Agricultural Policy

Plant Health Policy

Food Safety

Trade Policy

Sustainability

Research

  
 

Coronavirus updates
Activities Europatat

Europatat is monitoring the development of the coronavirus crisis, its impact on the potato market and the measures taken by the European Commission and other international bodies. Please, see below the latest information available:

AGRICULTURE

- Investment initiative plus: On 2 April, the European Commission (DG AGRI) announced a new set of measures to help the agri-food sector amid the coronavirus crisis. The Coronavirus response investment initiative plus (CRII+) introduces exceptional flexibility and simplification in the use of the European structural investment funds (ESIF), including the European agricultural fund for rural development (EAFRD). Regarding the EAFRD, the CRII+ will support farmers, rural areas and EU countries by increasing flexibility in the use of those funds, including:

  • Flexibility in the use of financial instruments: Farmers and other rural development beneficiaries will be able to benefit from loans or guarantees of up to €200,000 at favourable conditions, such as very low interest rates or favourable payment schedules.
  • Reallocation of funds: EU countries will be allowed to use money left unused under their rural development programmes (RDP), rather than sending it back into the EU budget. The money will still have to be used in the framework of the respective RDP.
  • Postponement for the submission of annual reports: the deadline for EU countries to submit these reports on the implementation of their RDPs is postponed, giving more time to national authorities to put it together.
  • No amendments to partnership agreements required: EU countries will not have to amend their partnership agreements to modify their RDPs, lifting some administrative procedures.

In addition to the measures directly linked to the EAFRD under the CRII+, the Commission is proposing further flexibility and simplification of other common agricultural policy (CAP) instruments:

  • Extension of deadline for CAP payment applications: the deadline will be extended by a month, from 15 May to 15 June 2020, offering more time to farmers to fill in their application for both direct payments and rural development payments.
  • Higher advances of payments: to increase the cash flow of farmers, the Commission will increase the advances of direct payments (from 50% to 70%) and rural development payments (from 75% to 85%). Farmers will start receiving these advances from mid-October.
  • Reduction of physical on-the-spot checks and leeway for timing requirements: EU countries have to carry out checks to ensure that eligibility conditions are met. However, in the current exceptional circumstances, it is crucial to minimise physical contact between farmers and the inspectors carrying out the checks. This measure will help reduce administrative burden and avoid unnecessary delays.

According to a letter sent on 8 April by the EU Commissioner for Agriculture to EU agriculture ministers as a follow-up to the high-level videoconference on 25 March (see Circular 6/2020), the final legal steps to adopt the CAP flexibility and simplification measures “are currently being taken” to adopt them “as quickly as possible”. In the letter, Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski encourages EU agriculture ministers “to make the fullest possible use of all flexibility and opportunities available under the rural development framework of the CAP”. Based on information available to the Commission, some €6 billion can still be committed by the Member States under their rural development programmes, points out the EU Commissioner. This amount “increases to around €17 billion when considering the amounts reserved for on-going calls for applications not yet finalised”. 

For more information: 

- Special Committe on Agriculture: On 6 April, the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) met in Brussels to discuss about the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP)’s transitional rules and the measures taken and planned in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Member State representatives were from Permanent Representations based in Brussels, with nobody flying in from the capitals. During the meeting, natonal delegations raised the impact the pandemic was having on key agricultural sectors such as dairy, beef/veal, fruit & vegetable and wine, and supported the need for market support measures for the sectors that will soon face price collapse. In response, DG AGRI Directors Michael Scannell (Markets & Observatories) & Michael Niejahr (Legal, Institutional & Procedural Matters) said the Commission would continue to monitor the evolving market situation, but was not preparing any concrete market support or specific sectoral instruments at this time. Both Directors insisted that the agri-food sector was not the worst hit as a result of the pandemic, with the allocation of more/additional funds unlikely, pointing to the instruments already in place to improve cash-flow for farmers and other beneficiaries of Rural Developments funds: the crisis reserve and the CMO support in the ceiling. The Commission is currently reflecting on the crisis reserve and how and to which sectors it could apply, but looking at the calendar and the elements to trigger the crisis reserve, Member States would not have the tools at their national level before 15 October 2020, so this would fall in the discussion on the 2020 budgetary framework. The Croatian presidency informed that the next SCA is scheduled on 20-21 April 2020, and that it stands ready to organise a further Ministerial video conference with any decision on market measures - if the situation deteriorates further - likely to be taken at Ministerial rather than technical level. 

- UNECE’s food outlook page: The UNECE Working Party on Agricultural Quality Standards has created a Food outlook page where different information received from government and industry sources on the impact of Covid-19 on global supply chains will be published. This is a collaborative and live project, you can also share your observations to be included in this page. To do so, please contact the Secretariat. 

The latest update of 9 April includes the following information from Belgium about the potato sector: “Potatoes in Belgium are traded under contracts or on the free market (the minority). Although being the minority, the free market potatoes are a good indicator of market sentiment. They have plunged by 29% during w12. 90% of the fries produced in BE are aimed for export. With the closure of restaurants globally and postponement of Olympic games and European Championship football the exports and so also the prices of free market potatoes have dropped significantly”.

 

FOOD SAFETY

- Question & Answers on COVID-19 and food safety: DG SANTE has published the document "Question & Answers on COVID-19 and food safety",  which includes answers to questions related to the risk of infection through food, food production, food in shops and food at home, as well as a list of links to Member States recommendations. For the time being, the document is only available in English. Translations will be produced and published as soon as possible. 

- Key messages on plant health on Covid-19: The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) has issued a note of Key messages on plant health and Covid-19, where it particularly encourages countries using the IPPC ePhyto Solution to make maximum use of this tool to avoid delays in the reception of certificates.

 

TRADE

- WTO, FAO and WHO joint statement on trade and coronavirus: The World Trade Organisation (WTO), the FAO and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have issued a joint statement calling on governments to minimise the impact of COVID-19 related border restrictions on trade in food. The three international institutions call for global cooperation to ensure food security during the crisis, and stress countries should ensure that any trade-related measures do not disrupt the food supply chain. The WTO has also issued a compilation of trade-related measures taken by WTO members to contain the spread of the virus. 

- Trade set to plunge as COVID-19 pandemic upends global economy, WTO warns: According to the latest trade forecast published by the WTO, world trade is expected to fall by between 13% and 32% in 2020 as the COVID 19 pandemic disrupts normal economic activity and life around the world. WTO economists believe the decline will “likely exceed the trade slump brought on by the global financial crisis of 2008-2009.” Trade will fall more severely in sectors with complex value chains, particularly electronics and automotive products, while the services trade may be most directly affected by the pandemic as a result of transport and travel restrictions. Officials say a recovery is expected in 2021, but this is dependent on the duration of the outbreak and the effectiveness of the policy responses. 

 

OTHER

- Commission and European Investment Fund unlock €8 billion in finance for SMEs: The European Commission has unlocked €1 billion from the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) that will serve as a guarantee to the European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the European Investment Bank Group. This will allow the EIF to issue special guarantees to incentivise banks and other lenders to provide liquidity to at least 100,000 European SMEs and small mid-cap companies hit by the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, for an estimated available financing of €8 billion. The announcement fulfils the commitment in the Commission Communication of 13 March to bring immediate relief to hard-hit SMEs, with money able to flow already in April.

- Joint European Roadmap towards lifting COVID-19 containment measures: The European Commission has published a Roadmap towards lifting Covid-19 containment measures. The recommendations of the Commission are :

  • action will be gradual; sufficient time should be left between steps;
  • general measures should progressively be replaced by targeted ones such as protection of vulnerable groups; and safe alternatives should replace existing general prohibitive measures;
  • lifting of measures should start with those with local impact and gradually extended to measures with a broader geographic coverage;
  • Internal borders: controls should be lifted in a coordinated manner – gradual reopening of borders should give priority to cross-border and seasonal workers; in transition phase, the efforts to maintain an unobstructed flow of goods and to secure supply chains should be reinforced;
  • Re-start of economic activities should be phased in;
  • Commission will create a rapid alert function to identify supply and value chain disruptions relying on existing networks including trade associations;
  • Gathering of people should be progressively permitted.

 

Europatat honours members’ efforts amid the coronavirus crisis through social media
Activities Europatat

Last week Europatat launched a social media message through LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram under the hashtag #FoodHeroes to honour the efforts that the potato sector, and in particular Europatat members, are doing during the COVID-19 crisis. Please see the image below.

 

Promotion Annual Work Programme 2021: stakeholder input
Agricultural Policy

The Commission adopts each year an annual work programme for the promotion of agricultural products: it sets out strategic priorities for the promotion policy in terms of populations, products, schemes or markets to be targeted. You will see in the annex a letter from the Services of the Commission, consulting stakeholders on the priorities for the Annual Work Program on promotion for the year 2021. The Commission would like to maintain the geographical approach (focusing on the promising export destinations) but is open to consider one or more specific sector/s face/s facing market disturbances, loss of consumer confidence or indeed market opportunities that should therefore require a specific topic-budget, based on stakeholders’ input.

The deadline for comments is 15 May. As every year, Europatat intends to send comments to the European Commission. Should members wish to pass on a particular message this year, please contact the Secretariat at your earliest convenience.

 

Related document

CAP transitional rules: Council’s green light and next steps
Agricultural Policy

On 6 April, the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) met in Brussels to discuss about the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP)’s transitional rules and the measures taken and planned in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Member State representatives were from Permanent Representations based in Brussels, with nobody flying in from the capitals. A qualified majority of delegations supported a partial negotiating mandate to discuss with the European Parliament the transition period that will allow EU farming subsidies to flow even without an agreement on post-2020 reform of the CAP. The approval of the transitional arrangements has become a race against the clock, as the transitional period should be adopted before and enter into force ahead of 1 August 2020. In a statement, the Council points out that it could accept a transitional period of one year (until the end of 2021). However, the Council considers that a “1-year transition will most likely not be sufficient, given the state of play of both the Multiannual financial framework (MFF) negotiations”, on which talks are proceeding slowly at the European Council. At the SCA meeting, delegations pointed to the “complexity of the structure of the future CAP”, which in their view, “will necessarily require sufficient preparation before the new system can be successfully implemented”. Therefore, in the light of further developments, “the need to extend the transitional period until the end of 2022 is very likely to emerge”.

Next steps: The European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee (AGRI) is now expected to vote on the report prepared by the Finnish MEP Elsi Katainen on 28 April, with a plenary vote set for May (13-14). On the basis that there are no objections to the result of the AGRI Committee vote, this would serve as the Parliament’s mandate. Once the Parliament approves its mandate, negotiations with ministers will start immediately with a view to reaching a final agreement before the end of June, when the Croatian presidency will end. Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski has recently said that he does not think that the COVID-19 crisis would substantially affect the adoption of the CAP transitional regulation.

 

European Investment Bank announces €1.6bn for agriculture and bio-economy
Agricultural Policy

On 2 April, the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced the launch of a new financing initiative that aims to unlock close to €1.6 billion of investment in the agriculture and bioeconomy sector. The financing aims to support private companies operating throughout the value chains of production and processing of food, bio-based materials and bioenergy. The lending programme, which will be guaranteed by the EU budget under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), will enable direct lending for private sector investments ranging from €15 million to €200 million, with the EIB loan amount ranging from €7.5 million to €50 million. Targeted investments will support environmental protection and natural resource efficiency, renewable energy, innovation, competitiveness, and energy efficiency. 

 

Water reuse for agricultural irrigation: Council adopts new rules
Agricultural Policy

On 7 April, the Council adopted by written procedure a regulation which will facilitate the use of treated urban waste water (reclaimed water) for agricultural irrigation. The regulation, which is in line with the circular economy, will improve the availability of water and encourage its efficient use. Ensuring that enough water is available for the irrigation of fields, in particular during heatwaves and severe droughts, can help prevent crop shortfall and food shortages. Given that geographic and climatic conditions vary greatly across member states, a member state may decide that it is not appropriate to use reclaimed water for agricultural irrigation in part or all of its territory.

Next steps: The regulation now needs to be adopted by the European Parliament before it can be published in the Official Journal.

 

EPPO Standard for “Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum”
Plant Health Policy

This EPPO Standard has been published in the April 2020 issue of the EPPO Bulletin: PM 7/143 (1) ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’: This Standard describes a diagnostic protocol for ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’, and for its detection in the psyllid vectors Bactericera cockerelli, Trioza apicalis and Bactericera trigonica. 

 

Europhyt – March interception report
Plant Health Policy

The EUROPHYT monthly report covering the month of March is now available. There were 14 interceptions from:

  • Bolivia: one interception of ware potatoes due to “other reasons: prohibited plants, plants products or other objects” and 3 interceptions of plant products “others” due to “other reasons”;
  • Morocco: 3 interceptions, 2 due to “other reasons: non compliance with special requirements” and one due to “phyto. cert.: additional declaration missing”;
  • Peru: 6 interceptions on due to “other reasons: prohibited plants, plants products or other objects”; and 6 interceptions due to “other reasons”.

An archive of interceptions can be viewed on the DG SANTE website dedicated to EUROPHYT, and a summary of the most frequent country/product combinations is available here.

 

Potato Value Chain - CIPC Cleaning Guidelines
Food Safety

Please find HERE the English version (and translations already available) of the final documents developed by the Potato Value Chain (with the valuable collaboration and input from Europatat members). The materials include the following:

1. Cleaning guidelines: This document describes the key principles and advised steps to undertake store cleaning activities.

2. Infographic: This is a visual representation of the cleaning guidelines with a focus on hotspots where CIPC residues can concentrate.

3. Self-checklist for cleaning: This checklist is a tool for growers to track their cleaning activities and to share with the buyer/processor after cleaning. It is not intended as an auditing or control tool by a third party.

4. Visual inspection guideline: By referring to pictures reflecting real situations, the visual inspection guideline helps growers to verify whether the store parts and equipment are adequately cleaned.

Members are requested to share this information within their network, as the common objective is to support growers in achieving the maximum reduction of CIPC from store fabrics, structures and equipment in order to minimise residues found on future potato crops. All stores with a history of CIPC use must be cleaned as soon as the 2019 crop has been unloaded.

Some of the material has already been translated in other languages (mostly French and Dutch), with the infographic already being available in French, Dutch, Italian, German and Polish. Should members be able to support other translations, please let the Secretariat know.

 

Ombudsman decision on scientific advisors conflicts of interest
Food Safety

Following a complaint by the Pesticide Action Network (PAN Europe) over the preparation of a report called ‘EU authorisation processes of plant protection products from a scientific point of view’, published on 4 June 2018, the European Ombudsman has now arrived to a public decision concerning the independence of scientific advisors used by the European Commission. The investigation revealed weakness in the current system for verifying scientific advisors independence, so there is a request to the European Commission to take extra steps to make sure the scientific advisors it uses have no conflicts of interest. The Ombudsman found that under the current system “financial interests below €10 000 do not have to be declared and that not all declarations of interests are published”, so the European Commission is asked to make sure from now on that all scientific experts declare all relevant financial interests and that the declarations are published. 

 

EFSA Highlights
Food Safety

2018 EU report on pesticide residues in food: Under EU legislation, EFSA provides an annual report which analyses pesticide residue levels in foods on the European market. The analysis is based on data from the official national control activities carried out by EU Member States, Iceland and Norway and includes a subset of data from the EU-coordinated control programme which uses a randomised sampling strategy. For 2018, 95.5% of the overall 91,015 samples analysed fell below the maximum residue level (MRL), 4.5% exceeded this level , of which 2.7% were non-compliant, i.e. samples exceeding the MRL after taking into account the measurement uncertainty. For the subset of 11,679 samples analysed as part of the EU-coordinated control programme, 1.4% exceeded the MRL and 0.9% were non-compliant. Table grapes and sweet peppers/bell peppers were among the food products that most frequently exceeded the MRLs. To assess acute and chronic risk to consumer health, dietary exposure to pesticide residues was estimated and compared with health-based guidance values. The findings suggest that the assessed levels for the food commodities analysed are unlikely to pose concern for consumer health. However, a number of recommendations are proposed to increase the efficiency of European control systems (e.g. optimising traceability), thereby continuing to ensure a high level of consumer protection. On the EFSA website it is possible to find some dashboards visualising selected data. The dashboards allow to visualise the number samples in single countries, per food group, number of quantified residues per sample, and so on, by simply clicking on them. They are available in English.

Other publications: 

 

EU Implementing Regulation on imports of organic products from third countries
Trade Policy

The European Commission has published the Implementing Regulation 2020/479 as regards the arrangements for imports of organic products from third countries, which officialises the debate of the past months on the handling of the Certificate of Inspection on organic (COI). Products imported from a third country can be placed on the Union market as organic if they are covered by a certificate of inspection issued by the competent authorities, control authorities or control bodies of a recognised third country or by a recognised control authority or control body. However, it appears that, in some cases, complete transport documents are not available to the control body in due time to allow that all the transport information is included in the certificate of inspection before the consignment leaves the third country. For that reason, the information contained in the transport documents has to be checked and included in the certificate of inspection by the relevant control authority or control body within maximum 10 days from the issuance of the certificate, and, in any case, before the endorsement of the certificate by Member State’s authorities.

 

Consultation: EU-Western Balkan trade – extension of autonomous trade measures
Trade Policy

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on its proposal for a Regulation to extend the autonomous trade measures (ATMs) for Western Balkan countries. The proposed ATMs are one of the instruments to implement the EU’s policy towards the Western Balkans as defined within the Stabilisation and Association process launched by the European Commission in May 1999. Stabilisation and Association Agreements have now been concluded between the Union and all concerned Western Balkan parties. Having regard to differences in the scope of the tariff liberalisation under the contractual regimes which have been developed between the Union and all participants to the Stabilisation and Association process, the Commission suggests prolonging the duration of these ATMs until 31 December 2025. The consultation is open until 1 June 2020. 

 

Consultation: CO2 Emissions from shipping
Trade Policy

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on CO2 emissions from shipping as part of the broader low emissions basket measures envisaged for the upcoming year. The FuelEU Maritime initiative, which is part of a package to bring the sector in line with the EU’s ambition of climate-neutrality by 2050, aims to increase the use of sustainable alternative fuels in European shipping and ports by addressing:

• market barriers that hamper their use

• uncertainty about which technical options are market-ready

The consultation on the inception impact assessment is open until 24 April. 

 

Report - Reducing food loss on the farm
Sustainability

The European Commission has published a report that presents the results of the EIP-AGRI Focus Group “Reducing food loss at farm level”, which has identified the principal on-farm practices and technologies that can minimise such losses. While in Western societies, most of the documented food losses/wastes occur post-farm gate, relatively little attention has been paid to on-farm (pre-farm gate) losses. These can be far in excess of 10% of total production and arise for a range of reasons such as inefficient farming operations, difficulties with fulfilling production contracts and lack of awareness and consequently inadequate reporting (categorising) of such losses. The new ‘digital agriculture’ age has already started and offers new opportunities to quantify the extent of losses, enhance on-farm operational efficiency, and provide detailed monitoring of operations and compliance. According to the report, there is no single solution to resolve the on-farm losses problem, “the solutions are multifaceted and complex, at the interface between technology, economics, sociology, behavioural science and other considerations”. However, the report points out that highly efficient farming practices and suitable supply contracts between farmers and retail/processing sectors are required that are structured to minimise product discard. Other strategies that need to be addressed in order to reduce food losses along the agri-food chain are:

  • Define and understand why losses are occurring
  • Develop new crop varieties 
  • More precision agriculture techniques
  • Improved storage and preservation methods
  • Demand forecasting and sharing information
  • Further collaboration efforts within the supply chain
  • Better supply chain and trading policies to increase power of primary producers
  • Redistribute surplus crop for animal/human feed
  • Work with retailers to have more flexible quality specifications
  • Consumer education and campaigns on ‘ugly’ produce
  • Opportunities for the retail sector (supermarkets) to deal with unsold food

You can find more information about the EIP-AGRI Focus Group “Reducing food loss at farm level” on its website, including the news item “Food waste: the best practice with Meade potato company”.

 

Consultation - Sustainable Finance Strategy
Sustainability

The European Commission has launched a consultation on its Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy, which is part of the European Green Deal. The aim of this consultation is to collect as many views as possible to feed into the Commission's work to help mobilise private investment in sustainable projects. According to the Commission, the ongoing coronavirus outbreak highlights the “critical need to strengthen the sustainability and resilience of our economies in the future”. The Commission's aim is to adopt the Renewed Sustainable Finance Strategy in the second half of 2020. The consultation will be open until 15 July 2020.

 

Study - Canadian consumer acceptance of gene-edited vs genetically modified potatoes
Research

The University of Alberta in Canada has published an article (please find attached below) on the results of a study that analysed how consumer acceptance of genetically modified (GM) potatoes may be affected by various factors, including the trait introduced (i.e., the product benefits), the type of breeding technology used, and the developer of the potato using any technology. In 2016, second-generation GM potatoes were approved for production and sale in Canada. Researchers conducted an online survey and used a stated choice experiment to collect data on consumer acceptance of GM and other potatoes in this country. The main findings of the study are the following: 

  • Consumers are willing to pay more for a health attribute (reduced acrylamide produced when potatoes are fried) and an environmental attribute; 
  • Respondents in general need to face discounted prices to buy potatoes created by either gene editing or GM (either transgenic or cisgenic/intragenic) technologies;
  • Consumers are in general more accepting of the gene editing technology than the GM technologies;
  • Government is the most preferred developer of the potatoes, regardless of technology. 

According to the researchers, tesults from this study can help guide public and private management of the introduction of new foods when the products are developed with unpopular technologies.

 

Related document

  
 

This Circular contains information for the personal use of Europatat members only, and must not be further disseminated to non-members. Europatat members are kindly invited to inform the Secretariat about any specific country or industry developments which are appropriate for circulation in this Circular. For more information on the contents of this Circular, contact the Association’s Secretariat.

EUROPEAN UNION OF THE POTATO TRADE A.I.S.B.L.

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