European Commissioner for Agirculture Janusz Wojciechowski has defended his input into the Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy saying it will be good for European farmers.

The Commissioner was responding to criticism that he was not present at the launch of F2F and biodiversity strategies on Wednesday 20 May.

“I was one of 24 commissioners who didn’t participate in this press conference because it was the press conference for the three commissioners directly responsible for Green Deal and the strategies,” Wojciechowski said in a press briefing on Monday.

The press conference was attended by Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans who is overseeing the Green Deal, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides who is responsible for the F2F strategy and head of the biodiversity strategy Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius.

Suggestions

Wojciechowski said there were areas covered under the policy that related to a number of other commissioners including trade, transport and digitisation.

He was satisfied that his main suggestions had been included in the policy documents. Among these were commitments to review animal welfare legislation and shorten the distance from farm to fork by supporting connections between farmers and local markets.

The Polish commissioner said farmers should be reassured that the impact of the strategies would be strictly monitored against their effect on food security and farm competitiveness.