EU sheep and goat farmers should benefit from a new environmental payment for the public goods they deliver, such as land improvement and preservation of ecosystems, according to MEPs.
The European Parliament adopted the 2016 Sheepmeat Forum recommendations on Wednesday by 507 votes in favour, to 112 against, with 27 abstentions.
The recommendations include:
Increased funding for sheep and goat farmers, incentives for new ones. Measures to increase farmers’ competitiveness and market transparency.Simpler identification system to cut red tape but ensure traceability.Compensations for losses after attacks of predators.Caution in trade talks, no increase of preferential access to EU market. They want to at least maintain the voluntary coupled aid for sheep and goat farming, extend the agri-environmental payments to pastures used for sheep and goat grazing and better support farmers who do more in terms of animal welfare.
Since 2001 we have lost production of up to 20%
Young farmers and new entrants should be offered greater support and new incentives to set up or take over sheep and goat farms, MEPs say. They also want the EU Commission to increase the sectors’ competitiveness by stepping up support for research in innovative production methods and to invest more into promotion of sheep and goat farmers’ products both within the EU and abroad.
“The EU's sheep and goat sectors, despite employing one and a half million people, has suffered since the 1980s. Since 2001 we have lost production of up to 20%. The consumption of sheep and goatmeat has also dropped considerably - it is now just2kg/person,” said rapporteur, Spanish MEP Esther Herranz García.
Improving sheep tagging
The EU should “harmonise tolerance levels” for unintentional errors in sheep tagging and look into ways to design more flexible and simpler identification system, especially for small herds in extensive production, which would cut the red tape for livestock farmers, MEPs say.
The Parliament also called for a European observatory monitoring the prices and production costs of sheep and goatmeat to be established. It also would like to see the EU Commission propose measures to deal with post-Brexit market disturbances, including a safety net on prices.
Read more
From Tallaght to Tousist: A different route to hill farming
EU sheep and goat farmers should benefit from a new environmental payment for the public goods they deliver, such as land improvement and preservation of ecosystems, according to MEPs.
The European Parliament adopted the 2016 Sheepmeat Forum recommendations on Wednesday by 507 votes in favour, to 112 against, with 27 abstentions.
The recommendations include:
Increased funding for sheep and goat farmers, incentives for new ones. Measures to increase farmers’ competitiveness and market transparency.Simpler identification system to cut red tape but ensure traceability.Compensations for losses after attacks of predators.Caution in trade talks, no increase of preferential access to EU market. They want to at least maintain the voluntary coupled aid for sheep and goat farming, extend the agri-environmental payments to pastures used for sheep and goat grazing and better support farmers who do more in terms of animal welfare.
Since 2001 we have lost production of up to 20%
Young farmers and new entrants should be offered greater support and new incentives to set up or take over sheep and goat farms, MEPs say. They also want the EU Commission to increase the sectors’ competitiveness by stepping up support for research in innovative production methods and to invest more into promotion of sheep and goat farmers’ products both within the EU and abroad.
“The EU's sheep and goat sectors, despite employing one and a half million people, has suffered since the 1980s. Since 2001 we have lost production of up to 20%. The consumption of sheep and goatmeat has also dropped considerably - it is now just2kg/person,” said rapporteur, Spanish MEP Esther Herranz García.
Improving sheep tagging
The EU should “harmonise tolerance levels” for unintentional errors in sheep tagging and look into ways to design more flexible and simpler identification system, especially for small herds in extensive production, which would cut the red tape for livestock farmers, MEPs say.
The Parliament also called for a European observatory monitoring the prices and production costs of sheep and goatmeat to be established. It also would like to see the EU Commission propose measures to deal with post-Brexit market disturbances, including a safety net on prices.
Read more
From Tallaght to Tousist: A different route to hill farming
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: