"The BSE crisis demonstrates the need for a return to farming methods that are more in tune with the environment" -- The European Commission
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Worth reading the article on line as there is a fantastic picture from the mad cow disease home page of all the carcasses. Though consumer demand for organic skyrockets, it has taken a brain wasting disease to secure political recognition of the need to move away from industrial production of unwanted surplus. - Stokely Webster, food and policy analyst, Greenpeace
excerpts:
Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries Franz Fischler:
*"Immediate action to curb beef production by boosting less intensive and organic production is the only way forward"
*"Our plan will increase the environmental and social sustainability of European Union beef production. It will limit the production potential in the future.
*"But the measures are also essential to allow the beef producers' incomes to recover. Avoiding the beef mountains looming on Europe's horizon is in the interests of consumers, taxpayers and farmers alike."
The seven points include the following:
*Boosting organic farming The European Commission proposes that the use of land set aside under the support system for producers of certain arable crops should be extended to include the production of fodder legumes, such as clover by organic farmers.
*"The BSE crisis demonstrates the need for a return to farming methods that are more in tune with the environment," said the plan. "Encouraging organic production through the use of set aside may provide one suitable approach."
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European Union Goes Organic to Tackle BSE Scare
ENS
BRUSSELS, Belgium,February 13, 2001 (ENS) - Organic farming is at the heart of a seven point plan announced today by the European Commission to tackle the continent's BSE crisis.
As European consumers become increasingly alarmed by reports of BSE, otherwise known as mad cow disease, the European Commission is faced with a looming mountain of unwanted beef and a crisis in consumer confidence.
The European Commission wants to slow down beef production by adopting less intensive, organic farming methods.
In a dramatic shift from current intensive farming methods, which are designed to yield maximum beef production, the European Commission wants to slow down beef production in favor of organic methods which are more "in tune with the environment."
Organic farming works with natural processes instead of controlling them, by using methods designed to achieve sustainable production with limited use of external aids. The potential for pollution and other environmental damage is lessened as organic farming avoids the use of artificial fertilizers and synthetic pesticides.
Instead it emphasizes the role of crop rotation in helping to maintain soil fertility and to combat pest and disease problems. It relies on the use of fertility building crops and natural fertilizers, such as animal manure.
Though consumer demand for organic produce is increasing across Europe, it has taken a brain wasting disease to secure its official backing.
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), more commonly known as mad cow disease, is a progressive and ultimately fatal neurological disorder of adult cattle.
The disease was first diagnosed in the United Kingdom in 1986 and is thought to have been caused by farmers feeding their cattle meat and bone meal supplements that had become contaminated with the disease agent.
BSE is thought to have been caused by farmers feeding cattle meat and bone meal supplements that had become contaminated with the disease agent.
This established the infection in cattle, which was then magnified by the practice of feeding rendered material from slaughtered cattle back to other cattle.
BSE is linked to a human spongiform encephalopathy, known as Creutzfeldt Jakob disease (CJD). Little is known about the actual mechanism for transmission of the disease, but the currently held belief is that the disease agent jumps to humans who eat infected meat products.
CJD was first diagnosed in 1996 and there are 89 confirmed or suspected cases in the 15 member European Union, mostly in young people, and all but four in the UK.
In recent weeks, BSE has been discovered for the first time in cattle in Germany and Spain, and a three-fold increase in BSE incidents in France last year has seen beef consumption there drop by 40 percent.
Two weeks ago, the Rome, Italy based United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned the rest of the world about the risk of BSE spreading. All countries which have imported cattle or meat and bone meal from any Western European countries, particularly the UK, during and since the 1980s, can be considered at risk, said the FAO.
Today's seven point plan cuts to the core of current European farming methods.
In 1998, organic farms accounted for just one percent of total European Union farms and two percent of the total European Union agricultural land area.
Fueled by food scares over BSE, E. coli and salmonella, organic farming is growing quickly to keep up with demand. The UK's Soil Association estimates that demand in the UK for organic food is growing by more than 40 percent a year and much of Europe is following the same trend.
That trend is set to continue given today's endorsement by Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries Franz Fischler.
"Immediate action to curb beef production by boosting less intensive and organic production is the only way forward," said Fischler, announcing the seven point plan.
"Our plan will increase the environmental and social sustainability of European Union beef production. It will limit the production potential in the future.
"But the measures are also essential to allow the beef producers' incomes to recover. Avoiding the beef mountains looming on Europe's horizon is in the interests of consumers, taxpayers and farmers alike."
The seven points include the following:
Boosting organic farming
The European Commission proposes that the use of land set aside under the support system for producers of certain arable crops should be extended to include the production of fodder legumes, such as clover by organic farmers.
"The BSE crisis demonstrates the need for a return to farming methods that are more in tune with the environment," said the plan. "Encouraging organic production through the use of set aside may provide one suitable approach."
Reducing stocking density</B> The limit on the number of animals qualifying for the special premium for male bovines and the suckler cow (belonging to a herd intended for rearing calves for meat production) premium is to be reduced from two to 1.8 livestock per hectare (2.47 acres).
The special premium is an annual subsidy granted per calendar year and per holding for not more than 90 animals - known as the 90 headage limit.
The measure is aimed at reducing the number of animals on intensive holdings that are eligible for these premiums, which the Commission hopes will encourage extensification.
Extensification protects or recreates farming dependant wildlife habitats by reducing stocking rates, fertilizers, cutting and grazing management and animal feeding.
Promoting extensification by making the 90 headage limit compulsory
Currently, European Union member states can waive or change the 90-head limit, which can increase the number of the animals admitted to the special premium system. The European Commission plans to surpress that right by making the 90 head limit compulsory. This, it believes, will further promote extensification.
Other measures include a new special purchase scheme, under which member states can decide whether to store or destroy beef from animals over 30 months.
Last November, the European Commission announced a purchase for destruction scheme to remove all cattle aged over 30 months from the food chain, unless they have been tested for BSE.
Once BSE testing of all cattle over 30 months has become compulsory, the purchase for destruction scheme will be replaced by the special purchase scheme. Under the new regime, member states can decide whether to store the meat from cattle over 30 months until it can be placed back on the market following the approval of the Commission or whether to destroy it immediately.
The European Commission's proposals must now be considered for approval by Europe's Council of Agriculture Ministers, which meets February 26 and 27.
In a letter to Fischler and Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner David Byrne, the president of the UK National Farmers' Union Ben Gill called for close monitoring of member states on the BSE issue.
Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner, David Byrne.
"The priority at this week's Commission meeting and the forthcoming Council of Agriculture Ministers must be to re-establish consumer confidence while taking measures that reduce the immediate market over supply," wrote Gill.
"We look to the European Commission to supervise the efforts of member states closely, to publish monthly results and to demonstrate that it is dealing firmly with any breaches in its regulations.
"If a member state fails to ensure compliance in its feed, farming or slaughtering sectors, exports of its beef should be banned and abattoirs closed until such time as satisfactory arrangements can be introduced."