{"id":103114,"date":"2022-01-20T07:14:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T06:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=103114"},"modified":"2022-01-17T12:20:04","modified_gmt":"2022-01-17T11:20:04","slug":"agriculture-commissioner-throws-his-weight-behind-carbon-farming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/agriculture-commissioner-throws-his-weight-behind-carbon-farming\/","title":{"rendered":"Agriculture Commissioner throws his weight behind carbon farming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

EU agriculture chief Janusz Wojciechowski has promised to do his best to place carbon farming front and centre of member states\u2019 Common agriculture policy (CAP) strategic plans amid concerns that nice words will not translate into action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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EU agriculture chief Janusz Wojciechowski \u00a9  EPA-EFE<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Highlighting that carbon farming is a key priority of the French presidency, the Commissioner stressed its importance for European farming\u2019s future during a meeting of Parliament\u2019s agriculture committee (AGRI) on Monday (10 January).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to work together to increase this direction of development of European agriculture,\u201d he said, calling it a \u201cgood opportunity\u201d for farmers to have additional source revenue in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carbon farming \u2013 a new buzzword in agriculture \u2013 aims to increase the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) stored in the soil, reducing its presence in the atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is achieved using various agricultural methods ranging from crop rotation, cover crops, and reduced tillage to precision nitrogen application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is currently no targeted policy tool to significantly incentivise carbon removals and the protection of carbon stocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To address this, the European Commission\u2019s new communication on sustainable carbon cycles, published back in December, sets out actions to support carbon farming and upscale the business model to reward land managers for carbon sequestration and biodiversity protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commission will also propose an EU regulatory framework for the certification of carbon removals by the end of 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the communication received a lukewarm response from the farming sector,<\/a> while NGOs blasted it for letting real polluters off the hook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While MEPs welcomed the Commissioner\u2019s strong focus on carbon farming, a number took to the floor to push on how this will translate in practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, leftist MEP Luke \u2018Ming\u2019 Flanagan asked whether the Commissioner would consider making carbon farming a dedicated measure in the CAP strategic plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through these plans, EU countries will set out how they intend to meet the nine EU-wide objectives of the CAP reform while at the same time responding to the needs of their farmers and rural communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, fellow Irish MEP Colm Markey queried whether the Commission would consider a separate income stream or structure specifically for carbon farming to ensure that farmers are not left in a situation where they are obliged to do more work for the same money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His concerns echo that of Pekka Pesonen, general-secretary of EU farmers\u2019 association COPA-COGECA, who told EURACTIV back in November<\/a> that while the Commission\u2019s initiatives on carbon removals could become an additional source of income for farmers, it could \u201ceasily become a financial and administrative burden for them\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This runs the risk of increasing their costs, reducing their productivity, and lowering their incomes, he warned at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, the Commissioner promised to \u201cendeavour to ensure that carbon farming, to an extent as large as possible, will be incorporated in [CAP] strategic plans.\u201d However, he conceded that it presents a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added assurances that the EU \u201cwill not have a situation where farmers will have to do more for the same money\u201d but that instead insisted there is \u201ca chance that the situation will be the opposite\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFarmers will be rewarded for good practices for which they have not been rewarded so far,\u201d he said, promising that there will be way for an \u201calternative to industrial farming\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EU agriculture chief Janusz Wojciechowski has promised to do his best to place carbon farming front and centre of member states\u2019 Common agriculture policy (CAP) strategic plans amid concerns that nice words will not translate into action. Highlighting that carbon farming is a key priority of the French presidency, the Commissioner stressed its importance for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"The Commissioner promised to \"endeavour to ensure that carbon farming, to an extent as large as possible, will be incorporated in [CAP] strategic plans\"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[6630,19346,10416],"supplier":[2619,2317,4514,5585],"class_list":["post-103114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-agriculture","tag-carbonfarming","tag-circulareconomy","supplier-copa-cogeca","supplier-european-commission","supplier-european-parliament","supplier-european-union"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103114\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103114"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=103114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}