The European Commission has decided to freeze the approval process for genetically modified food crops through the end of its mandate next year while it works towards an agreement with EU member states, AFP reported. "The Commission, if it wants, could launch a procedure to authorise the farming of one GM soya and six corn strains... but it won't do so," said Frederic Vincent, a spokesman...
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Germany's agriculture minister described as "absurd" the European Commission's proposals to keep 7% of EU farmland fallow for environmental reasons and she urged it to reconsider. The scheme to compel the land to be taken out of production, a process known as greening, is part of a proposed reform of the European Union's huge farm support programme, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)....
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The European Commission has up until now approved nine promotional programmes with Bulgarian participation of a total value of EUR 32 million, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Dr. Tsvetan Dimitrov told the Promotional Programmes for Agricultural Products forum, which opened at the Sheraton Hotel on Friday. He added that the programmes involve dairy products such as white brine...
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‘Bulgaria will defend the interests of its rose and lavender producers before the European Commission,’ Minister of Agriculture and Food Dr. Miroslav Naydenov said at the opening of the 2013 International Green Week (IGW), the world’s biggest fair for the food, agricultural and horticultural industries held in Berlin. ‘I commit to seeking a meeting with the new...
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The scheme to refinance commercial banks offers loans under eight measures of the Rural Development Programme. These include: 121 Modernisation of Agricultural Holdings; 122 Improving the Economic Value of Forests; 123 Adding Value to Agricultural and Forest Products; 223 Initial Afforestation of Non-agricultural Lands; 226 Recovering the Forest Potential and Implementation of Preventive...
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The EU's food safety agency challenged its doubters on Monday, making available all the scientific information used to clear a genetically modified corn which a French researcher had linked to cancer. The European Food Safety Authority said that "given the level of public interest ... (it would) make all data on genetically modified (GM) maize NK603 publicly available on its website."...
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The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a loan of € 500 million to the largest offshore wind farm to date in the German Baltic Sea; EnBW Baltic 2. The project is being realised by EnBW Erneuerbare Energien GmbH. The financing contract was signed today in Karlsruhe. The position and scale of EnBW Baltic 2 make it particularly demanding. The 80 wind turbines will be developed on...
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As much as half of all the food produced in the world – equivalent to 2bn tonnes – ends up as waste every year, engineers warned in a report published on Thursday. The UK's Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME) blames the "staggering" new figures in its analysis on unnecessarily strict sell-by dates, buy-one-get-one free and Western consumer demand for cosmetically perfect...
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Starting today, beneficiaries under measures 121, 122 и 123 of the Rural Development Programme will be offered easier and speedier access to loans and bank guarantees for implementation of their projects. This is made possible after the National Guarantee Fund signed contracts with seven partner banks: Bulgarian American Credit Bank, DSK Bank, Postbank, UBB, Raiffeisenbank, EIBank and CCB....
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Bulgarian MEP from the EPP /GERB/ Mariya Gabriel deposited a question to the European Commission regarding the legislative changes foreseen by the Commission in early 2013 to reduce or ban the use of many natural ingredients in perfumes. In the justification of the question she points out that such measures would adversely affect the global industry and manufacturers of natural ingredients....
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The Council of Ministers Inspectorate has discovered no violations in the ranking of strategies for the Local Initiative Groups. The report produced by the Inspectorate makes administrative recommendations based on the executed check. In response, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food has taken urgent measures to catch up on the delay of Axis 4 of the Rural Development Programme, implement a...
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Poland on Wednesday imposed new bans on the cultivation of certain genetically modified strains of maize and potatoes, a day after an EU required green light for GM crops took effect. The centre-right government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk imposed farming bans on German BASF's Amflora strain of potato and US firm Monsanto's MON 810 maize or corn, according to a government statement...
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State Fund Agriculture (SFA) has already signed contracts worth €2.399 billion under all Rural Development Programme (RDP) measures. This represents 74,27% of the RDP budget. Of this amount, €1.926 billion comes from the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). The EAFRD subsidies disbursed so far total €1.361 billion, or 52,28% of the EAFRD budget. The facts...
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The future of Europe’s agriculture policy shouldn’t be held hostage by the EU’s budget impasse, Ireland’s agricultural minister said in calling for negotiations to move forward even if final figures on spending are unknown until spring. Simon Coveney, the Irish agriculture and food minister, said on Tuesday (18 December) that winning agreement on the Common Agricultural...
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The funds under measure 214: Agri-environmental payments are almost twice the amount paid out in 2011. This year, 2303 candidates received 50.2 million BGN. Another 63.4 million BGN were paid for agriculture in disadvantaged regions – respectively 48.7 million BGN for farmers in mountainous regions and 15.7 million for farmers in areas other than mountainous regions. A total of 37 955...
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