A sound Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one that provides the right instruments to farmers in different agricultural realities to operate sustainable farming practices which produce adequate high quality food at competitive prices, a round table was told. The round table was held at the Grand Hotel Excelsior in Floriana as part of Re:turn to the Future, a European Union-funded campaign...
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The direct subsidies for stockbreeders for Campaign 2012 will thus total about 140 million BGN. Each farmer can quickly check the size of their financial aid on the SFA website: State Fund Agriculture (SFA) transferred the first part of the decoupled complementary national direct payments for cattle and buffalo, as well as the payments coupled to sheep and goats. A total of 96 million BGN...
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The second year of implementation of the National Beekeeping Programme 2011-2013 concluded successfully. Beneficiaries signed 1 188 contracts with a total value of 6 763 246 BGN. So far, 5 367 783 BGN have been paid out, which accounts for an 82% annual budget absorption. This is the highest absorption and the largest amount of funds paid out since the start of the programme. There are...
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Germany and France have agreed to keep the European Union farming budget at its current level, following a meeting between their agriculture ministers in Berlin on Wednesday (10 October), reported EurActiv. Germany's Ilse Aigner and France's Stéphane Le Foll said they "support the Commission’s proposal to maintain the agricultural budget to the nominal level of 2013 for the...
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Retailers have committed to take voluntary action in waste prevention, particularly on food waste. At the Retail Forum in Brussels yesterday they confirmed their continued belief in the need to move to a resource efficient economy in spite of the challenging economic situation. Looking to the sustainability goals they had set themselves in key areas in precious years, such as selling more...
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The last working document published by the EU's Cypriot presidency has sparked fears in France that the new EU budget will slash direct subsidies to farmers, despite the country's firm opposition, EurActiv.fr reports. October will mark the second year of formal negotiations for a new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). France, the largest beneficiary of the CAP, has battled since the...
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Flavouring substances in food will become even safer and more transparent thanks to two pieces of legislation adopted today by the European Commission. Only those flavouring substances featuring on the approved lists will be permitted for use by the food industry. Used to alter the taste and/or odour of food, flavourings substances have a long history of safe use in a wide variety of foods,...
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