FAIRR’s top news picks
UK Farm Subsidy Plan Met With Criticisms
The Guardian | 9 January 2022
The environmental land management schemes designed to replace EU payments to UK farms have been met with scepticism. Five years post-Brexit, there are still no clear plans to replace the common agricultural policy which puts small UK farms at risk of going out of business. A lack of information and planning could lead to perverse outcomes, such as driving increased deforestation abroad, and increase UK’s reliance on food imports.
Food Prices Remain High Due to Extreme Weather
Financial Times | 8 January 2022
Another reminder of climate change impacts on the world’s food sector. Flooding and extreme weather temperatures last year damaged crops and led to sharp increases in the price of agricultural commodities. Extreme weather events are set to become more frequent and intense in the future, with agriculture continuing to contribute to and to suffer from climate change. To avoid trade restrictions and stockpiling, will countries improve their planning for climate adaptation?
Pig Virus Continues to Spread in Western Europe
Bloomberg | 11 January 2022
Last year, major buyers banned pork imports from Germany as the country has been battling African swine fever for over a year. A glut of pork caused by trade restrictions sent the prices to a multiyear low. The European pork industry now faces further challenges as the virus has spread to Italy, inching closer to Spain and France. As it is nearly impossible to control the movement of wild animals, the virus becomes more difficult to contain adding to further trade risks for the EU.
Graphic of the Week
Pork prices plunge putting another strain on the industry. With extreme weather events driving up commodity prices, any further trade restrictions could worsen Europe’s oversupply of pork and cut farmers’ profits at a time when feed-grain costs are rising.
Source: Bloomberg
More Food for Thought
Feed Supplier to UK Farm Animals Still Linked to Amazon Deforestation | Andrew Wasley, Lucy Jordan and Elisângela Mendonça | The Guardian<br />China Plans Methane Emission Controls in Key Industries | Reuters
FAIRR’s Protein Pulse is a weekly collection of news articles related to the food sector that may be of interest to our members. FAIRR does not necessarily endorse the views of these news articles and assumes no responsibility for any errors or inaccuracies found in third-party content.
