16 September 2009 - Mariann Fischer Boel
Climate change hails new era for agriculture (FARMERS GUARDIAN)

CLIMATE change targets will see Europe enter a new era of agriculture where things will never be the same again.

Mariann Fischer Boel, EU Agriculture Commissioner, told Europe’s agriculture ministers that every farm policy from now on will have to take into account its effect on climate change.

At an informal agriculture meeting in Sweden she said climate change targets will hail a brand new age for agriculture.  

In a frank address to ministers, she said: “We must grow more food, in more challenging weather conditions, with lower emissions of greenhouse gases.

“The tasks of putting the brakes on climate change and adapting to it are tasks for today, not tomorrow.

“Let me say it plainly: we’re entering a new context for making agricultural policy. Things will not be the same: not in our lifetime; not in our children’s lifetime; not ever.”

Mrs Fischer Boel’s comments came ahead of the Copenhagen Climate Change conference in December where world leaders will gather to thrash out new deals to secure a sustainable future for the environment.

Already the EU has committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 per cent by the year 2020, compared to 1990 levels.

European agriculture has performed reasonably well since 1990, where emissions have fallen by 20 per cent, partly due to falling cattle numbers and partly due to mitigating measures such as higher plant and animal yields.

But where the sector still accounts for 7 per cent of global emissions, the EU’s agriculture chief said more must be done.

“The farm sector can still cut emissions of methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide. It can do more to store carbon in farmland soils and it can keep contributing to emission reductions by supplying biomass to produce energy and renewable materials,” she said.

But she warned of ‘disastrous consequences’ if farmers were left to tackle climate change without support from Europe.

“We can’t just leave them to sink or swim: many of them would sink, with disastrous consequences for our food production base and our environment.”

Instead, the Commissioner said Europe would ‘almost certainly’ have to make changes to the CAP after 2013 to give farmers better incentives to tackle climate change.

“We need to look very closely at giving stronger incentives for good soil management, especially for protecting carbon-rich soils, such as grasslands,” she said, along with more encouragement to improve livestock production methods.

She finished her speech with a plea to ministers to find a ‘balance between binding requirements and positive incentives’.

“It’s not an option just to bury our farmers in rules,” she said.