June 29, 2011
FEFAC calls on EU to focus on productivity measures
The European Compound Feed Manufacturers'' Federation (FEFAC) President, Patrick Vanden Avenne, called on the European Commission to focus on measures allowing the increase of production and productivity for world agricultural production.
In an open letter sent to EU Farm Commissioner Dacian Ciolos, Vanden Avenne pointed to the need for Farm Ministers to emphasise the importance of developing efficient and sustainable feed and livestock production, representing the major outlet for vegetable crops and co-products from the food and biofuel industry.
"Food security should become a strategic policy goal at both the EU and global level," Vanden Avenne said.
"Modern feed and livestock production provides key solutions to effectively deal with price volatility and supply of affordable food products for a growing world population."
He pointed to the involvement of FEFAC members in a series of public-private partnerships seeking to increase the sustainability and resource efficiency of livestock and feed at the national, EU, and international level.
Increasing feed efficiency is essential to improving the performance of livestock production, he said.
He welcomed the EU Farm Ministers'' conclusion at the May Farm Council meeting that access to competitive raw materials is the key for a competitive sustainable development of EU livestock production.
He said that FEFAC fully supports the efforts of EU and global regulators to increase market transparency on financial and physical commodity markets.
He also strongly advised EU and national government authorities to associate with the private sector regarding the exchange of market information on production and stocks, as well as during the management of crisis situations.
FEFAC is calling on the EU Farm Ministers to systematically tackle and review regulatory burdens, removing measures which may hamper the fluidity of markets for agricultural raw materials, without compromising feed and food safety standards.
These measures raise legal uncertainties, leading to lower predictability of agricultural markets, which may amplify the normal market price volatility.