Javier Albisu |
Brussels (EFE).- The European Commission will present this Wednesday a broad legislative package on agriculture and the environment that, on the one hand, will regulate the “new genomic techniques” to improve crops thanks to the editing of plant DNA and, on the other , will require countries to reduce food waste by 30% by 2030.
The Commission’s proposal, which will have to be negotiated with the Member States and the European Parliament during the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU, is part of the biodiversity strategy to provide the European Union with a more sustainable food system and that guarantees agricultural production in the long term.
New genomic techniques
The most awaited dossier, especially by farmers, is the one that will regulate the new genomic editing techniques, a technology barely two decades old that is expected to reach commercial development by the end of this decade.
Unlike genetically modified organisms (GMOs), where foreign genes are introduced into a plant to improve it, this new, inexpensive technology focuses on editing the genetic material of a specimen without inserting new DNA (mutagenesis) or in introducing genes taken from the same species or family (cisgenesis).
improve crops
It is a process equivalent to the selection of ancestral seeds to improve harvests, but in a much faster, more precise and specific way, for example, seeking to make a crop more resistant to pests or drought.
Large farms see in this promising developing area a way to compensate for two other regulations in process with goals for 2030 to which they are directly opposed: the Nature Restoration Law to repair 20% of damaged ecosystems and the revision of the Sustainable Pesticides Directive to reduce the use of chemical pesticides by 50%.
Brussels also hopes that the new regulatory framework will help the EU to catch up with respect to the United States and China, currently at the forefront of research on the matter.
Balance between innovation and security
The proposal, according to a draft not yet final, seeks a balance between innovation and safety and, among other aspects, will prohibit the use of these gene-edited products in the “organic” sector.
The EU’s European Food Safety Authority says these techniques are safe, as they significantly reduce the unintended effects of traditional breeding or genetic modification.
One of the issues of concern is the protection of intellectual property, since it is not possible to distinguish whether a genetic modification of this type is natural or induced.
The initiative on plant genetics will be accompanied by an update of the regulations on Plant Reproduction Material, a sector with a value of 13,000 million euros, according to the data handled by the Commission.
The regulations will establish how to notify and register the new varieties that enter the community market and will set limits for the exchange of seeds between farmers and transition periods for categories such as fruit and wine, among others.
floors
The legislative package will also contain a proposal to improve the quality of soils, damaged by salinization, erosion, compaction, contamination or loss of capacity to retain water.
The Community Executive estimates that raising the environmental requirements in relation to the soil will not cause agricultural production to decline and is even expected to increase in some cases thanks to more fertile and attractive land for pollinators.
food waste
Every year 59 million tons of food are thrown away in the EU, which is equivalent to 131 kilos per inhabitant and accounts for 10% of total food production, which in turn entails a waste of water or energy.
For this reason, and in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Brussels will also propose a review of the Food Waste Directive with legally binding targets.
Goal: reduce food wasted
The objective, according to documents consulted by EFE, is to reduce the food that is thrown away in the retail sector (such as restaurants, supermarkets and homes) by 30% per capita by 2030 in relation to 2020 and 10% for the manufacturing field. and processing, with an update scheduled for 2027.
It will be the Member States that are in charge of obtaining the results, since socio-culinary customs vary substantially from one country to another and the proposal does not address labeling on expiration dates, which is also pending modernization.