Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2017-05-15-Speech-1-096-000"
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"en.20170515.17.1-096-000"2
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"Madam President, there are obviously huge economic and environmental and social costs to food waste. Around 88 billion tonnes of food are wasted annually in the European Union with the associated cost estimated at EUR 143 billion. It is welcome that this issue is getting increased attention. But we can and should do more. The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety was of course the lead committee on this file but I felt it was extremely important that the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development had a say also. In putting together the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development’s opinion on the report I want to concentrate on farm waste and how producers can be assisted in tackling it.
Finding innovative solutions to the problem of food waste from the farm to the supermarket shelf, to the consumer is in everyone’s benefit. Firstly it goes without saying that no farmer wants to produce waste food. Farmers’ livelihoods depend on getting their produce to the market and loss of produce at farm level equates to loss of investment and income. Therefore farmers can be part of the solution here. Farmer-led initiatives can and have offered viable economic solutions and provide value for products which might otherwise go to waste as well as socially innovative projects such as gleaning and offering food that might otherwise go to waste to food banks. In Europe we import 40 million tonnes of feed yet we waste 89 million tonnes of food. So there is also potential for the use of former foodstuffs, by-products, in the food chain in feed production. But I also recognise the stress and need for increased traceability.
The role of retailers also needs to be recognised. We will all have heard stories from producers in our constituencies about farmers having to search for secondary markets at short notice, even plough their produce back into the soil, because the supermarket does not accept their product. This can be for a number of reasons, from standards in terms of a product specification to cancelled orders owing to changes in consumer demand and over production as a result of requirements to seasonal demands.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank my shadow rapporteurs on the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and can I also congratulate the rapporteur on the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, Ms Borzan, on her excellent report."@en1
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