Polish pig breeders urge Government to delay EU Directive
Food security may be at risk in Poland and the rest of the EU member states as a revised EU Directive on industrial emissions may eliminate small players from the market in the near future. Last week, industry body PolPig, together with other members of the #HodowcyRazem (#BreederTogether) initiative, sent a letter to Prime Minister Henryk Kowalczyk, in which he called for actions to amend the provisions of the European Commission Directive on industrial emissions. In the light of the introduced regulations, each farm with more than 150 kept large animals will be classified as "agro-industrial installations", which will affect the already high costs of breeding. "Bearing in mind the threat to the food security of Poland and Europe, we should focus on the development of the livestock sector, and not hinder its functioning!," PolPig representatives said in a press release.
In April, the European Commission published a revision of the 2010 Industrial Emissions Directive, which in the past only covered the largest EU livestock farms. It has now been proposed to increase the number of cattle, pig and poultry farms to be covered by the directive's requirements by a factor of 10. According to the proposal of the European Commission, family farms keeping more than 150 livestock units (LU) will be considered as "agro-industrial installations".
"Such a solution will cause a further increase in production costs, which are already at a very high level. Family livestock farms maintaining more than 150 LU will be forced, inter alia, to apply costly emission protocols developed mainly for large enterprises, and to comply with additional environmental requirements. Apart from the increase in costs, all farms above the proposed level will be deprived of welfare aid.
In the current geopolitical situation, food security, both in Poland and the European Union, is at risk, so we should strive for agricultural production to develop, and not create a law that introduces restrictions and raises costs.
Breeders' organizations of the #HodowcyRazem initiative declare their readiness to cooperate with administrative authorities in the field of this directive. At the same time, we want to emphasize the fact that all Copa-Cogeca organizations also see the enormous threat that the proposed amendments to the directive may pose," it was said in an open letter sent to the Polish Prime Minister Henryk Kowalczyk.
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