Allister presses EU on Feed Concerns
23 August 2007
Jim Allister MEP has tabled a series of Parliamentary questions to the European Commission and Council, as efforts continue to avert growing rises in feed costs affecting Northern Ireland livestock farmers.
Mr Allister said,
‘Earlier this week, I heard a presentation from the Northern Ireland Grain Trade Association on the current and projected future for livestock feed prices.
The message is stark, on the basis of drought conditions in Australia and Russia, and increased biofuel production throughout the World. The EU’s ‘zero tolerance’ approach to even the slightest presence of non-authorised GMO’s in imported Maize is simply adding to the problem.’
‘My questions to the Commission include, why does it take 30-36 months to approve GM crops within the EU, while such approval procedures take only 9-18 months in the USA?’
‘I have also asked the Commission and Council, when they expect to give approval to the Herculex Maize variety. Length delays in approving new GM varieties, added to the zero-tolerance approach to even the lowest levels of contamination is having a negative impact on the competitiveness of our agricultural industry, with its high dependence on both Soya and Maize by-products from overseas.’
Mr Allister concluded,
‘Food retailers must take account of the stringent standards to which local farmers are having to comply, and the additional cost associated with this.
Farmgate prices simply must rise, to take account of the significantly inflated feed costs hitting local farmers.’
ENDS
