A view from Copa-Cogeca: the association of European farmers

Posted by Helen Dunnett on November 05, 2008 in Environment, Farming, Food & health

Last week, we visited Pekka Pesonen, Secretary-General of Copa-Cogeca, the European association for farmers and farmers’ co-operatives, operating in Brussels.

In the first video below, you’ll hear Pekka speaking about farmers’ views of the revision of the pesticides regulation, the difficulty in ensuring that imports have been subjected to the same conditions as products from within the EU, what has been driving the debate on pesticides, the need to fine-tune the 5-year derogation (exemption) that has been added to the pesticides regulation (91/414), and his support for the zoning conditions defined in the Council’s proposal.

In the second video, he speaks about the training farmers undertake, the various balancing acts they must perform to match consumer expectations, and the paradox of consumer expectations vis-à-vis their willingness to foot the bill.