Beef Vulnerable to EU Trade Deals, Study Shows

The European Commission has presented a study to EU agriculture ministers this week on the impacts of 12 future trade agreements on the agri-food sector, highlighting sensitive products such as beef.

The study shows vulnerabilities for beef, both in terms of trade effects and a decline in producer prices. The extent of the impact for these different products depends on the level of liberalisation included in the trade agreements, scenarios used in the study showed.

On the other hand, significant gains are anticipated for the EU dairy and pig meat sectors, two sectors which have struggled in recent years and which are now showing signs of recovery.

Commenting on the study, Vice President Jyrki Katainen said: "This study shows that there are sensitivities, however, it focuses on only one part of agricultural sector and does not measure a number of agri-food products which have significant export growth potential.

"This balance is fully reflected in the EU's trade negotiating strategy, in which we seek to protect our vulnerable sectors through measures such as tariff rate quotas, while maximising our positive interests whenever possible." – Click here to read more.

This week is World Antibiotic Awareness week, and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation has again highlighted the importance of vigilance over the way antibiotics are used on farms.

A new report released by FAO to mark the special week, 'Drivers, Dynamics and Epidemiology of Antimicrobial Resistance in Animal Production', shows how high future demand for animal protein could increase the risk of antibiotic-resistant bacteria developing and spreading.

The report's key recommendations are the need to support and pursue more research into factors influencing how and why resistant bacteria become incorporated into human and animal gut microbiomes, as well as the need to create standardised monitoring procedures – read more.