► Agricultural Biotechnology in the European Union
2011 EU-27 Agricultural Biotechnology Annual - Full Report
Report Highlights: Due to the diversity of industry needs and public perceptions, Member States (MS) approaches to biotechnology can be identified as the following: MS producing biotech crops; MS ready for adoption; MS with restrictive legislation and hostile opinion but supportive farmers and industry; and MS with the strongest opposition. The European Union (EU) is dependent on imports of feed ingredients (mainly soybean and corn products) for its livestock and poultry industries, and its suppliers are also major producers of genetically engineered (GE) corn and soybean. No GE animal is commercially produced in the EU; and GE animals are used for research purposes in medical and pharmaceutical applications.
2010 EU-27 Plant and Animal Biotechnology Annual - Full Report
Report highlights: The European Union (EU) remains a major importer and consumer of biotech products, which primarily consist of soybean and corn products for use in animal feed and human food. Last fall, U.S. shipments of soybeans were blocked at EU ports, due to low level presence of biotech corn events unapproved in the EU. The biotech Amflora starch potato was approved for cultivation in March 2010, and is currently grown in three Member States (MS). The European Commission recently released a draft proposal that would allow MS to make final decisions on biotech cultivation in their countries. Animal biotechnology regulation in Europe paralleles regulation of plant biotechnology, at both the EU and MS levels. The are no commercial applications of animal biotech in the EU, nor have there been any notifications of food use.
2009 EU-27 Plant Biotechnology Annual - Full Report
2008 EU-27 Biotechnology Annual - Full Report
► Agricultural Biotechnology in France
2012 - Farmers and Seed Industry Appeal National Biotech Corn Ban - Full report (new)
Report Highlights: On March 29, French corn growers and seed organizations appealed France’s national ban on MON810 biotech corn before the country's highest administrative court on the grounds that it was scientifically unjustified and economically harmful for farmers. Despite the fact that the State Council lifted the ban last November, per the conclusions of the European Court of Justice, France reinitiated its national ban on the cultivation of MON810 biotech corn on March 18, 2012. The press revealed that the Government of France reinitiated the ban without the advice of the High Council on Biotechnology. The Council's dysfunction was recently highlighted by the recent resignation of several of its members in the socio-economic subcommittee.
2012 - Non-Biotech Labeling Rules in Place and Proposed Rules on Coexistence - Full Report
Report Highlights: France has recently published two new regulations concerning agricultural biotechnology. The first was published in the Official Journal defining "non-biotech" labeling, and the second creates new rules for the “coexistence” of cultivation of biotech crops near conventional crops. The labeling regulations apply only to products produced in France, but not to imported products. The decree setting rules for biotech coexistence appears to apply surprisingly little constraints on farmers.
2012 - Incentives and Plant Breeding Breakthroughs to Reduce Soy Imports - Full Report
Report Highlights: France ranks above average in being protein-independent for the feed sector among European Union (EU) Member States. While soybean meal consumption has remained relatively stable at 4 million metric tons (MT) annually over the past 25 years, use of rapeseed meal has increased from minor levels to more than 2 million MT annually, all domestically sourced as a by-product of France’s biodiesel industry. Farmer unions have repeatedly called for increasing independence in protein feeds, but under the current policy conditions and with no major genetic breakthroughs for domestic soybean or pea production, France is expected to continue to be a major consumer and importer of soybean meal in the future.
2011 Biotech Outreach Program - Lessons Learned - Full Report (new)
Report Highlights: Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS)/Paris, in collaboration with FAS/Pretoria and FAS/U.S. Mission to the European Union, invited two South African farmers in June and September 2011, to present their experiences with biotech crops. In June 2011, the first gentleman’s presentation was shown at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) meeting on Agricultural Knowledge Systems, and FAS/Paris organized a seminar on “Agricultural Innovation for Achieving Food Security,” where French and U.S. scientists and policy makers presented their perspectives in the context of the Agricultural Ministerial G20 meeting held in Paris. In September 2011, the second farmer traveled to Paris and Brussels, where he met a wide range of key stakeholders in the farm community, the OECD, and the South African Embassies to discuss the economic and environmental impact of biotech crop production and the biotech regulatory framework. A number of observations can be made in terms of biotech outreach strategy for the future.
2011 - France - Agricultural Biotechnology Annual - Full Report
Report Highlights: French support for non-science based restrictions on genetically modified organisms deters adoption of promising agricultural biotechnology by developing countries. The recent G20 conclusions may encourage France to incorporate agricultural biotechnology as a key research, development, and innovation tool for achieving food security in the developing world. FAS/Paris has pushed for the use of new technologies to boost agricultural technologies to the center of discussion of agricultural productivity and sustainability issues in France.
2011 - Paris - Innovation and Plant Biotechnology to Address Food Security - Full Report
Report Highlights: Research and innovation in agriculture to address food security challenges were top priorities set by the G20 agricultural ministerial declaration agreed on in Paris on June 23, 2011, under the French Presidency of the G20. There were all in line with the messages of two meetings that took place in the Paris a few days earlier: the June 14 seminar organized by FAS/Paris oin "Agricultural Innovation for Achieving Food Security" and the "Agricultural Knowledge Systems: Responding to Global Food Security and Climate Change Challenges" organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on June 15-17. International speakers, including high-level U.S. experts, were speakers at both meetings. These followed a number of successful actions conducted by FAS/Paris in the past few years, focusing on plant biotechnology as a tool to address agricultural productivity, sustainability, and food security in both developed and developing countries. FAS/Paris believes it is of the highest importance to continue further in this direction, and currently seeks to arrange a large-scale conference on agricultural innovation for Developing Countries in FY 2012.
2011 - Chief USDA Scientist Gets Scientific View of Biotechnology in France - Full report
Report Highlights: Despite its reputation as an anti-biotechnology country, there are many in France considering plant biotechnology as a tool to address global needs and challenges of climate change, food security, energy needs, and sustainable agriculture. The recent visit of Dr. Roger Beachy, Director of USDA's National Institute for Research in Agriculture (NIFA), was an opportunity to let the "quiet ones" express themselves. From collaboration between national French and U.S. research institutes, to parliamentary work and questioning of past decisions, there are many in France whose actions are not advertized by the media, but who are in line with U.S. perspectives on crop biotechnology.
2010 - France - Combining Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security - Full Report
Report Highlights: U.S. and French stakeholders exchanged views on ways to combine sustainable agriculture and food security in a seminar organized in the American Embassy in Paris, France, on September 24, 2010. U.S. and French regulators and farmers representatives expressed their perspectives and actions conducted in their own countries and their approach to developing countries on a common issue: how to continue to feed a growing population while protecting the environment, in their own countries and their perspectives for developing countries.
2010 - France Approves New Biotech Corn, Biotech Vine Destructions Extremely Unpopular - Full Report
Report Highlights: While France had taken restrictive measures on plant biotech dossiers in the past three years, the Ministry of Agriculture approved in July 38 varieties pf biotechncorn (including the MON810 and T25 events). No cultivation of these corn varieties is expected in the near future, as France imposes a national ban on MON810 cultivation and the company producing T25 products, BayerCropScience, has no intention to push for cultivation. However, this approval can be seen as a way to prevent another trade blockade due to the Low Level Presence of these biotech events. The only biotech open field experiment approved in France in 2010 was recently destroyed and provoked strong negative reactions as it was performed by the French National Research Institute in Agriculture (INRA). Wasting public research money was perceived as less acceptable than private companies's money, as all the private companies who used to conduct biotech experiments in open fields had to move these outside of France, where they faced destruction and significant economic losses. In the future, INRA may have to stop its research programs on plant biotechnology, or the Government of France may have to take serious legal actions against the anti-biotech groups who destroy years of research and millions of euros of investiments, and let biotechnology be part of innovation in French agriculture.
2009 - France - High Biotech Council - Defining Biotech-Free Production - Full Report
2009 - Biotech-Friendly Voices in France - Farmers Food and Feed Industry - Full Report
2009 - Attack of Transgenic Rootstock Vines Destroys Research - Full Report