Word: fischer
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...farm commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel downplayed the changes to Europe's Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) she unveiled Tuesday as a mere "health check". Her proposals, she said, are "all about freeing our farmers to meet growing demand and respond quickly to what the market is telling them...
...Fischer Boel, a dogged Dane who owns three farms of her own, is undaunted by the odds. She says reform is vital if the E.U. is to keep up with changing global markets. "It aims to simplify, streamline and modernize the CAP and give our farmers the tools to handle the new challenges they face, such as climate change," she said...
...Fischer Boel has also argued firmly that Europe should not be panicked by the recent rise in global food prices. Even though adverse weather in many regions over several seasons had hurt supplies, the situation now seemed to be returning to normal and was set to take some pressure off prices, she said. "We do not think that the record levels reached in recent months are likely to persist," she said. "There is nothing in the current situation that shows we should make a U-turn...
...Fischer Boel can count on the United Kingdom to back the reforms, even if London would have liked to go further by scrapping direct payments to farmers altogether, and end price-fixing mechanisms. However, with France and Germany lining up a trenchant defense of the CAP supports, Fischer Boel's hopes for a modest health check are already provoking a furious reaction from the stubborn patient...
...case, the Commission plans to tighten the criteria to ensure that biofuel production is sustainable, including a stipulation that it represent a 35% carbon saving compared to oil. Fischer Boel sets much store on the shift from first wave of biofuels (made from wheat, maize, colza, sugar beet etc) to second generation (leaves, straw and pond algae). If she's right, it could maintain the initial promise of biofuels. But as the chorus of critics grows louder, Europe's ambitious goals for filling its tanks with the fruits of the fields are looking more and more like pipedreams...