Considering EU’s ambitions on the EU Green Deal, Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies and related objectives and due to the recent unfortunate events affecting the whole European continent, it becomes even more crucial to find alternative ways to feed the planet and foster food security.
In the past months, Euroseeds has already presented a roadmap for the European protein plan aiming at fostering a high-quality, steady and sustainable production of EU protein. Plant-sourced protein is an indispensable component of animal nutrition and plays an ever-increasing role in human nutrition due to changing dietary habits more focused on plant-based diets.
However, there is still no effective solution for overcoming the deficit in European protein production. Although the advances in plant breeding, cultivation and processing technologies are already in place, the domestic production and the market demand should be supported by a solid framework based on effective measures for tracking the production and consumption of food plant protein, both at European and national level, which will provide adequate investments in research and innovation, as well as access to novel tools for breeders.
In this context, Euroseeds, Copa Cogeca and FEFAC join efforts and call on the European Commission to take a leading role in promoting the domestic cultivation and use of European plant sourced protein. In order to achieve a sustainable EU protein plan and offer European farmers new ways to adapt supply to changing demand, the European plant protein sector needs to be competitive, of high quality and resilient to the numerous economic, environmental, climatic and technological challenges. To achieve these goals, we need consistent European and Member State policies.
