Commissioner in Denmark
The importance of innovation in agriculture to address the major challenges ahead, such as climate change, was one of the key messages that emerged during EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloș's visit to Denmark on April 25-26. Arriving on Sunday afternoon, the Commissioner was able to have a detailed discussion on current and future agricultural issues with the leaders of the Danish Agriculture Council. He took particular note of the fact that although Danish pig production is highly competitive and modern, the economic crisis has caused significant problems with debt and negative equity in recent months.
On the Monday morning, the Commissioner visited a highly modern pig farm, with more than 1 000 sows and welfare friendly conditions such as open housing and deep litter. After a bilateral meeting with the Danish Minister Henrik Hoegh, he participated in a conference on the future direction of the CAP, organised by the Danish Ministry of Agriculture. It was a well-attended meeting which also saw contributions from the Farm Ministers from Germany (Ilse Aigner), France (Bruno Le Maire), Poland (Marek Sawicki) and the Netherlands (Gerda Verburg), as well as MEPs Paolo De Castro and George Lyon. The Commissioner was impressed by the large number of common elements and the broad support for better adapting the CAP to face the challenges of the future. He took the opportunity to underline the public debate which he started in April on the future objectives for the CAP.
