Commissioner Cioloş in Finland: towards an integrated approach to sustainability and resource efficiency
Commissioner for EU Agriculture and Rural Development, Dacian Cioloş had a two days visit to Finland, where he had meetings with the Finnish Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Jari Koskinen and with representatives of the agricultural producers and forest owners unions MTK and SLC. Travelling to North Karelia, the commissioner participated today at the second edition of the Koli Forum, dedicated to the management and development of natural resources and bioeconomy.
Talking about delivering sustainability and resource efficiency in Europe's farms, fields and forests, commissioner Cioloş underlined that "our aim must be a resilient, competitive and diverse European farming sector, which continues to produce throughout our regions. But in doing this, we must also reconcile food production with environment protection. We need an integrated approach to sustainability and resource efficiency" stated the European commissioner, underlining that the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy to be launched next month will promote "a positive role for agriculture in managing our natural resources".
Commissioner Cioloş also underlined that "setting agricultural production onto a sustainable growth path will be possible only with major research and innovation efforts. This is why, in the next period, the budget devoted to agricultural research will be more than doubled. In parallel, a European Innovation Partnership is being developed to fill the gap between research communities and farmers".
