To maintain functioning, sustainable, and resilient food supply chains, Europeans must make the ‘best possible use’ of its agriculture, especially with regard to the cultivation of plant-based proteins.
This is the view of agricultural ministers of France and Austria, Julien Denormandie and Elisabeth Köstinger, who are urging the Commission to work out an EU-wide protein strategy.
“Due to the capability to fix nitrogen from the air, increasing the production of legumes or protein crops is a response to the dependencies in mineral nitrogen and plant-based proteins, but also to address environmental dependencies in mineral nitrogen and plant-based proteins, but also to address environmental issues,” they wrote in a joint declaration to Brussels.
“Moreover, the increased cultivation of legumes will contribute to a more sustainable and diversified agriculture, less dependent on external mineral fertilizer inputs.”
An EU-wide approach
A plant-based protein strategy would align with the European Commission’s ambition to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, the ministers suggested, by addressing current environmental and climate challenges facing the agricultural sector.
Further, promoting legumes would ‘enhance food security and sovereignty across the bloc, all the while decreasing Europe’s dependence on imports. In so doing, it would also limit the risk of ‘greater deforestation in third countries.
France and Austria are well placed to propose the Commission develop an EU-wide strategy, having both developed national protein strategies. Both of these aim at increasing sustainable production, leveraging the positive impacts of the cultivation of plant-based proteins on the climate and the environment, and address food processing capacities, research and innovation.