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Prudent development - a shared responsibility

9 Food production Food safety, agriculture and fisheries

Denmark's objective for food production is to ensure that the food produced and sold to consumers are healthy and of high quality and that the level of information on food is high. We must promote production methods that preserve the resource basis of the agricultural and fisheries sectors and ensure environmental protection, nature, animal welfare and good working conditions. Simultaneously, cost-effective production and marketing should be promoted in the food-producing sectors.

Denmark's food production is characterised by concentration and mass production. These developments have greatly improved efficiency, bringing prices down to levels that have cut food's economic share of total private consumption over the last fifty years from about 35 per cent to about 10 per cent. Simultaneously, Denmark does significant volumes of trade with other nations. Imports are on the rise while Denmark is - per capita - the largest net exporter of food in the world. Food production is central to the Danish economy in relation to jobs and export earnings.

Healthy food and a conscious nutrition policy are essential to the life quality and health of the population. However, healthy food and sustainable production hinge upon the primary producers meeting certain requirements. This is the only viable method for avoiding food that contain salmonella, dioxin or pesticide residue. Such requirements will also help to limit the negative impact of food production on the environment and nature, including the leaching of pesticides and nutrients from agriculture to groundwater and unintended byproducts or discards from the fisheries sector.

Finally, international conditions are crucial for food production. There are countless examples of the fact that problems related to the environment and food safety do not recognise national borders. BSE and dioxin are the most recent examples. International commitment is needed if a solution is to be found. The EU controls many aspects of production by harmonising regulation, and environmental policy goals that are set up within the EU and globally. In the EU, the entry of new Central and Eastern European countries will influence the agricultural and fisheries policies of coming years and necessitate further reforms. At the global level, a number of countries will continue to exert pressure in the WTO for the global liberalisation of trade in foods.

Objectives and activities 2001-2006

Sustainable food production depends on a significant commitment from the central Government. The Government is striving to ensure healthy, high-quality foods. As part of this endeavour, the Government presented its Food-policy Statement II in early 2001. The policy stated that primary sectors should promote environment-friendly production by continuously updating established targets. The guiding principle must be not to allow impacts to exceed the critical tolerance level of nature and the environment.

In addition, the Government has reorganised food research to ensure that it is better coordinated and thus strengthened. Research activities should be more closely guided by the basic assumption that organic farming, sustainability and food safety are central elements of a sustainable society.

9.1. Food safety

Consumers have a right to safe foods. It is unacceptable that food can pose a health hazard. In situations where science finds cause for suspicion, but where a scientific basis for validating or invalidating that suspicion is insufficient, the Government considers it important to base assessments on safety and risks related to foods on the precautionary principle.

The continuing problems of food safety cast a shadow on an entire production method that has achieved incredible production figures and where significant public efforts are devoted to ensuring safe food. Still, we must realise that new problems of varying magnitude are bound to arise in a range of areas. The actual risks aside, these problems diminish trust in the healthiness of food. Finally, nutrition policy is difficult to translate into concrete action. In many cases, children, older people and people with illnesses fail to obtain a sufficiently nutritious diet.

The establishment of a food policy poses a range of dilemmas that the Danish public needs to consider before the Government can establish a policy. The requirement concerning maximum food safety may compromise food quality; for example, milk pasteurisation can degrade the quality of certain speciality cheeses. While heightening food safety, preservatives may impair food quality. Additionally, maximum food safety may jeopardise animal welfare. Free-range animals are more susceptible to being infected, for example with campylobacter, than animals living in isolated and completely controlled environments. A third dilemma lies in the desire for natural foods versus the desire for foods with special characteristics achieved, for instance, through the application of gene technology.

The Government recognises the necessity for a debate on food policy. This is the only way of making politically lasting decisions that benefit the population and the food-producing sectors.

Objectives and activities 2001-2006

A crucial objective is to achieve an unconditionally high level of food safety by continuing the fight against food-borne diseases. Denmark needs very efficient controls to guard against chemical pollution and undesirable residues, and food manufacturers must assume unequivocal responsibility for the safety of their food products.

In the EU, Denmark will advocate that the control of pesticide residue in food be based on the precautionary principle, so that any doubts about environmental and health risks will yield to the consumers' advantage. The Government is advocating a ban on all pesticide residues, also in imported products, unless the residues have passed a health assessment under the EU pesticide program.

The Government's aim is to reduce the use of additives as much as possible. In the EU, the Government is recommending that additives be allowed only if they pose no health hazard, if they do not mislead consumers and if additives constitute a technological need.

Furthermore, Denmark is still working to amend EU regulations on the additives nitrites, nitrates and sulphites. This effort focuses on Denmark's case at the Court of Justice of the European Communities against the EU Commission and on the negotiations on an amendment to the directive on food additives other than colorants and sweeteners.

Denmark must launch a conscious consumer policy for the food industry through the implementation of clear regulations, targeted control, and openness and transparency in relation to regulations and control. To achieve this goal, the Government has amended the Food Act to pave the way for a more proactive and consumer-targeted policy of publication. All results from control activities must be made available to consumers in a comprehensive and accessible form.

In addition, the conscious consumer policy for the food industry should comprise improved labeling regulations, protection against deception and better general information.

Efficient activities in the nutrition area are the goal for improving health and life-quality. One means is to inform the public about health nutrition and exercise habits with the focus on children and young people - in families, day-care institutions, schools and other institutions - while also giving higher priority to meals for the elderly and the ill. The activities must be tailored to the needs of the individual. In the spring of 2001, the Government launched action plans for "Better food for children", "Better food for the elderly" and "Better food for the ill". Through these initiatives, the Government highlights the importance of children getting healthy and nutritious food in day-care institutions and schools, the elderly enjoying nutricious food and meals and the ill getting the nutrition they need to aid their recovery. To strengthen the nutrition area, a cross-ministerial nutritionpolicy coordination group will also be set up, charged with coordinating national activities. This should also ensure the optimal utilisation of national resources.

An effort will be made to procure food products with special qualities through continuous development of organic production, activities in Måltidets Hus, and a renewal of the qualitylabelling scheme. Activities will be intensified to remove barriers to organic production and marketing, including export, and the Government wishes to make the quality-labelling scheme more consumer oriented while also enhancing its prestige among the general public. The quality of meals is to play a significant role, and the scheme will be extended to comprise several different product types, including raw materials and processed products.

The animal feed area is to be controlled more efficiently, and openness concerning the content of feed mixtures must be a requirement. The Government will advocate stricter EU regulations on animal feed control and requirements for labelling of animal feed containing transgenetic organisms.

The position of the food sector must be consolidated by further innovation, research, dissemination of knowledge, product development and the ability of companies to adjust. Denmark must provide optimal opportunities for applying research results in the area.

In the spring of 2001, the Danish Innovation Act for the food sector came into force. The Act prioritises a range of specific areas that have gained greater importance in society in recent years. Safeguarding the environment and the resource base will join food safety, documentation, organic farming and animal welfare as significant key fields of action. One objective of the act is to subsidise and thus promote enterprising projects in the areas mentioned. Thus, the act will constitute a major tool in efforts targeted at ensuring environmental sustainability and competitive food production.

In an international context, Denmark will safeguard its interests by upholding the requirements for a high level of food safety, environmental protection and animal welfare in the EU, the WTO and other influential forums. At the same time, Denmark must support the demand for liberalisation of trade in food products; i. e. the removal of trade barriers coupled with the phasing out and removal of subsidies distorting competition.

9.2. Agriculture

Since the 1992 Rio conference, the Government has implemented a range of measures to ensure that agricultural production takes nature and the environment into consideration. Some of the benchmarks in these activities were detailed in the 1995 ten-point program for clean water, Action Plans I and II for organic farming from 1995 and 1999, the Aquatic Environment Plan II from 1998 and the Pesticide Action Plan II from 2000. The objectives of the 1986 Pesticide Action Plan I was to halve the total use of pesticides and to lead towards the use of less hazardous substances.

Since 1994, more than 200 pesticides hazardous to health, the environment or groundwater have been prohibited or their use has become subject to severe restrictions. In the future, pesticides threatening groundwater will be completely prohibited. In 1999, the Danish Bichel Committee presented economic analyses showing that the use of pesticides can be lowered by 30-40 per cent without significant costs to the agricultural sector. The cost of reducing pesticide use by 80 per cent and a complete ban were also analysed. Corresponding analyses are currently being conducted for the horticultural industry.

The Aquatic 1998 Environment Plan II aims to ensure the original objectives of the first aquatic environment plan from 1987, i. e. to reduce nitrogen emissions from agriculture and horticulture by 100,000 tons of nitrogen annually until 2003. After the mid-term evaluation, adjustments were made to the plan, to ensure that the objectives could be met. In meeting the objectives, Denmark will also fulfil the EU Nitrate Directive, due to be implemented no later than 2003. The tools include a detailed regulation of agricultural fertiliser handling coupled with increased afforestation, the use of environment-friendly production methods and the reestablishment of wetlands, which serve a dual purpose: to improve nature and limit nitrogen leaching.

About 66 per cent of the Danish territory is used for agriculture, and despite the efforts mentioned, agricultural production still has a negative impact on nature and the environment. Agricultural areas are important to the population because they carry cultural-historical values and are a significant source of enjoyment of landscape and nature.

To some extent, the agricultural efficiency improvements have come about through increasing use of pesticides and nutrients. The scale and intensity of farming leave little room for variation in animal and plant life, also affecting flora and fauna in streams, lakes and small biotopes. Pesticides and nutrients leach to the groundwater, and nitrogen and pesticides seep into the aquatic environment and natural areas. Thus, the scope of environmental, natural and health effects need further study and research.

Structural developments and concentration of production demonstrate how specialisation and scale economies have enhanced efficiency. In 1970 Denmark had about 140,000 farms, while in 1999 the figure was only 55,000. About 90 per cent of agricultural production come from approximately 25,000 full-time farms.

Sustainable agricultural production poses a range of dilemmas such as intensive production. The environment, biodiversity, health and safety, animal welfare, landscape values and local production all require consideration. These concerns may well be conflicting.

Objectives and activities 2001-2006

In the view of the Government, it is imperative for continued economic growth to occur without a corresponding growth in environmental impact and resource consumption. Growth in the agricultural sector should not happen at the expense of nature and the environment. Thus, focus on products of high value and quality that are manufactured on a sustainable basis must be heightened in future.

The Government believes that we need to realign agricultural production with sustainable production based on food safety, animal welfare and environmental considerations and capable of restoring consumer confidence. This is why the Government is launching a Food-policy Forum in charge of introducing proposals for the changes required ensuring an improved, more holistic and sustainable food policy. The Food-policy Forum will be asked to analyse and chart central development trends, national and international alike. The Forum will evaluate all relevant factors impacting on the long-term development of a sustainable food and agricultural policy reflecting future consumers' needs and social priorities in relation to the environment, the economy and welfare.

Organic thinking must be the springboard for activities in all relevant policy areas and organic farming should be promoted. In the spring of 2001, the Government organised the conference on "Organic Food and Farming:Towards Partnership and Action in Europe". At the conference, a large number of European governments, NGOs and representatives from trade and industry voiced their support for the Danish initiative and documented the need for action at the European level in the field of organic production. The conference resulted in the Copenhagen Declaration (see box) in which several European countries and associations give the lead for a European organic action plan. Denmark will strive to promote organic thinking in the EU.

The Government will focus on the polluterpays principle. For this purpose, economic methods should be developed so the agricultural sector reduces its environmental impact without distorting the national economy. A long-term objective is that the impact of products on the environment and nature is to be reflected in their price.

The Government will continue its efforts to achieve sustainable production through the following specific objectives and activities:

Agricultural loss of nitrate, phosphorus and ammonia must be brought down to a level that represents no nuisance to humans, that safeguards the aquatic environment and vulnerable types of nature and that promotes a rich animal and plant life. Aquatic Environment Plan II and the subsequent follow-up to the plan are expected to reduce agricultural nitrogen leaching by 100,000 tons before the end of 2003. Focus areas are divided into area-related activity areas, improved feed utilisation and fertiliser-related activity areas. The plan underwent a mid-term evaluation in December 2000, and in the spring of 2001 the political parties to the plan agreed on a follow up to Aquatic Environment Plan II.

In preparation for the forthcoming Aquatic Environment Plan III and on the basis of continued efforts to limit agricultural environmental impact, Denmark will launch comprehensive factfinding activities which should focus not only on the nitrogen impact but also on phosphorous impacts on nature and the environment. As a starting point, impacts should never exceed the level critical to nature and the environment. The fact-finding project should form the basis for establishing environmental objectives for agriculture after 2003, when Aquatic Environment Plan II expires.

Airborne agricultural emission of ammonia must be reduced. The Government presented an action plan in the spring of 2001 targeted at reducing agricultural ammonia evaporation by 33 per cent over ten years.

The aquatic environment will be the key issue when the EU water policy framework directive is due to be implemented in Danish legislation no later than December 2003. The framework directive is discussed in chapter 6, Environment and Health.

Agricultural discharge of greenhouse gases must be reduced. The work is an aspect of the follow-up on the Government's climate strategy, Klima 2012 [Climate 2012].

The use of pesticides exceeds the levels necessary to ensure profitable cultivation, and in the coming years the Government wishes to stop their overuse. Pesticide Action Plan II calls for the application frequency on fields to be below 2 before the end of 2002. After 2002, a new objective will be established to reduce the application frequency even further. Denmark's long-term goal is to develop cultivation strategies that reduce the agricultural sector's dependency on pesticides enabling them to be phased out to the widest extent possible. Internationally, the Government also wishes to focus on over-use of pesticides, and pesticides will further undergo restrictive assessments, both nationally and internationally.

Agricultural pressure on the environment and nature varies from area to area as a consequence of the different types of agricultural production and the varying natural basis. In the coming years, livestock farming must be evaluated locally and regionally in the context of the sensitivity of nature and the environment.

Agriculture as a manager of nature. Nature must be protected and biodiversity ensured. Vulnerable types of nature and nature in agricultural land must be protected through the preservation, reestablishment and strengthening of small biotopes such as water holes and hedgerows. Dispersion corridors in the open country must also be safeguarded, since they improve the life conditions of wild animals and plants. Agricultural impacts on nature play a vital role in this context. The Government will draw up a national action plan for biodiversity and nature protection. Reference is made to chapter 5, Biodiversity.

Agricultural genetic resources are in jeopardy. Modern agriculture has rendered a relatively small number of breeds and species dominant in each of the individual livestock groups and plant types. The Government will expand the existing livestock gene bank and draw up a national strategy plan for agricultural plant-genetic resources.

The preconditions for a varied, social, economic and differentiated life in rural districts must be ensured. The Government will strive to adapt the EU subsidy schemes to a more holistic approach, so that support comes to depend on agriculture being conducted on a sustainable basis, promoting nature and environment considerations, health and safety, the cultural environment, animal welfare, regional development and rural employment. Subsidies not supporting these objectives must be phased out.

Denmark will work actively to change the EU Common Agricultural Policy in the forthcoming evaluations in 2003 and 2006. Direct subsidies must be conditional on efforts targeted at nature and the environment. In addition, the budgets for the Common Agricultural Policy should increasingly reflect the new Danish priorities with a view to creating sustainable development of rural districts while also creating improvements in food safety, animal welfare, nature and the environment.

The continuing development of green accounts and nature plans must strengthen agricultural management, with a view to focusing on the individual farmer's potential for lowering his total impact on the environment and nature while also increasing attention on preserving and restoring nature in agricultural land.

The use of gene technology involves risks but also opportunities. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) should be assessed on the basis of concrete environmental, health and agricultural facts governed by the precautionary principle in all respects. Further, the assessment must involve ethical aspects. Consumers must be informed when gene technology is used in production, if they are to have a real choice.

The above mentioned focus areas, concerning the requirements for sustainable agricultural production are part of the Government's objective, both nationally and at EU level.

9.3. Fisheries

Fish populations, their access to fishermen, and other environmental impacts on the marine ecosystem are essentially transboundary. Most of the Danish fisheries sector and its access to fish populations depend not only on Danish efforts for sustainable exploitation of living marine resources, but also on those of other countries. Consequently, an efficient policy should be based on targeted international cooperation and agreements.

Based on, inter alia, the 1992 Rio conference, a significant element of the Government's policy has been to maintain and develop the environmental profile of the EU's own fisheries policy as well in relations to other countries and international associations. An improved basis for the annual EU decisions on the total allowable catches (TAC) remains a key aspect of these activities. The advice of marine biologists plays a crucial role, and the precautionary principle governs the guidance which has been extended to comprise all the stocks essential to fisheries.

A range of international agreements, including the conclusion of the North Sea ministers' interministerial meeting on fisheries and the environment (the Bergen Declaration 1997), conclude, that activities must be targeted, nationally and in the EU common fisheries policy, to increase the integration between fisheries and the environment by applying an ecosystem approach including, for instance, the development of a multi-species approach as the first step. Additionally, the regulation of fisheries must to a greater extent be governed by the precautionary principle as defined by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea in 1998. The EU Council of Ministers first applied the principle in 1999 in establishing the quotas for a number of stocks. The European Commission confirmed the importance of the measures in the Green Paper on the Common Fisheries Policy after 2002, and this was endorsed when the Council of Ministers integrated environmental considerations and sustainable development into the common fisheries policy. Both aspects will enter into the revision of the common fishing policy in 2002.

As part of the national implementation of fisheries policy, several initiatives aimed at fisheries activities have been launched or expanded. To lower the pressure on fisheries, measures have been implemented to limit where and when fisheries can be performed and with which types of tools and engine power. Finally, the total capacity of the Danish fisheries fleet has been reduced significantly, which has made fisheries more profitable for the remaining fishermen in the sector.

Some of the main challenges we face are the very heavy fisheries pressure to which many economically important fish populations are constantly subjected and the over fisheries of several of the populations central to Denmark's fisheries sector. This is why fisheries activities should be limited as soon as possible and adjusted to the volume that the fish populations can sustain. The scope of fish discards must be reduced, and in some types of fisheries, unintentional by-catch - including of harbor porpoise - is far too high.

Understanding of the marine ecological balance is still lacking, also in terms of the many manmade factors compared to the natural factors impacting on the development of fish resources. Such factors comprise pollution, climate changes, activities related to oil exploration, etc. In some instances, pollution has impacted on the food safety of fish.

Finally, the aquaculture sector offers potentials for development that should be exploited on condition that the necessary environmental considerations are taken into account.

Objectives and activities 2001-2006

In the coming years, the Government will continue its work to promote the integration of environmental considerations and sustainability in the fisheries sector, nationally, in the EU and internationally. In this connection, weight is attached to following up on concluded regional agreements and action plans in the Baltic Sea and North Sea, aimed at making fisheries more sustainable. The establishment of an efficient partnership charged with restoring the North Sea cod stocks is one specific goal.

In May 2001, the Danish parliament adopted a range of central objectives for the development of a national fisheries policy in the years to come. One objective calls for the modernisation, renewal and simultaneous reduction of the fisheries fleet. The objective is to ensure a long-term, stable and sustainable fisheries sector in relation to the fisheries possibilities and a continued local fisheries sector with a wide geographic basis. Within this framework, adjustments to the national management of fisheries quotas will be realised, one aim is to develop coastal fisheries and promote the quality of landings. A ban on the discard of fish that can be landed legally should lower the pressure on fish populations and make the Danish fisheries potential more valuable to our society. In relation to the activities aimed at fisheries, the Government will give high priority to developing selective and gentle fisheries tools, so that unintended bycatch and undesired pressure on the sea bottom and its natural animal and plant life can more easily be avoided.

Research and data collection are to enhance the understanding of marine ecosystems and their interrelations with human impacts. Enhanced knowledge about these matters should help improve the decision basis for advisory services and ensure sustainability in fisheries management. Activities are also targeted at establishing a superior knowledge base that will enable us to better target our relevant nature protection considerations in relation to fish management in marine areas.

The Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries has appointed a committee on environmental impact and fisheries resources. Before October 2002, the committee is to report on manmade and natural factors that compound fisheries' impact on the   conditions and development of fish populations or that impact on fish as a food reserve.

To ensure sustainable development in the aquaculture sector, the Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries has appointed two committees on inland fish farms and marine farms, respectively. The committees are expected to make proposals for promoting continued exploitation of the production potential in the aquaculture sector, having in mind the minimisation of the environmental impact.

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