EU ministers focus on future of food production

TALLINN - The PeaceBread conference in Berlin earlier this week discussed ways to ensure the continuity of food production globally  both in times of peace and during crises.

Estonia's Minister of Regional Affairs and Agriculture Piret Hartman met with her German counterpart Cem Özdemir on the fringes of the conference. The meeting's focus was on cooperation in preparation for the new EU financial period.

"Minister Özdemir noted that there is a lot of frustration and a sense of worthlessness in rural areas of Germany at the moment. He also considers issues related to climate change to be very important. We also discussed at length the opportunities for Ukraine and Moldova to join the European Union. The German minister, along with other conference participants, was very supportive of the union's enlargement," Hartman said according to spokespeople.

At the conference, agriculture ministers and experts shared experiences and talked about ways to bring young people to agriculture and help them stay engaged with agriculture. In addition, the prospect of whether and when it would be possible to hold the PeaceBread conference in Ukraine was  discussed.

"Young people want to be involved in agriculture, not in document management," Hartman said, adding that bureaucracy in agriculture was also a concern for several ministers from neighboring countries.

At the end of the event, an ecumenical service was held at the Berlin Wall memorial, where a loaf of bread made from seeds grown in different countries as part of the PeaceBread project was cut. The bread was passed on to Hungary, the organizer of the conference next year.

According to its statutes, the nonprofit association PeaceBread, based in Berlin, was created to highlight and make a contribution to the connection between peace in Europe and world and sustainable agriculture; contribute to the commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain in Europe in 1989; and include partners from countries that joined the EU after 1989 or have a membership prospect and therefore promote peace and the understanding between nations. The patron of the project is the German minister of agriculture.