“Field Trip” in Croatia, the latest country to join the European Union. Unfair competition with produce from non-EU neighbours and the new standards that came with EU accession, and that Croatian agriculture is now having to adopt at breakneck speed, make the green transition particularly complex here.
Market distortions have been one of the hot-button issues at the recent farmers’ protests sweeping Germany, France and subsequently all of Europe (watch my “Tous Terriens !” videos for this!): Just across the EU border, in the countries that aren’t bound by the Union’s ambitious environmental policies, farmers can generally produce at lower prices. When their produce enters the European market freely (which it currently does), it has an unfair advantage over what’s produced by farmers within the Union, who abide by the standards and procedures in place.
With trade and regulations as they are, how can Croatian farmers be supported if they want to make the switch to more agroecological practices?
This is one of the questions that Renata Bažok, professor at the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Zagreb (FAZ), has been looking into. She presented her findings at the last major meeting of the European Research Alliance “Towards a Chemical Pesticide-Free Agriculture”, where I met her. In this video, I’m joining her and her team of agronomists and entomologists to get an idea of the situation on the ground, on a tour of farms that are representative of the diversity of Croatian agriculture.
Can Croatia be an inspiration to other European countries on how to navigate the green transition under mounting pressure? What specific strategies are being implemented there to support farms that face the double challenge of having to adapt to new agricultural standards and fend off unfair competition from next door?
This video was co-produced by INRAE, France’s National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment.
Croatia is the eleventh stop on my “Field Trip”, my study tour of agricultural research across Europe.
The European Research Alliance “Towards a Chemical Pesticide-Free Agriculture” was launched by INRAE, together with its German partners from JKI and the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF). Under ERA’s umbrella, 35 research organisations from 20 European countries are currently working closely together with a view to pooling their strengths and facilitating the exchange of knowledge and expertise in their respective fields. One of the alliance’s key objectives is to provide scientific support for an ambitious target set by the European Commission: cutting Europe’s use of pesticides in half by 2030.
ERA’s website and its 35 members:
www.era-pestic...
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List of speakers in this video (in order of appearance):
- Renata Bažok: Full Professor, Department of Agricultural Zoology, Division of Phytomedicine, University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture (FAZ)
(specialising in agronomy and integrated pest management)
- Leon Prelogović: Agricultural engineer, Fragaria d.o.o.
- Helena Virić Gašparić: Senior Assistant, Department of Agricultural Zoology, Division of Phytomedicine, University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture (FAZ)
(specialising in agricultural zoology)
- Darija Lemić: Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural Zoology, Division of Phytomedicine, University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture (FAZ)
(specialising in plant protection and entomology)
- Jadranka Berić: Agronomist, plant protection specialist, Director of the Advisory Mission for Agricultural Development (Uprava za stručnu podršku razvoju poljoprivrede)
- Kristijan Žlender: Farmer, OPG Žlender Farm
- Filip Žlender: Farmer, OPG Žlender Farm
- Dorian Šulog: Farmer, OPG Šulog Farm
- Dejan Šulog: Farmer, OPG Šulog Farm
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The impact of my travels:
I’m always aiming to limit my carbon footprint. For this video, the impact created by my travels (source: Ademe/monimpacttransport.fr) was 17 kg CO2e for an itinerary of 2,932 km by train, which is 389 kg CO2e less than if I’d taken a plane (406 kg CO2e).
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A series by Pierre Girard, co-produced with INRAE
Writing:
Pierre Girard
Camera and editing:
Patryk Puchalski
Graphic design:
Otto Stobbe
Translation and subtitles:
Geoffrey Schöning
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#FieldTrip_EU