Government decisions help maintain the safety of food production

By: STA Date: 2022. 10. 14. 08:09

Dialogue between the actors of the economy is always necessary, however, in the current extraordinary situation, the sharing of good practices and experiences has become especially valuable – emphasized Zsolt Feldman at the IV. Jászság Economic and Development Conference.

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The Jászsági Managers’ Club Association announced this year’s meeting under the title “Focus on food”, thereby indicating the outstanding importance of agriculture and the food industry. In his presentation, the Secretary of State for Agriculture and Rural Development of the Ministry of Agriculture explained: in the complex situation caused by climate change, the Russian-Ukrainian war, the energy crisis caused by the sanctions policy and the sustainability expectations of the consumer society, it is in the basic interest of the actors of the economy to exchange information and share their experiences in order to stay afloat. . Government actions provide help and opportunities to deal with these problems.

The Renewable Regions program helped in many developments

Zsolt Feldman called maintaining the safety of agricultural production and related food production crucial. In the short term, the most important thing is to ensure liquidity and manage the energy crisis. The drastic increase in production costs for farmers will be helped by the loan moratorium and the start of the extraordinary agricultural interest subsidy. The management of the energy situation will be helped, among other things, by the soon-to-be-started manufacturing industry energy cost support program for small and medium-sized enterprises, he said. The state secretary reminded: the Ministry of Agriculture launched the Regenerating Region, renewable agriculture program in 2021, with the help of which thousands of agricultural and food industry enterprises began renovation, expansion, and technological renewal. Grants worth HUF 100 billion have been awarded to the food industry, animal husbandry or even precision farming, despite the current cost and interest rate environment, it is important that as many of them as possible are implemented. It can be seen that the companies that have been able to carry out their production efficiency and energy efficiency developments, or are still able to complete these investments, gain a serious competitive advantage. Zsolt Feldman also drew attention to the balance of production safety and sustainability aspects, as he said, both Hungarian and European consumers need safe and sustainable food production, so the voices that – mainly in the western part of Europe – against agricultural production are not realistic it is almost only treated as an environmental problem.