The Baltic can't wait
Finland’s Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Sirkka-Liisa Anttila, proposes trading in nutrient emissions in order to clean up the Baltic.
Over 90 per cent of Finnish farms are still committed to the new version of the agri-environmental programme approved by the European Commission in August, though the conditions for support are a lot less flexible than before. Finland is concerned about the rapidly declining state of the Baltic, so every possible way of reducing the nutrient load is needed.During the autumn, Sirkka-Liisa Anttila and Minister of the Environment Paula Lehtomäki intend to ask the other countries around the Baltic to consider a system similar to emissions trading that would allot point scores to each of the nine countries’ nutrient load.
Finland alone is too small to save the Baltic if the others don’t join in, Anttila declares. She says some ancient sins are involved, i.e. historical deadweight responsible for a proportion of present emissions which it is impossible to estimate accurately. She feels sorry for farmers, who tend to get blamed en masse for the pollution of the Baltic. Yet Finnish agriculture is responsible for barely four per cent of the total phosphorus and the nitrogen load.
“We have already made reductions by using less fertilizer and ensuring more efficient handling of animal dung. Further such actions are among the aims of the new programme,” says Anttila.
Use of GM to be marked
Sirkka-Liisa Anttila believes that consumers should be given genuine choice as far as genetically modified products are concerned. The Finnish Government has in fact taken rapid steps to launch a study on the feasibility of marking all foods sold in Finland to show whether the animals involved were fed GM feeds.
Because EU provisions do not require use of GM feed to be marked on end products, Anttila is in favour of voluntary markings on Finnish food packaging. She also encourages farmers to consider non-GM options to soya. The feed pea does well in Finnish conditions, and is one of the best sources of protein, she says, and thus much more should be grown. It is also environmentally friendly because it binds nitrogen, she adds.
According to Sirkka-Liisa Anttila, Finnish food production is designed primarily to feed the nation. The Minister points out that every country around the Baltic has its own distinct eating preferences and tends not to buy products from other countries, greatly reducing their potential sales. In fact, she believes the greatest challenge faced by the Finnish food chain is to turn Finnish-produced food into a quality brand that consumers here are ready to pay for.
BY KAIJALEENA RUNSTEN
PHOTOS BY PETRI JUNTUNEN
