New ideas from vertical farming to fair pricing on health

Due to the current COVID-19 situation, some panel members joined remotely.

The five principal areas of attention were: better ways of living, protecting our environment and our health, redirecting our economy, redirecting overproduction and overconsumption, and caring for all.

From the 64 recommendations that were voted on 51 were adopted and 13 failed to meet the 70% support threshold.

"This is a win for all, in a practical and moral sense… The citizen takes center-stage here and experiences politics, the moment and the complications that come with this and tries to find solutions to improve things. People feel included. The citizen is part of the system," said Celestino, a panelist from Italy.

Panelists recommended that the EU give subsidies for organic farming and support for new vertical farming, where crops are grown in layers on top of each other which increases efficiency and productive capacity for the same square-metre used.

The citizens also pushed for EU-wide minimum standards for food quality in school canteens as well as recommended food production become part of public education. An EU directive on urban development to make cities greener was a crowd favorite in conjunction with calls for more support for cyclists and investment in new bike lanes.

Panel participants called for a unified labelling system that would explain the entire ecological footprint of products purchased within the EU as well as labels explaining the role of hormonal substances in food products.

The panelists also wanted higher taxes on unhealthy foods to discourage consumption and a European-wide scoring system for healthy food.

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Photo Courtesy of iFarm

Source: Malta Today