Strasbourg - EU agriculture ministers, including Slovenia's Jože Podgoršek, learned on Monday about a low-carbon farming project and the work of France's Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAe) in the field of viticulture, as part of a two-day informal meeting hosted by the French EU presidency.

The first day of the meeting was, as tradition dictates, dedicated to a field visit with a focus on good agricultural practices, a press release by the Slovenian Agriculture Ministry reads.

The ministers started their visit at the INRAe, where they learned about the main stages of the "RESDUR experiment" variety selection. The experiment is creating grape varieties resistant to peronospora or downy mildew.

The ministers were then given an overview of a low carbon agriculture project, that is an initiative to establish a single system for the certification of carbon dioxide removals, monitoring and valuation of carbon sinks. This new business model would provide additional income for land managers, farmers and forestry companies, the release notes.

The ministers also toured a farm that is introducing low-carbon farming practices.

On Tuesday, the ministers will discuss the consolidation of low-carbon agriculture or climate-friendly agricultural and forestry models. This will continue the exchange of views launched at the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council in January.

The French presidency of the Council of the EU has made low-carbon agriculture one of its priorities.