Scientific Advisory Council for Agricultural Policy, Nutrition and Consumer Health Protection

On February 2, 2015, the former Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Christian Schmidt, appointed Prof. Dr. Martínez as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Agricultural Policy, Nutrition and Consumer Health Protection. This was after Professor Martínez had already been involved since the summer of 2014 as an external legal expert in the preparation of the expert opinion on the acceptance of livestock facilities, which was submitted to the BMEL in the spring of 2015. In August 2018, Prof. Dr. Martínez was reappointed by the acting Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Julia Klöckner, for a fourth appointment period as a member of the Scientific Advisory Council for Agricultural Policy, Nutrition and Consumer Health Protection.
This position is held on an honorary basis. The Advisory Council's tasks include, in particular, reviewing the objectives and principles of agricultural policy and land management, assessing societal requirements, drawing up proposals for the further development of agricultural policy, analyzing opportunities for sustainable land management and addressing issues relating to the development of rural areas.
In summer 2016, a 440-page expert report on "Climate protection in agriculture, forestry and the downstream sectors of food and wood use" was handed over, in which Prof. Dr. Martínez worked on the legal aspects. In the summer of 2018, an expert opinion on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy of the EU (GAP) 2020 ("For a Common Agricultural Policy of the EU oriented towards the common good after 2020: fundamental issues and recommendations") was completed and published. Prof. Dr. Martínez was in charge of preparing an expert opinion on the administrative simplification of the GAP ("Possibilities, starting points and limits of an administrative simplification of the EU Common Agricultural Policy"), which was handed over to the Federal Minister of Agriculture in spring 2019. At the same time, Prof. Dr. Martínez contributed to an expert opinion "On the effective design of agri-environmental and climate protection policy within the framework of the EU Common Agricultural Policy", which was also published in spring 2019. The Advisory Council's latest major opinion, titled "Policies for a more sustainable diet: developing an integrated nutrition policy and designing fair nutrition environments," elaborates on four key objectives of a more sustainable diet (health, social, animal welfare, environmental) and recommends making the nutrition environment "fair." The Council understands fair nutrition environments to be those that are aligned with human perceptual, decision-making, and behavioral capabilities and are more conducive to health, social, environmental, and animal welfare, thereby helping to sustain the livelihoods of current and future human populations. The report was completed in June 2020 and handed over to the Federal Minister of Agriculture in August 2020.