European farmers will face fewer rules and less foreign competition, a new vision for agriculture promises, as environmental campaigners warn that key green proposals have been ignored.
The EU’s new farming strategy will overhaul the sector with targeted financial support, stricter import standards and a shift from “conditions to incentives” in the green strings attached to its vast subsidy scheme, according to the report published on Wednesday.
The strategy promises better pay and conditions, and proposes targeting support to help young farmers. It also calls for tighter rules on unfair trading practices, declaring that “practices where farmers are systematically forced to sell below costs will not be tolerated”.
But the document stops short of proposing an end to payments based on farm size and makes no mention of a “just transition fund” to help farmers clean up their pollution. The proposals were among key recommendations in a report hammered out by a broad group of food-chain stakeholders at the request of the commission last year.
Marco Contiero, Greenpeace EU’s agricultural policy director, said: “When we got farmers’ unions, environmental experts, scientists, traders and food companies around the same table, everyone was clear – Europe’s food and farming system must change. But the commission’s ‘vision’ can’t seem to see that.”
Campaigners said the proposed reforms to the subsidy scheme known as the common agricultural policy (CAP) did not go far enough. They also expressed fears that more environmental rules would be cut in the name of simplification, after several nature-protecting rules were delayed, deleted or watered down last year.
Giulia Riedo, from WWF EU, said the new vision was a “vague roadmap” that took “very timid steps” towards fairer and more sustainable food supply chains.
“It includes a few positive elements, such as a commitment to a stronger enforcement of green legislation and financial incentives for farmers who go beyond existing environmental requirements. Yet, in trying to please everyone, the European Commission has failed to address critical issues, such as the necessary increase in environmental payments,” she said.
Copa and Cogeca, Europe’s biggest farming lobby, welcomed the proposal, calling it a “pragmatic reset”, and said the commission’s agriculture policy had regained its bearings. “However, it fails to address the elephant in the room: the future CAP budget and the resources needed to finance this package of measures,” they added.
Cleaning up Europe’s farms is seen as a vital step for the long-term health of the sector, as well as to protect wildlife and stop the planet from heating. Most European soil is unhealthy, according to the European Environment Agency (EEA), with 60-75% containing too much nitrogen and 80% containing pesticide residue. The agency has estimated the societal cost of degraded soil at around €50bn a year.
“By neglecting to enforce vital environmental laws and continuing to funnel subsidies to the wealthiest landowners, this plan sidelines the very farmers who steward our landscapes,” said Marilda Dhaskali from BirdLife Europe. “Without decisive action to restore nature and adapt to climate realities, Europe’s food security hangs by a thread.”
Campaigners also criticised the vision for failing to include one of the most surprising conclusions to come out of the strategic dialogue, which recognised the case for eating less meat. The participants acknowledged that Europeans eat more animal protein than scientists recommend, and agreed that support was needed to rebalance diets toward plant-based proteins.
“European diets are fundamentally shaped by an industrial food system that makes it hard for people to choose healthy, sustainable food,” said Julia Christian from the NGO Fern. “The [commission’s] vision has missed a vital chance to address this. Instead of supporting measures to encourage consumers to eat more vegetables, pulses and fruits … the commission has focused almost exclusively on agricultural production, missing the bigger picture of food system reform.”
Christophe Hansen, the European Commission’s agriculture commissioner, said the proposals would make the sector more sustainable while keeping it attractive and well paid enough for young people to join. He noted that there had been “a lot of polemic” about farming, food and the environment.
“It’s very important that we take this seriously, but that we find solutions together with the farmers, together with the food producers,” said Hansen, who is the son of a farmer. “This will be done with dialogue, rather than by focusing on simple and blunt targets.”
