The European Union must place sustainability at the heart of future agriculture policy to avoid farmers being left at the mercy of large food and agri-business operators.
That’s the warning from Europe’s lead organic group IFOAM EU, following the adoption last week of a Communication on The Future of Farming by the European Commission.
The Communication, presented to the EU Institutions, sets out the EU’s direction for the future Common Agricultural Policy.
IFOAM EU says that, while the Communication offers some possibilities for improvement, it “lacks a clear and common EU approach” to realise the Commission’s stated intention of shifting towards more sustainable agricultural growth models”.
Christopher Stopes, IFOAM EU president: “With CAP representing almost 40% of the EU expenditure and the Commission proposing a more results-orientated budget post-2020, spending money largely on income support with a limited impact can no longer be justified. To have the full confidence of EU citizens we need to maintain a common EU-wide approach. EU leaders must ensure in the upcoming EU budget discussions that future CAP payments are grounded on farmers delivering a wide range of public goods based on a whole farm system approach.”
Jan Plagge, IFOAM EU, vice-president: “Today most farmers are at the mercy of large industry players in an increasingly globalised marketplace, and lack incentives to shift their businesses in a more sustainable direction. EU policymakers must use the next CAP reform to send a clear signal that sustainability must be at the heart the European agri-food sector. To this end, forthcoming legislative proposals need to make concrete efforts to fully align farm income support with the delivery of a wide range of public goods, based on reward and incentive, 100% financed by the EU budget.”