In its submission to the public consultation on modernising and simplifying the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the international organisation Slow Food argued on Tuesday 2 May for the CAP to shift towards a “common food policy” in future, in order to be able to develop more effective measures to tackle food waste (see EUROPE 11517 and 11559).
Slow Food also calls for the recognition of food sovereignty, this is “the right of peoples to … food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems”, a press release says.
Slow Food calls for “concrete support for small-scale agroecological producers who provide a whole series of environmental and social services to their community”, and ensure protection of biodiversity, maintenance of soil fertility and excellent crop yields. Slow Food argues for aid for disadvantaged groups, “particularly people living in marginal areas (such as mountain zones) and youth”.
In the European Union, 88 million tonnes of food are wasted every year (20% of total food production) and 10% of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU come from the agricultural sector, Slow Food highlights. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)