On Thursday 11 June, during a discussion with the European Commission Agriculture and Health Directorates-General, MEPs on the European Parliament Committee on Agriculture expressed their concerns about implementation of the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy, just as the agriculture ministers had previously done (see EUROPE 12501/09). The representatives from the European Commission gave an assurance that the strategy sets objectives that are undoubtedly “ambitious” (a 50% reduction in the use of pesticides and antibiotics, 25% of land under organic farming, etc.), but “realistic”.
MEPs’ questions focused on two points: the absence of an accurate assessment of the impact of the strategy on the agricultural sector, and the lack of clarity on the ways in which the objectives will be applied at national level.
Herbert Dorfmann (Italy), the coordinator of the EPP group, was also surprised that there is “a lot of ‘Farm’ and not enough ‘Fork’ in this strategy”. Ulrike Müller (Germany), the coordinator of the Renew Europe group, brought up the issue of the objective of 25% of organic land to be reached in 2030, saying: “We will need to rely on market demand and not state support to develop this sector”. Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA, Germany) said he was “very surprised” to hear “the Commission say that the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy and the proposal for the new CAP are perfectly compatible when there is an enormous gap between them”.
In order to reassure MEPs, Wolfgang Burtscher, the European Commission Director-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, pointed out that the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy explicitly stated that there would need to be “close monitoring of its impact on food security and agricultural competitiveness”. He also promised that his department would pay close attention to the different situations in each Member State.