On Thursday 14 October, a few days before the European Parliament vote on the ‘Farm to Fork Strategy (F2F) for a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system’, the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament condemned Copa-Cogeca’s attempts to torpedo the strategy, which was presented in May 2020 as part of the European Green Deal.
At issue: revelations in the newspaper Le Monde that Copa-Cogeca is seeking, using targeted lobbying, to obtain the postponement of the vote in November, and an amendment by 66 MEPs (EPP, Renew Europe and S&D) calling for the EU’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) study on the impact of the strategy on agriculture to be taken into account. Link to the amendment: https://bit.ly/3vc2Kym
The plenary vote is scheduled for Tuesday 19 October in Strasbourg on the joint report by Anja Hazekamp (GUE/NGL, Dutch) and Herbert Dorfmann (EPP, Italy), which was the subject of a compromise between the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, ECR and Greens/EFA groups in the Environment (ENVI) and Agriculture (AGRI) committees (see EUROPE 12787/16).
Speaking on Thursday by video conference, Benoît Biteau (Greens/EFA, France), shadow rapporteur on the CAP for his group in the Agriculture Committee (AGRI), stressed the importance of maintaining coherence between the F2F strategy and the EU’s biodiversity strategy, which both impose a binding trajectory of a 50% reduction in pesticides by 2030, encourage the development of organic farming and the creation of biodiversity sanctuary areas.
“There is a lot of lobbying led by Copa-Cogeca to bury the strategy. We are seeing the reappearance of old clichés: the risk of starving the planet, impoverishing farmers, importing products that do not meet European standards. However, agriculture reinvented through agroecology is more productive”, he told the press, inviting his colleagues “not to be afraid”.
According to him, the JRC study cannot serve as an impact assessment, as it uses CAPRI models “which are not the right indicators to assess the F2F strategy”.
He cited a July study by the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI, Paris) which shows that a global approach to agricultural practices, consumption and trade can help preserve biodiversity and health, while ensuring a satisfactory income for farmers. See the study: https://bit.ly/3v9C9SJ
The day before, German Green MEP Martin Haüsling (Greens/EFA) accused agribusiness of ignoring climate change and wanting business as usual.
“Copa-Cogeca and the agri-food companies involved in the organisation, such as the German industry association Agrar IVA, simply do not want to understand the challenges of the times” he said, referring to a “denial of reality”.
He added, “In my view, there is currently no alternative to the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy, which is the agricultural component of the Green Deal. Climate change, health protection and biodiversity conservation require radical changes”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)