Recent studies analysing the possible effects on EU agriculture of the ‘Farm to Fork’ and ‘Biodiversity’ strategies “must be treated with caution”, the European Commission said on Monday 18 October (see other news).
“The studies provide both the scientific community and policy makers with a valuable insight on the choice of policy tools to mitigate the risks”, says the Commission (see EUROPE 12812/5, 12812/6).
But, according to the institution, “the models used in all studies are however not capable of accounting for demand-side changes or the support provided by new legislative initiatives and the new Common Agricultural Policy. The studies therefore cover only a few elements of the strategies and must be treated with caution”.
The Commission has published a table on the elements taken into account by each study.
Opponents of the Farm to Fork strategy point to the findings of the studies to warn of the decline in agricultural production that would result from the strategy’s numerical targets.
On the other hand, the Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament considers that these studies are, according to French MEP Pascal Canfin, “at best partial, at worst biased”.
Link to the Commission’s table: https://bit.ly/3jfbM99 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)