The strategic dialogue on the future of agriculture in the EU, officially launched on Thursday 25 January, is proving to be an opportunity for stakeholders (farmers, consumers, NGOs, industry, financial institutions and academics) to share their many expectations.
The debates that will take place over the next few months will culminate in a report to be submitted to the European Commission in September to guide its action over the next few years in preparing the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) from 2028 (see EUROPE 13336/3).
Twenty-seven representatives of organisations - Copa-Cogeca, CEJA, Via Campesina, IFOAM (organic), FoodDrinkEurope (agri-food industry), Eurogroup for Animals, Slow Food, European Environmental Bureau (EEB), financial institutions, Wageningen University - took part in this first meeting, which took place in the room where the European College of Commissioners usually meets. German professor Peter Strohschneider chaired the debates.
After this first event, further meetings will be organised every four to six weeks. An online portal will also be set up to gather the views of organisations not invited to the meetings.
Next, a working group will examine three major topics: farm income, sustainability and innovation.
The agricultural organisations and cooperatives (Copa-Cogeca) have called for concrete, operational solutions for agriculture to be found quickly. “Many challenges lie ahead, including the effects of climate change, the competitiveness of our farms, the need for a decent income, reducing the administrative burden and generational renewal”, the organisations noted. In the current context of demonstrations, this dialogue is “crucial and full of expectations”, according to Copa-Cogeca.
Peter Meedendorp, President of CEJA, relayed the demands of young farmers: “Don’t let us drown between the realities of the market, climate change and regulations”. CEJA would like to see generational renewal in agriculture become a central theme in all future strategic discussions. With 11% of farmers under the age of 40, urgent and difficult discussions are needed to enable young people to integrate the sector. Income, access to land, financing and the fair distribution of value will be the main challenges to be tackled as part of the strategic dialogue, explains the JSCA.
Via Campesina, for its part, has identified three crucial levers for action: guaranteeing a decent income for farmers, access to land and seed rights. Its representative, Geneviève Savigny, is calling for a paradigm shift: “The so-called ‘competitive’ industrial model gives no future to the vast majority of producers, but also to consumers and citizens”.
For IFOAM Organics Europe, the challenges are obvious: “unfair prices, reduction of subsidies, competition from imported products and regulatory contradictions”. However, the organisation believes that frustrations with the EU, the ‘European Green Deal’ and environmental legislation are “counter-productive”.
In addition, the Green Deal Going Local working group at the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) met on Thursday to discuss, among other things, the greening of the Common Agricultural Policy.
The two co-rapporteurs of a forthcoming CoR opinion on the future of the CAP believe that regionalising the management of the CAP would make it easier to identify and respond to the problems facing farmers. The CAP should also move away from sector-based payments towards a model based on social and environmental sustainability, which supports small producers and rural development as a whole, according to CoR co-rapporteurs Isilda Gomes (PES, Portuguese) and Piotr Całbecki (EPP, Polish). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)