Prioritising low-cost production for competitiveness in global markets has undermined sustainability, a position paper by national agrifood coalitions for the CAP post-2027 has claimed.

The paper was published by Good Food Good Farming's, a civil society alliance that campaigns for sustainable food and farming across Europe, and supported by the European Milk Board (EMB).

According to the paper, low cost competitiveness is driving down food and farming standards, and squeezing farm incomes.

It also claims that "real sustainability" requires that EU farmers are paid fair prices that cover the "true costs" of meeting high environmental, animal welfare, and social standards.

The EMB supported a claim from Good Food Good Farming's paper that market regulation is a precondition for the acceptance and functioning of environmental, animal welfare, generational, and gender-based measures.

The paper outlined that ensuring "fair and stable prices" reduces economic insecurity, and enables farmers to earn a fair income from selling their products and to plan long term.

The EMB has said that it supports the demands that the coalition has made.

It called for effective market regulation to reinstate balance in agricultural markets and to ensure fairer, more stable prices.

The EMB also called for the adaptation, and introduction, of new regulatory measures within the framework of the Common Market Organisation that should make payment of cost-covering prices the "norm".

The board also wants flexible market management to be introduced, as well as compulsory contracts between buyers and producers in all EU member states.

Finally, it called for an early-warning system for market risks for all sectors of agricultural production.

The EMB has underlined that the coalition's "clear, constructive reference" to market regulation is "very important".

It said that the instruments and measures it called for are necessary to strengthen the economic position of all farmers across Europe in the long-term, and to secure food sovereignty in the European Union.