The Farm to Fork strategy must not be made “untenable” for the agri-food sector, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have been told.
In a joint letter to MEPs, a group of 26 representative groups of farmers, processors, contractors and other agri-food stakeholders made their feelings clear on the strategy.
The grouping noted that tomorrow (Thursday, September 9) the ENVI and AGRI Committees of the European Parliament will vote on their draft report presenting their official reaction to the Farm to Fork strategy.
The joint letter said: “While the first studies on the impact of the strategy launched by the Commission in 2020 show extremely worrisome trends, MEPs are planning to call for several additional objectives and targets for the commission strategy that would be simply untenable for the EU farming community.”
A new study was published by the EU’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) over the summer which the joint letter said “confirmed the first impact analyses already published on the commission’s flagship strategy for agriculture”.
The grouping added: “The Farm to Fork strategy, in its current form, will lead to significant drops in productions and significant additional costs for producers.
“Even if a reduction in EU agricultural emissions could result from this strategy, a large part of it would come from the relocation of our production to third countries,” the farming representative groups warned.
In spite of this, the European Parliament is set to vote this week on what the letter termed “additional proposals that are disconnected from agri-food sector realities”.
All groups agreed the new proposals “could make the strategy even more detrimental for the survival of the entire sector”.
Noting a “belated” awareness among a number of MEPs in relation to food sovereignty and rural development, the groups said:
“We are now asking them to back their words with action and we call on members of the ENVI and AGRI committees to vote clearly against the most damaging compromise amendments of the draft report that are putting the future of our European farms and their related industries at risk.”
The groups stressed that farmers and agri stakeholders across Europe are aware of the need to adapt to climate action, adding that farming communities are “acting every day to meet the demands for emission limits, biodiversity, and animal welfare”.
“If the EU wants us to succeed, it will have to support us with a pragmatic political framework based on realistic objectives that are consistent with its trade policy, safeguard a level playing field with imports and provide the necessary assistance for a sustainable transition.
“Environmental sustainability cannot be disconnected from social and economic sustainability, and this synergy goes together with incremental and pragmatic targets,” the joint letter concluded.