Members of the European Parliament voted yesterday (Tuesday, October 19) to define their position on the Farm to Fork strategy.
While European young farmers welcome discussions on making the food system more sustainable, concerns remain on the “lack of certainty currently surrounding the strategy”.
CEJA said that young farmers “reiterate their call for potential risks and trade-offs to be addressed, and for solid enablers to be put at their disposal in the implementation phase on their pathways towards more sustainability”.
Farm to Fork risks and potential trade-offs
Reacting to the plenary vote on the Farm to Fork strategy own-initiative report, CEJA president Diana Lenzi emphasised that: “Young farmers want to play their role in the green transition, but this week’s European Parliament debate and vote brought again forward fears that some of us will be left behind in this transition.
“What we ask policymakers is to address all the risks and potential trade-offs emerging from the transition, including the short-term economic impact farmers will very likely bear on their shoulders; the difficulty to sustain public support and private investment in the long-run; the gap with our trade policy; as well as the uncertainty around the development and application of future technological advancements.”
Young farmers support the EU’s attempt – echoed by September’s UN Food Systems Summit – to connect actors from across the food chain and explore through a holistic perspective ways to make the food system more sustainable.
Yet, they believe in the need “to put forward a solid methodology to assess and monitor the performance of the various targets they are asked to achieve on the ground”.
CEJA is also calling for “further pragmatism when it comes to the argument that the CAP alone will be able to accompany them in this shift towards greater sustainability”.
“A combination of regulatory and market instruments will be needed together with a better acknowledgement of their efforts not only in words but also in economic terms in the value chain,” CEJA said.
“While the ambition of shaping a food system fit for the future necessarily speaks to the hearts of European young farmers, as much as it speaks to the hearts of MEPs, they also experience the complexity to get there every day on their farms.
“Almost one year and a half after the publication of the Farm to Fork strategy, it is now high-time for EU policymakers to address this complexity and define ambitions and tools that are in line with young farmers’ realities.”
Sustainable food system
Following this week’s vote, in which the resolution was adopted, Herbert Dorfmann, rapporteur for the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, said: “Responsibility for a more sustainable agriculture must be a joint effort by famers and consumers.
“Our farmers are already doing a great job, so when we rightly ask them to further reduce their use of pesticides, fertilisers and antibiotics, we need to support them so production does not just move outside the EU.
“Ensuring the availability of food at reasonable prices must continue to be a priority.”
Anja Hazekamp, rapporteur for the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, added: “Current EU policies are driving environmentally-harmful farming models and paving the way for imports of unsustainable products.
“We propose concrete measures to bring our food system back within planetary boundaries by stimulating local food production and by moving away from intensive livestock farming and crop monocultures with high pesticide use.
“A sustainable food system is also crucial for the future of farmers.”