A group of European farmers has called for urgent reform of the EU agriculture system in order to ensure food security in the future.
In an open letter to European leaders, ECVC (European Coordination Via Campesina) and the European Milk Board (EMB) outlined that they are “highly concerned and alarmed” at the current situation.
“Our agricultural system must be reformed now. There is no time to lose because the EU is treading on thin ice that has already given way in many places,” they wrote.
The farming organisations said that now is the time to bring “sustainable stability” to European production structures and warned that if changes are not made it will no longer be possible to guarantee food security.
“Without the people that ensure food production, there will be no food and this will be devastating for food security in the EU,” they added.
The letter notes the impact of the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic on the EU food sector, however, it cites the current agricultural system as another decisive factor which is “severely endangering food security”.
Loss of farmers
The ECVC and EMB said that the rate at which the EU is losing farmers is “alarming”.
“Due to chronic, rock-bottom producer prices that barely cover production costs, many farmers have already exited the food production sector,” the groups wrote.
“Farmers have no option but to give up on food production because despite their hard work, they are hardly able to make ends meet.”
The letter claims that processors and retailers are pushing farmers out of business and preventing the next generation from entering the sector.
“The current explosion in production costs is accelerating this trend to such an extent that the production structure currently in place and expected for the future will be unable to ensure stable food production within the EU.
“The main reason behind this problematic situation in the agricultural sector is the orientation of the EU’s agricultural policy in favour of cheap products and cheap exports, major trade liberalisation, global dependence and internal deregulation, coupled with the many associated crises in the sector, which have decimated producer structures.
“A robust, comprehensive production structure would avoid production becoming concentrated in a small number of locations and thus the unhealthy industrialisation of agricultural production,” the farmers stated.
As they feel that the status quo is not an acceptable option for farmers, the ECVC and EMB outlined several suggestions in their open letter which include:
- Producer prices must be coupled with production costs. No agricultural products should be sold below production cost;
- Deregulation must be stopped or rolled back to achieve a balanced market;
- European Commission bodies must actively work on a balanced and fair redistribution of added value for dairy farmers;
- Farmers must be placed at the heart of agricultural strategies and must be appropriately involved in shaping them;
- The European Green Deal must be used to reform the current system towards a socially-sustainable model;
- Imported food and feedstuffs must comply with EU requirements which need to be enforced;
- There is a need to reduce the dependence on imports and damaging cheap exports by excluding agricultural products from World Trade Organisation (WTO) and free trade agreements.