European mobilization for the defense of sustainable family farming, 26th of November in Brussels

European Coordination – Via Campesina

Let’s unify our forces to defend
sustainable family farming in Europe !

All in Brussels on November 26th !

Mobilisation to defend sustainable family farming in Europe.
Monday November 26th , 9:30 – 14:30.
In Brussels, 9:30 Square de Meeus and from 11:30 Rond Point Schuman.

We are farmers from more than twenty European countries gathered in organizations that question the current European agricultural policy submitted to the World Trade Organization.

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Every day, we see neighbours without a worthy income giving up their farm. We see young people who want to become farmers but loose heart because there is no economical perspective and land is too expensive. We see countryside emptying from so-called non-competitive farmers.

Several hundreds of thousands farms disappear every year in Europe. If this trend continues, there won’t be any more farmers in the countryside in a few years. Social and sustainable family farming is threatened, replaced by corporate controlled industrial agriculture.

We are convinced that there is no viable future for our societies without farmers who can make a worthy living from their production. We launch an alarm signal and call for a unification of forces to save social and sustainable family farming in Europe.

The Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union will be reformed in 2008 and then further in 2013. Other food and agricultural policies based on more legitimacy, fairness, solidarity and sustainability are necessary in Europe to ensure food security, food safety, public health, employment in rural areas and to tackle the issues of energy crisis and climate change. We have proposals.

We call all farmers and their organizations from all European countries to gather to demand another agricultural policy in Europe in favour of sustainable family farming.

We invite these organizations to demonstrate on November 26th in Brussels, where the EU agriculture Ministers will meet, to demand another agriculture policy. This mobilization will be the occasion to gather all those who struggle for the development of a lively agriculture in the hand of farmers in Europe.

Non-farmers organizations that struggle for a more social and sustainable Europe, with more solidarity, are warmly invited to support this farmer’s mobilization.

A social and sustainable Europe is not possible without farmers!

Contacts:
CPE- European Farmers Coordination: René Louail tel:+33 6 7284 8792 rene.louail@wanadoo.fr,
Office Brussels: tel +32 22173112 Gérard Choplin: cpe@cpefarmers.org, Morgan Ody: morganody@yahoo.fr

COAG- Coordinadora de Organizaciones de Agricultores y Ganaderos (E)- Andoni Garcia
tel:+34 63 645 15 69 andoni@ehne.org- Office Brussels: Annelies Schorpion:tel:+ 322 280 04 84
annelies@mycoag.org