Today European Coordination via Campesina presented its key demands regarding the Farm to Fork Strategy, during its meetings with the European Commission.
A few weeks before Commission is due to publish the strategy at the end of March, and before the approval of the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), ECVC has stated loud and clear that without coherence between the EU agricultural, food, trade, economic and competition policies, as well as the EU budget, the results of the Farm to Fork strategy will remain very limited.
The ambition shown by the Commission in the Green Deal and the Farm to Fork strategy is commendable and for ECVC this political priority is a unique opportunity to promote food and agricultural systems that truly are fairer, more democratic and more sustainable, as well as to develop peasant agroecology and a society that better respects human rights.
ECVC underlines, however, that in order to achieve food sovereignty and food security for European populations as locally as possible, the following factors are key:
Developing the relationship between consumers and producers;
Recover the political capacity for market organisation and regulation, around healthy and good quality products;
Having clear political decisions to guarantee a decent and stable income for farmers, in order to effectively engage in the transition to agroecology.
In this transition, the development of digitisation can be a useful tool, but it is important to highlight the elevated costs, and the large amounts of energy and non-renewable metals required, and the negative impact on employment.
The Commission’s objective for a climate-neutral Europe by 2050 requires the development of a greater number of locally-rooted, resilient farms, which will be achieved by improving the position of farmers in the food supply chain, increasing respect for farmers’ rights and providing more support for young people who wish to get involved in agriculture, in particular by facilitating access to land within the framework of a European land directive.
The Green Deal promises systematic change that leaves no one behind. For this strategy to truly work, it requires a complete overhaul of the CAP, a reconsideration of Free Trade Agreements and the implementation of market regulation measures. ECVC implores the Commission to match its ambition with cross-policy commitment and listen to the thus-far neglected voices of peasants and small and medium-scale farmers who have the knowledge, experience and ability to once again feed the planet in a sustainable and healthy way.
Contacts
- Jose Miguel Pacheco (ECVC Coordination Committee): +351 968 721 995 – PT, ES
- Antonio Onorati (ECVC CAP Group): +39 3408 2194 56 – IT, FR, EN
- ECVC Office: +32 22173112
