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The European Commission today proposed a plan to transform the European Union’s agricultural system, to make it more sustainable and safer from a health perspective.
The plan includes a target of reducing the use of pesticides by 50% in the next decade. The plan would also reduce sales of antimicrobials for farmed animals by 50%, and the use of fertilizers by 20%, by 2030. The share of organic farming would also be increased by 25% by 2030 – up from the current 8%.
“The coronavirus crisis has shown how vulnerable we all are, and how important it is to restore the balance between human activity and nature,” said EU Vice President Frans Timmermans unveiling the plan.
“Climate change and biodiversity loss are a clear and present danger to humanity. At the heart of the Green Deal the Biodiversity and Farm to Fork strategies point to a new and better balance of nature, food systems and biodiversity; to protect our people’s health and well- being, and at the same time to increase the EU’s competitiveness and resilience. These strategies are a crucial part of the great transition we are embarking upon.”
The Commission says that the COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated how vulnerable increasing biodiversity loss has made society to virus outbreaks, and it has also shown “how crucial a well-functioning food system is for our society”. Timmermans noted that it can also shorten supply chains for food with more grown locally, something that people have had big concerns about during the COVID crisis. This can happen “without falling into the trap of protectionism,” he said.
But farmers, backed by Europe’s most powerful political group – the European Peoples Party – have called for this strategy to be delayed because of the Coronavirus crisis. They say the plan would inevitably lead to an increase in food prices, at a time when consumers can least afford it.
EU health and food safety commissioner Stella Kyriakides said today this is the right time to put forward to the strategy. “We need to put in place a sustainable food system that can withstand crisis, there’s no time to waste”.
The plan was welcomed by food retailers, saying they hopes it spurs the greater cooperation in the supply chain they have been calling for for years. “We face a difficult future for everyone, and need the same solidarity and cooperation in the supply chain we have seen during the COVID crisis,” said Christian Verschueren, director-general of industry association EuroCommerce. “We want the farm to fork strategy to equip the whole supply chain to reap the opportunities of the sustainability transition.”
The provisions for food labelling, with talks to devise a new front-of-pack nutrition label set to begin in 2022, have been welcomed by European consumers organisation BEUC. “This Strategy is a milestone on the EU’s path to sustainable food production and consumption,” said BEUC Director General Monique Goyens. “While we would have hoped for some follow-up actions to happen sooner, at least Europe is now on the right track to a more sustainable food and farming system.”
Biodiversity And Agriculture
The plan is made up of two parts – a biodiversity strategy and the farm to fork strategy. The former seeks to tackle the key drivers of biodiversity loss such as unsustainable use of land and sea, overexploitation of natural resources, pollution, and invasive alien species. It also aims to “make biodiversity considerations an integral part of EU’s overall economic growth strategy”.
The strategy proposes to establish binding targets to restore damaged ecosystems and rivers, improve the health of EU protected habitats and species, bring back pollinators to agricultural land, reduce pollution, green cities, enhance organic farming and other biodiversity-friendly farming practices, and improve the health of European forests. The headline goal is to transform at least 30% of Europe’s lands and seas into effectively managed protected areas and bring back at least 10% of agricultural area under high-diversity landscape features. Funding of €20 billion per year will be unlocked for biodiversity through various sources, including EU funds.
NGOs are cheering the biodiversity plan for its ambition. “The global response to the COVID-19 pandemic shows that governments and society have the capacity to act swiftly and decisively in the face of clear scientific evidence of serious threats to our well-being,” said Vera Coelho, senior advocacy director with biodiversity NGO Oceana. “Importantly we need to make sure our policy response to the pandemic avoids exacerbating the pre-existing climate and nature crises to ensure we ‘build back better’ as a society.”
The second part of the plan, the farm to fork strategy, seeks to “enable the transition to a sustainable EU food system that safeguards food security and ensures access to healthy diets”.
In addition to the farming targets, it also sets out improved food labelling to better meet consumers’ information needs. Money to support this transition will be available from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, the largest part of the EU budget that has been controversial for what many see as wasteful spending.
The Commission says that by making sustainable farming its trademark, “it will open new business opportunities and diversify sources of income for European farmers and fishers”.
The two strategies, which still need to be approved by the European Parliament and EU national governments in order to become law, will form a core component of the Coronavirus crisis economic recovery plan, along with the EU Green Deal. The Commission is due to come out with a proposal for a COVID recovery fund next week.
