Trade liberalisation enforced by the WTO, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and several bilateral trade agreements largely contributed to the current economic instability in agriculture, but also to the climate and biodiversity crises. Family farmers in the EU and the Global South face unstable low prices and lose access to their land because of priority to export-led production. […]
Why has the CAP been historically problematic for farmers’ economic sustainability, biodiversity and the environment, in the EU and the Global South? We explore historical choices regarding trade and CAP that led our agriculture towards liberalisation, highlight the consequences and propose some changes that could start a shift away from a market-oriented agriculture […]
The Society for Territorial and Environmental Prosperity (STEP) believes that Bulgaria’s CAP Strategic Plan must be corrected in order to be in line with the objectives of the European Green Deal, the EU’s Biodiversity and Farm to Fork Strategy. In this article, it highlights essential changes to be made, from targets and monitoring to measuring coherence and consistency. […]
On March 31st, all 19 Member States that submitted their CAP Strategic Plans (CSPs) by the 1st January deadline received their awaited Observation Letters (OLs). In this article we discuss the implications of the Commission backtracking on a transparent process and explore the content of OLs that have been partially released. […]
Soaring grain prices, alongside gas, oil, fertilizers and pesticides, have sparked an unexpected debate on food production in the EU. A dependent and completely overexposed agricultural system has brought with it fear of food insecurity. In this article, we explore the tools that the commission is using to assess the potential of CAP Strategic Plans in reaching food security and propose our own analyses. […]
Russia is at a crossroads: will it dominate global export markets, or deliver stability and climate solutions for rural areas? In the third and final installment in our Russia series, Alia Yakupova and Hannes Lorenzen explore the fields in which Russia is fighting the battle with the climate and biodiversity crises. […]
Toilet paper was at a premium, wine was scarce, but the Covid-19 crisis was not a threat to food security. Meanwhile a more insidious threat persists beyond the pandemic, as CAP payments – intended to buy food security for the EU – continue to sponsor the destruction of the environment in which our food grows. It’s time to dump the food security narrative, argue Guy Pe’er and Sebastian Lakner. […]
The agriculture section of the EU Green Deal is plagued with contradictions. On the plus side, it finally acknowledges the need to massively develop agroecology. But Farm to Fork advocates for a range of false solutions, including so-called “carbon farming”. All agricultural models cannot coexist, argue Manon Castagné and François Delvaux in this op-ed. […]
Why don’t we talk about doing good instead of doing less harm? Because we are facing a crisis of imagination, writes Ans Rossy. To move away from our society’s current paradigm of power and influence, we will need inspiring new narratives. Agroecology can help us envision a future that’s about sharing and cooperation. […]
The Covid-19 pandemic has hit pause on business as usual, and the food industry has been turned upside down. As the Achilles’ heels of the current system are exposed, food sovereignty becomes an urgent question. Igor Tomasz Olech examines the butterfly effect on supply chains and trade routes. […]
Agricultural production is on track for this year, and the EU is self-sufficient in most areas. Despite the challenges of the coronavirus crisis we have little reason to worry about food supply in the EU. This was Sebastian Lakner’s tentative conclusion in part 1 of his review of the available data. But his findings come with some major caveats. Trade in commodities must continue to flow to guarantee food supply in the context of the EU’s interconnected agribusiness model. Here in part 2 Sebastian Lakner examines another critical factor: labour and seasonal migrant workers. […]
As public life shuts down around Europe and health systems buckle under the strain of the Covid-19 pandemic, concerns over food supply are the latest scare to make headlines. In recent weeks speculation is rife as to the potential impacts on agricultural production. In part 1 of this series, Sebastian Lakner crunches the numbers to identify the real risks to Europe’s food supply. […]
It seems inconceivable that it was only a year ago when the UK was due to crash out of the EU under a no deal Brexit. Thankfully that crisis was averted. Leading up to that momentous non-event, I wrote about what might happen to our food supply in the event that our smooth trading relationship with the EU broke down utterly. One year on, we find ourselves in a remarkably similar position […]
As the Covid-19 outbreak hits the economy, we may experience a paradigm shift that no one expected. Now is the time to unpack the difference between food security and food sovereignty. And better understand how these terms are used by different groups. Igor Tomasz Olech looks at how these concepts are framed in the EU, and how Poland is ripe for a conversation about food sovereignty. […]
Farm to Fork is the European Commission’s strategy to support an EU-wide transition to sustainable food production. The Roadmap for the new strategy was open for public consultation until last week. In the final instalment in this three-part series covering feedback on Farm to Fork so far, we look at comments from farmers and agricultural organizations. Hans Wetzels reports. […]
Agricultural and Rural Convention