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Article: European Commission launches Farm to Fork Strategy with four key targets
21 May 2020
This article is taken from our IEG Policy platform dated
20/05/20.
Today (20 May), the European Commission launched its Farm to
Fork (F2F) Strategy, which aims to drive more sustainable food
consumption and production in the EU.
As part of its 2050 climate-neutral Green Deal strategy, the
Commission presented its outline for the F2F strategy and included
27 measures to shape more sustainable food chains. This included a
range of targets to be achieved by 2030:
Pesticides - 50% reduction in the use and risk
of chemical and hazardous pesticides
Fertilisers - 50% reduction of soil nutrient
loss, aimed at reducing fertiliser use by at least 20%
Antimicrobials - 50% reduction in sales of
antimicrobials for livestock and aquaculture
Organic - 5% of EU agricultural land under
organic farming
It was presented by Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans,
Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides and Environment
Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius, while Agriculture Commissioner
Janusz Wojciechowski was notably absent.
"COVID-19 has brought into sharper focus the importance of
having a resilient food system," said Kyriakides, who will lead the
F2F Strategy. She added that it will provide a comprehensive agenda
for all stages of food production and consumption.
This includes developing a framework to promote green actions in
corporate strategies, monitoring responsible business conduct and a
harmonised mandatory front-of-pack labelling to help consumers generate demand
for sustainability.
A late controversial element was the inclusion of livestock's
impact on the environmental and climate. IHS Markit understands
that some Commission officials wanted to address unsustainable
consumption and production of animal products, but it faced
resistance elsewhere in the EU executive.
But a measure has been included that proposes a review of the
EU's promotion programmes for agricultural and food products with a
view to enhancing its contribution to sustainable production and
consumption, which farming groups and some member states fear will
see less meat supported in these schemes.
Security versus sustainability
Agri-food groups have also been worried that the F2F Strategy's
proposals on reducing agricultural inputs will see an increase in
the cost of food and have negative implications on food supply.
Geraldine Kutas, Director General of the European Crop
Protection Association, said that businesses acknowledge the need
for pesticide reductions and are open to discuss this, but wanted
to see more "realistic" targets.
"A reduction rate of 50% by 2030 is not realistic and will not
have the desired effect of having a more sustainable food
production model in Europe," she said. "The objectives presented
today should be taking the farming industry on a journey to
transform, not without sacrifices, but in collaboration with all
parties involved in producing our food."
Kyriakides said that all the F2F Strategy's proposals will "of
course" be preceded by a risk assessment before trying to implement
legally binding rules, although her words will not have appeased
everyone.
Norbert Lins, the chair of the European Parliament's Agriculture
Committee, has said that his main focus for the F2F Strategy will
be to ensure food security for European citizens. His party, the
European People's Party, had pushed for the strategy to be delayed
until autumn and today criticised the Commission for pushing for
"deep changes to the EU's food production policy" amid
COVID-19.
Kyriakides said that: "In no way does this strategy trade off
food security with sustainability."
She also recently told agriculture MEPs that it is important to
have the F2F strategy in place as soon as possible so the EU
executive can influence the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
before it is adopted.
Weak foundation?
The Commission said it will work with member states to align
their CAP Strategic Plans with the goals of the Farm to Fork
strategy. These policy blueprints outline how national governments
intend to meet different farming objectives set at an EU-level,
which will need to be approved and monitored by the Commission.
The F2F Strategy specifically considers eco-schemes as a way to
offer funding to boost sustainable practices, such as precision
agriculture, agro-ecology (including organic farming), the creation
of landscape features, carbon farming and agro-forestry. Member
states and the Commission will have to ensure that eco-schemes are
appropriately resourced and implemented in the Strategic Plans.
But IHS Markit understands that this approval process has also
created friction within the different directorate generals of the
Commission. Some fear that signing off on CAP Strategic Plans will
become a political issue and that would see some member states get
away with setting lower environmental or social standards.
Environmental groups generally welcomed the Farm to Fork
Strategy for its high level of ambition, but some were also left
frustrated because it will depend on the CAP to push forward its
sustainability ambition at the food producer level.
Earlier, the Strategic Plans have been criticised by over 3,600 scientists for not
being strong enough to protect the environment or small producers.
Greenpeace used these findings in their recent call for the
Commission to scrap its proposals for the next CAP and start again
with sustainability at its heart.
Meanwhile, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) has also said
that the CAP reform proposals put forward by the
Commission are not fit to deliver the necessary ambition in climate
and environment, but are less fatalistic.
Celia Nysens, EEB's agricultural policy officer, said: "We are
calling on the European Parliament (and Council) to amend it and
fix its weaknesses, in line with the Green Deal and Green Recovery.
The Commission could also amend its own proposal to fix the key
issues, but a completely new proposal is not necessary at this
stage."