Forging a new ambition for the EU livestock sector

Posted on 21/03/2017 - Posted by Farm Europe

FarmEurope Beef event EP Brussels, 21^st March 2017 – Today, Farm Europe organized a discussion on the “Future of the EU livestock sector – The way forward”, at the European Parliament under the patronage of Vice President Mairead McGuinness and Michel Dantin, MEP.

The European beef sector is one of the most important agri-food sectors in Europe. It is characterized by great diversity and it is at the foundation of the economic fabric of many rural areas across the European Union.

Opening the event, VP Mairead McGuinness stressed that, « with several challenges facing the sector, including the expansion of the dairy herd, increased competition in global trade, the impact of Brexit and changing consumer habits, it is important to address these challenges in order to foster a sustainable future for the EU livestock sector, and the EU beef sector in particular ».

MEP Michel Dantin added : « With discussions taking place on the future shape of CAP post-2020, it is time to set a clear and ambitious strategy supporting a European agricultural sector that integrates the specificities and needs of livestock, and in particular the EU beef sector. The first step must be the Omnibus regulation with proposals made to reinforce the farmers’ position within the food supply chain, to share the evolution of value between actors of the supply chain and allow more derogations from competition law ».

Three main concerns clearly arise from the EU beef supply chain: the ability to be a global actor, to cope with new market conditions and to respond at the same time to societal expectations (i.e. climate change and animal welfare).

Farm Europe, in presenting its recommendations and analysis, strongly highlighted that taking into account the challenges faced by the EU suckler herd, it is more than urgent to set up a EU revitalisation plan for the EU beef meat sector in order to:

Encourage market segmentation and build on this strategy to create value for each beef market segment;
Strengthen solidarity within the beef supply chain reinforcing producers’ position in the context of the Omnibus regulation;
Enhance the capacity of the sector to invest and innovate.

The full recommendations and analysis are available here:

http://www.farm-europe.eu/travaux/forging-a-new-ambition-for-the-eus-suckler-herd/

Farm Europe pays tribute to Xavier Beulin

Posted on 20/02/201721/02/2017 - Posted by Farm Europe

Xavier Beulin, a fervent defender of farmers and their food related industry, was convinced that, above all, the European Union would offer them the best protection against the challenges of tomorrow.

Xavier Beulin was a demanding European who worried about the current state of the European project. He did not accept that an increasingly deep gap was growing between the political leaders and the everyday reality of the agricultural world. In recent years, both in France and in Europe, he fought hard for these causes.

As a free and responsible man, he also wanted to give the agricultural world the capacity to take control of its own future. We are determined to continue the work that we have done with him, at his side.

Farm Europe, all its members and its team, mourns the passing of Xavier Beulin. We would like to extend our deepest condolences to his wife and children.

Productivity in EU agriculture: barely growing, and for the wrong reasons

Posted on 13/02/2017 - Posted by Farm Europe

Meeting the future demand for food will largely depend on the ability of the farming sector to increase its production by improving its productivity. Essentially, an improvement in agricultural productivity means that less input is needed to produce the same amount (or more) of output. In other words, this means that farmers are faced with the challenge to produce ‘more with less’.

In the beginning of December 2016, the European Commission published a briefing on this issue under the name ‘Productivity in EU Agriculture – slowly but steadily growing’, which was presented at the EU Agricultural Outlook Conference on 6 and 7 December. This report analyses agricultural productivity levels in the European Union by measuring Total Factor Productivity (TFP), a comprehensive indicator representing the ratio of agricultural output (production) to their input (such as land, labour and capital).

The main conclusion of the report is that agricultural productivity in the EU has increased over time, but has slowed down in recent years: while annual TFP growth exceeded 1% between 1995 and 2005, it only reached 0.8% between 2005 and 2015.

This productivity growth is mainly the result of developments within the EU-13 countries, which experienced an annual TFP growth of 1.6% over the last decade. However, the share of these ‘new’ Member States in overall EU agricultural production is much more limited than for the traditional Member States. Since there are also no data available on the TFP growth in the EU-13 prior to 2005, it is only possible to make an accurate assessment of the evolution of agricultural productivity in the EU-15.

These ‘old’ Member States have experienced a sharp drop in annual TFP growth, from 1.3% in the period 1995-2005 to 0.6% between 2005 and 2015, which means that productivity in the main European producing countries is on the brink of stagnation. Some of these Member States, most notably Germany, have even experienced negative TFP growth numbers in recent years.

In the report, the Commission explains that the modest TFP growth in EU agriculture is the result of ‘labour productivity growth’, since ‘output growth has been achieved in a context of a shrinking workforce’. Agricultural production has only increased very slightly while the number of farmers has reduced sharply.

Indeed, in the EU as a whole, agricultural output has increased with around 6% per year between 2005 and 2015, while the number of farmers declined with 25% and capital use stagnated after an initial increase of 4% per year before the economic crisis. Within the EU-13, the number of farmers dropped by 33% and capital use increased by 10%, with output rising by 7.1%. Meanwhile, the EU-15 countries achieved an annual production growth of 5.1% while experiencing a drop in farm employment of more than 20% and achieving only a very limited increase in their capital stock levels.

The analysis of the long-term productivity growth of the various inputs confirms these findings: the report shows that labour productivity has increased significantly, while the productivity of intermediate consumption has stagnated and the productivity of capital has evolved negatively. Capital productivity is now actually lower than in 2002, as a steady decline until 2009 was only followed by a partial recovery.

To sum up, the modest TFP growth in the last decade has been mainly driven by ‘labour productivity’ – a harsh reduction in the number of farmers and farm labour – at the expense of capital, whose productivity has even decreased. In modern economies, it is less to say that productivity of capital and productivity of intermediate consumption are obvious index of the health of an economic sector and of its ability to develop.

In practice, there has been in the European Union a standstill in agricultural investments while farmers continue to be leave their lands, having in mind that in some European areas this figures reflect to some extend that part of the labour force was underemployed: the general bearish economy inducing a non optimal use of labour force between sectors and thus a maintenance of people counted as full time on farms not requiring fully these full time jobs.

The current situation is inherently unsustainable: it is very unlikely that the necessary productivity gains – which are estimated at 1.8% per year by the FAO – can be achieved without improving the farm infrastructure and technologies. Given that real long term productivity growth is determined by the level of private and public expenditure on research and innovation, renewed investments in the agricultural sector will be crucial to meet the growing global food demand in the future.

A further stagnation in the amount of investments would also amplify the risk that the EU will increasingly lag behind its main global competitors. With a TFP growth of only 0.8% in the last decade, the EU performed far worse than the other main producers – developed countries such as the United States (1.76%), Canada (1.26%) and Australia (2.1%), as well as the major developing countries Brazil (2,96%) and China (3,32%). Among others, Smart Farming Technologies have a huge potential to tackle these challenges and represent major opportunities to increase the productivity and competitiveness of EU agriculture on the world stage.

Economic and environmental ambition must drive the future CAP

Posted on 07/02/201707/02/2017 - Posted by Farm Europe

Today, Farm Europe presented the final report of the 2016 edition of the Global Food Forum to the EU institutions, in the context of the public consultation on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) launched by the European Commission last week.

“Time has come to table a real economic strategy for EU agriculture and food systems. Sending a cheque when political pressure is too high to cope with volatile markets is not sustainable. We need to reflect seriously on the best ways to use public spending. In doing so we will restore confidence, regain optimism and build future growth. Agriculture needs visibility, predictability and transparency”, stated Mario Guidi, the President of the Global Food Forum and of Confagricoltura, presenting the report which includes a set of key priorities for the future CAP.

Opening the event, Phil Hogan, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development underlined that « Coming just the week after I launched a 12-week public consultation on the simplification and modernisation of the CAP, the presentation by Farm Europe of the recommendations are particularly timely. I am pleased, to see that, in the report, there is a clear acknowledgement of the need to “strengthen the resilience of our farms” and a particular focus on risk management tools. We must modernise the CAP, giving it a toolkit to react quickly and effectively in the event of future price shocks” (07_02_2017 Speech at FARM EUROPE Event New Ambition for CAP_3).

Hosting the event, Michel Dantin, Member of the European Parliament, insisted on the fact that « it is essential that the European Commission and the European Parliament work hand in hand in order to meet the challenged faced by our farmers in the short and medium term and to prepare the next CAP. I urge all the actors to pose strategic questions, without taboos: do we want the CAP to be an economic policy or only a social policy aimed at ensuring the livelihood of farmers and rural areas? Should we remain within the binding framework of the World Trade Organisation or free ourselves from it like all our international competitors?

Co-hosting the event, Giovanni La Via, Member of the European Parliament added: “Food security and climate change are the two main challenges to be faced by the humankind today. I believe that Agriculture and farmers are at the core of the answer we have to provide. I fully embrace the goal of double competitiveness of the European farms presented in the Forum’s report. After Paris, it is clear to me that we have to protect our environment, while at the same increasing European agricultural competitiveness. And we must be able to design simple and long -term policies focusing on results. We need a stronger and simplified CAP for the future, in line with the challenges ahead of us”.

The report presents a set of key actions to build a stronger EU agriculture, performing both economically and environmentally summarised as follow (the full report is available here : Excecutive Report GlobalFoodForum EN):

Delivering modern risk management tools with a first step in 2017

The new strategy for resilient agri-food systems in Europe should integrate one fact: more than ever, agriculture is facing growing climate and market disturbances. For the benefit of the whole EU food chain, the CAP should make available a set of efficient risk management tools to enhance the resilience of the wide range of EU agriculture models. This will not be obtained through a single instrument at European level, but through a choice of complementary tools, placing farmers at the core of the decisions according to their specific situation and needs. In each Member State, farmers should be free to opt for tailored self-insurances and/or mutual funds. In 2017, the EU co-legislators should seize the opportunity of the Omnibus regulation to step up these tools, making them much more attractive and efficient.

Finding a New deal across the food chain actors

The lack of cooperation within the EU food chain is undermining the capacity of the sector to cope with the challenges posed by globalisation and investment. The new deal should first reaffirm the prominence of the CAP over general competition rules. This principle should also be applied by national competition authorities. Transparency should be improved, including when it comes to prices and volumes at first processing level and final consumer level. Contractual relations should be encouraged on the basis of clearer rules, allowing collective contract negotiations at Producer Organisation level or by Groups of Producer Organisations. In order to encourage cooperation among farmers and food producers, a branch approach for volumes and price negotiation should be explicitly authorised to guarantee a better repartition of the value when prices are going both up or down. These approaches should be seen bearing in mind that the relevant markets for the main agricultural products are more often at European scale than national or regional. When it comes to Unfair Commercial Practices, a clear set of practices should be prohibited, with clear and dissuasive sanction mechanisms, fully securing the identity of the complainants.

Environmental sustainability: focusing on results

Technological advancements in the agricultural sector create new opportunities for environmental and sustainability policies at the European level. The EU institutions can seize the enormous potential of innovations to build simple and effective policies and reduce the amount of bureaucratic procedures for farmers. The European Union should consider a shift from a prescriptive policy to a real results-based policy that would be complementary with the current greening criteria and based on the will of farmers themselves. (Producers could opt for the existing policies or a results-based approach). Such a new option for the greening requirements would be based on quantifiable objectives that are adjusted to the knowledge and technical capacities of farmers. It would complement the current rules as an alternative option.

Economic sustainability: focusing on investments

The ambition of keeping a dynamic agri-food industry all across the EU should be transformed into reality. Over the past 10 years, the competitiveness of the EU agricultural sector decreased. The total EU farm productivity growth dropped by 54% and capital productivity turned negative. Europe must not limit its actions to a set of initiatives aiming at accompanying a slowing down of its farming sector. Neither should it accept to limit its ambition to an agriculture of conservation of the most fragile areas. On the contrary, the European policy framework should focus on launching dynamic and targeted economic strategies to revive investment all across the EU food chain. The economic dimension of the Common Agricultural Policy should be renewed.

Nutrition and health: strengthening trust

The European food chain is facing the challenge of finding a harmonious and positive relationship between diet and health. To do this, a number of obstacles must be overcome: a clear and joint strategy from all the actors of the food chain (agriculture, industry, trade) should be defined, the credibility of EFSA as a the pole of excellence and reference for EU legislators should be strengthened, the scientific consensus, as well as media and institutional communication should be improved to avoid confusion among consumers and law should be based on real and credible scientific evidence, not assumptions. In addition, dialogue with Civil Society should be encouraged in order to build a new consensus and go beyond ideological positions. The lack of debate between public and private actors around the issue of food and health is unacceptable. This challenge must be tackled seriously, at EU level in order to build trust among the actors and define a real European vision and solution.

Brexit and Trade: focusing on EU interests

Most of the EU countries have substantial trade interests in the UK market when it comes to the agri-food sector. Whatever the result of the EU/UK negotiations, both the internal policy shift in the UK and diverging trade strategies between the EU and UK will lead to medium and long term changes for the EU agri-food sector. This should not be underestimated now, even more following the clear commitment of the new British leaders to create “the biggest open economy in the world”. This strategy will make it difficult to achieve a full free trade agreement between the EU and the UK, without any safeguards. The common line for the challenges of Brexit and freer trade is enhanced competition for the EU-27 agri-food sector across the borders and a very daunting challenge notably to the beef sector. When it comes to the overall EU trade agenda, Brexit may be the occasion to review the way that mandates for negotiations are given to the European Commission, and to relaunch the EU trade policy on a new governance, more transparent and thus more acceptable to civil society.

THE IRISH CATTLE AND SHEEP FARMERS’ ASSOCIATION, NEW ACTIVE CONTRIBUTOR TO FARM EUROPE

Posted on 20/12/201620/12/2016 - Posted by Farm Europe

Farm Europe welcome ICSA as a new member and active contributor. This cooperation enables the think tank to gather more expertise on the EU livestock sector’s challenges and potential. If the EU is willing to materialise the ideal of the CAP as a lever for a lively agriculture all across the continent, it has to integrate the specificity and needs of the EU livestock sector – and the EU beef sector in particular. Furthermore, this fruitful collaboration will strengthen the grassroots of the reflection process of Farm Europe which aims at delivering concrete solutions.

Mr. Kent, ICSA’ President, said: « the EU beef meat sector is at a turning point. Taking into account the expansion of the dairy herd and global competition, it’s urgent to step up our policy at EU level, to build a sustainable future for our livestock sector in all its diversity. The beef sector has been set aside for too long. It has to come back at the core of EU priorities, not only defending the sector in global trade competition but also by setting a clear and ambitious strategy within the EU, where finding new ways of making livestock farms much more profitable must be the key objective ».

In 2017, Farm Europe will continue developing its work focusing on the beef sector, including in the context of the Omnibus regulation tabled recently by the European Commission and the food chain initiative launched by Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Phil Hogan, in the wake of the report presented mid-November by the Agricultural Market Task Force. Building a new ambition for the EU meat sector is at the core of Farm Europe’s activities. In order to take advantage of the opportunities, which the EU livestock sector clearly offers, a new ambition is needed and this partnership with ICSA is the important step for concrete and forward-looking advancements on the issue.

What I want from Europe, GFF2016 opening speech

Posted on 17/10/201617/10/2016 - Posted by Farm Europe

Opening Speechof the Global Food Forum

By Mario Guidi,

The Global Food Forum is a place to speak frankly, in our own name.

It is a place to leave at the door the usual ready-made speeches – the Line To Take as we say in Brussels. We are here in Pavia, at the heart of one of the most beautiful agricultural spot in Europe.

Pavia is not a place to build wooly consensus, but to share ideas and vision.

Tomorrow, we will share strategy and recommendations.

As President of the Forum, I want to fully cease this opportunity. I want to speak as a truly European, as a farmer that is engaged and involved with passion in the future of the European agricultural sector for more than 30 years.

I want to share with you my concerns, but also, more importantly, my hope and my expectations from the European Union, in this turbulent period.

For more than 3 decades, at EU level, most of the energy has been spent to counter the British tabloids’ caricature of Europe and of the Common Agricultural Policy in particular (without avoiding a Brexit vote). We spent time to correct internal policy failures as well. And, more positively and rightly, we developed new policy path to meet Citizen expectations.

But what about Farmers expectations ?

* *

Europe lost touch with its farmers and their expectations. We have let ourselves be defeated by pessimism and by the fear of declining, as if permanent crisis would be the new normal.

The economic dimension of the agricultural sector – and of the Common Agricultural Policy – have been overlooked.

Time has come for the European Union to discover again its agriculture and its farmers, not only sending a cheque when political pressure is too high, but reflecting carefully on the best ways to use public spending. Time has come to table a real economic strategy for EU agriculture.

In doing so we will restore confidence, regain optimism and build future growth.

The Global Food Forum is a positive place, a place where we believe that Europe can be strong in a multipolar world.

Farmers are not trained speakers. They don’t have spin-doctors. Farmers are far less numerous than they used to be.

Nevertheless farmers matter whatever they weight in the overall population.

If the European Union really wants to understand and see what is going on in the agriculture sector, it needs to invest time, to listen carefully. It needs to avoid the usual cost-cutting approach when it comes the Common Agricultural Policy.

This approach blocks the debate, freezes policy changes.

I want to thank all the decision-makers that are here, and also those who will arrive later today and tomorrow.

Thank you to all the representatives of the European Parliament, the European Commission and the European Council. Welcome Mr Arthuis, Mr Plewa, Mr Dantin, Mr La Via, Ms Delahaye, M. Dorfmann, Ms Comi.

Thank you as well to all the representatives of the Ministries coming from Portugal, Romania, Italy, Ireland, France, Latvia, Slovakia, the Netherland. I will stop here not to take the risk to forget someone.

Thank to all of you for being here as active participants and speakers for some of you.

If Europe takes the time to listen carefully, as you do today, Europe will discover that a silent green revolution is on going. A revolution all politicians would like to be associated with.

If Europe takes the time, it will discover that a cultural revolution is on going in the countryside as well. Farmers are connected, want and need to be connected. They are eager for trainings, innovation, investments, new techniques and collaborative approaches.

A new generation is coming.

Farmers are smart, multi-skilled and global thinking entrepreneurs.

* *

Then, what does an entrepreneur, with a global thinking needs from Europe ?

Certainly not the agriculture policy we had 2, 3 or 4 decades ago. It’s not up to the administration to set prices ! I say it clearly: I don’t want a European Union where ministers spend nights to set political prices ! Farmers want (good) prices, but they want to be in the position to fight themselves for good prices.

But it is up to the politicians and up to our administrations including the European Commission to set the rules for a fair agri-food economy. We need a review of the supply chain rules, with a relevant food-chain regulation. You will work this afternoon on the topic. Time has come for farmers, cooperatives and food companies to work hand in hand. We need a fair competition from farm to fork.

That is why the Forum is a place to reflect together: institutions, farmers, cooperatives, food companies, bank, insurances institutions, agri services suppliers : this is our common interest.

* *

What does an entrepreneur needs from Europe ?

Visibility. Predictability. Transparency.

Farmers are working on global markets. Drought in New-Zealand, rain in Brazil, economic slowdown in China have direct impact here on this farm and all across EU countryside.

Farmers are not inward looking people! The future growth for EU agriculture is in Africa and Asia, not within the European Union.

When we look at global markets, we see that all across the world all big players are building policy tools to stay strong on their local markets and to strengthen their market share on international market (including with promotion tools) and, consistently, they are also equipped with policy tools to cope with the collateral effects of open markets: prices instability.

Why ?

Because uncertainty kills investments.

And the lack of investments in the EU farming sector undermine the entire EU food chain. We need resilient farms that recover quickly after a crisis whether it is a market, environmental or sanitary crisis.

Let’s do as our competitors – but with our own tools ! Let’s build efficient mechanisms to cope with market instability and climate risks.

Let’s strengthen the resilience of our farms. We will boost investments.

Efficient insurances, mutual funds, individual provisions – different options will be discussed this afternoon. The Forum will focus only on the options that are putting farmers at the core of the decision, in managing their risks, with the support of the European Union, not the opposite.

* *

What does an entrepreneur expect from Europe?

Clarity. Certainty. Trust.

We have reached the limits of what is acceptable when it comes to rules, norms and standards. We need to reset the system, rebuild trust and confidence.

As a farmer, I say it boldly: I want my farm to be environmentally sustainable, not only economically. I want to protect my soils, the water and the biodiversity of the farm I will transmit as a heritage to my daughter. I know that I can deliver when it comes to climate change – even if I know there is a cost.

As a farmer, I say it clearly as well: I don’t want anyone to tell me how I should farm, and especially not when the rules are requested by people who never put a single feet on a farm.

Nobody enters a bakery to tell the baker how to cook tasty bread. Why we would accept this for the wheat ?

Smart farming is a new reality, with a huge potential indeed. It is an evolving reality. Agricultural science is fast evolving. With all the respect for EU institutions, I am pretty sure that EU rules will always run behind what is the more relevant sustainable solutions in the fields.

Set the objectives, not the details.

Saturday, we will work on this topic and we will see that we can reconcile economic and environmental sustainability, as well as environment and legislative simplification.

We need a new smart greening, as well as a smart regulation.

* *

Finally, as an entrepreneur, I also want a level playing field on the internal market. And I will conclude on this key concept.

I know that I share this concern with all the leaders of the food chain here. The internal market is the most valuable asset for all the Europeans, not only for companies, also for citizens. It has been, and it is still a great source of growth and jobs.

But the internal market is at threat. Not because of the Brexit.

The internal market is in danger when the European Union is not taking the leadership to build a coherent and efficient approach on labeling and nutrition policy.

The internal market is in danger when the European Union let Member States develop parallel standards, undermining common approaches, including on environmental norms.

We need a dynamic and fully functional European Union, under the clear leadership of the European Union.

We want a better Europe and we are here at the Global Food Forum to build the Europe we want !

ENDS

The Global Food Forum: Defining the Future of our Agriculture

Posted on 17/10/201618/10/2016 - Posted by Farm Europe

PRESS RELEASE 2016_1014_GFForum_140_low
Pavia, Italy – 16 October 2016

This weekend, more than 200 representatives from 18 different EU Member States participated in the Global Food Forum, which took place on a farm close to Pavia (Italy).

Economic leaders, representatives of EU institutions and governments reflected, together, on the future challenges and the need of a renewed vision for the agricultural sector based on economic ambition, trust and mutual confidence, and a better use of natural resources thanks to the potential of new techniques that are beneficial for both citizens and farmers.

“Time has come for the European Union to discover again its agriculture and its farmers, not only
sending a cheque when political pressure is too high, but also reflecting carefully on the best ways to use public spending. Time has come to table a real economic strategy for EU agriculture and food systems. In doing so we will restore confidence, regain optimism and build future growth. Agriculture needs visibility, predictability and transparency”, stated Mario Guidi, the President of the Global Food Forum and of Confagricoltura, opening the event (full speech here).

1) Economic sustainability : focusing on investments

The ambition of keeping a dynamic agri-food industry all across the EU should be transformed into a new ambition. Over the past 10 years, the productivity of the EU agricultural sector decreased by more than 10%. Europe must not limit its actions to a set of initiatives aiming at accompanying a slowing down of its farming sector. Neither should it accept to limit its ambition to an agriculture of conservation in the most fragile areas. On the contrary, the European policy framework should focus on launching dynamic and targeted economic strategies to revive investments all across the EU food chain. The economic dimension of the Common Agricultural Policy should be renewed.

2) Risk managements tools : focusing on farmers

The new strategy should integrate that agriculture will face growing climate and market disturbances in the future. Risk management tools will therefore be necessary to achieve the resilience of the large range of EU agriculture models. This will not be obtained through a single tool at European level, but through a choice of complementary tools, placing farmers at the core of the decisions according to their specific situation and needs. Detailed recommendations on how to improve the resilience of the farming sector have been developed during the Forum.

3) Environmental sustainability: focusing on results

Technological advancements in the agricultural sector create new opportunities for environmental and sustainability policies at the European level. The EU institutions can seize the enormous potential of innovations to build simple and effective policies and reduce the amount of bureaucratic procedures for farmers. The European Union can shift from a prescriptive policy to a real result-based policy that would be complementary with the current greening criteria and based on the will of the farmers themselves (producers could opt for the existing policies or a result-based approach). This new option for the greening requirement would be founded on quantifiable objectives that are adjusted to the knowledge and technical capacities of farmers.

4) Finding a new deal across the food chain actors

The lack of solidarity is undermining the capacity of the food chain to cope with the challenges of globalisation and investments. The new deal should first reaffirm the prominence of the CAP over general competition rules. This principle should also be applied by national competition authorities. Transparency should be improved, including when it comes to price and volumes at 1^st processing level and final consumer level. Contract relations should be encouraged on the basis of clearer rules, allowing collective contract negotiations at Producer organisation level or by Groups of Producer Organisations. In order to encourage cooperation among farmers and food producers, a branch approach for volumes and price negotiation should be explicitly authorised to guarantee a better repartition of the value when prices are both going up or down. These approaches should be seen baring in mind that the relevant markets for the main agricultural products are more often at European scale than national or regional one. When it comes to Unfair Commercial Practices, a clear set of practices should be prohibited, with clear and dissuasive sanction mechanisms, fully securing the identity of the complainants.

5) Nutrition and health : strengthening trust and securing the internal market

The European food chain is facing the challenge of finding a harmonious and positive relationship between diet and health. To do this, a number of obstacles must be overcome: a clear and joint strategy on the part of all the actors of the food chain (agriculture, industry, trade) should be defined, the credibility of EFSA as a the pole of excellence and reference of EU legislator should be strengthened, the scientific consensus has to be improved to avoid confusion among consumers and the law should be based on real and credible scientific evidence, not assumptions. In addition, dialogue with Civil Society should be encouraged in order to build a new consensus and go beyond ideological positions. The lack of debate between public and private actors around the issue food and health is unacceptable. This challenge must be tackled seriously, at EU level in order to build trust among the actors and define a real European vision and solutions.

6) Brexit and trade

Most of the EU countries have substantial trade interests in the UK market when it comes to the agri-food sector. Whatever the result of the EU/UK negotiations, both the internal policy shift in the UK and diverging trade strategies between the EU and UK will lead to medium and long term changes for the EU agri-food sector. This should not be underestimated, even more following the clear commitment of the new British leaders to create the biggest open economy in the world. This strategy will make it difficult to achieve a full free trade agreement between the EU and the UK without any safeguards. The common line for the challenges of Brexit and freer trade is enhanced competition for the EU-27 agri-food sector across the board and a very daunting challenge notably to the beef sector. When it comes to the overall EU trade agenda, Brexit may be the occasion to review the way that mandates for negotiations are given to the European Commission, and relaunch the EU trade policy on a new governance, more transparent and thus more acceptable to civil society.

For journalists, available upon request at info@farm-europe.eu :

High level definition pictures of the Global Food Forum
All the reports and recommandations from the workshops

14610930_1087999947903548_5743835184883358886_n

Drawing together the future of EU agri-food systems

Posted on 10/10/201611/10/2016 - Posted by Farm Europe

The Global Food Forum will take place on 14 and 15 October, on a farm close to Milan (Italy).

Organised by the think tank Farm Europe in partnership with Confagricoltura, the event will gather more than 200 top representatives from the European institutions, national administrations, farmers’ organisations, companies and experts, who are coming from all across the EU and are willing to reflect together on the future of European agriculture and food policies.

At a time where both EU agri-food systems and the European political project are shaken by market, diplomatic and structural crises, the Forum will be an opportunity to build a positive, forward-looking and ambitous vision of the future in a truly European spirit.

« The agri-food sector is at the crossroads between huge opportunities and massive pressure. The Forum will offer the possibility to passionate business and political leaders, who believe in the European project, to developp a common vision. Citizens’ expectations, breakthrough technologies and changing consumption patterns are driving a revolution within EU agri-food systems. The best ways to strenghten the European Union is to make sure that our policies, at European level, match the real challenges faced by citizens, farmers and all economic actors on the ground. This is the ambition of the recommendations that will be designed during the GFF2016 on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy and beyond », stated Mario Guidi, the President of the Global Food Forum and Confagricoltura.

During the participatory process, the participants will work on the most pressing issues for the future of the sector : How to keep our agriculture all across the EU? How to improve the resilience of agriculture, and cope better with climate and market risks? How to build truly European policies to improve nutrition and health? How to rebalance the power along the EU food chain? What will be the impact of Brexit on the EU agri-food sectors?

The participants will be invited to reflect and build recommendations together. These recommandations will be presented to all the European institutions, including during an event at the European Parliament in December.

Farm Europe discussing risk management tools with Young farmers (CEJA)

Posted on 07/10/2016 - Posted by Farm Europe

CEJA young farmer representatives from around Europe have gathered together today in Brussels to discuss the topic of risk management tools and insurance. This morning, Mr. Yves Madre (Farm Europe) is presenting to CEJA young farmer representatives on Farm Europe’s view of risk management tools and insurance in the agricultural sector.

Global Food Forum: where does the future of the CAP lie?

Posted on 12/07/201612/07/2016 - Posted by Farm Europe

Bucharest – July 8th, 2016. In the wake of the Global Food Forum, which will take place on the 14-15 October 2016, Farm Europe organised, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture of Romania, a regional event to take stock of the most pressing concerns in the new Member States when it comes to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Gathering high-level representatives from both political and business background coming from 11 EU Member States, the issue of investments has been at the core of the debate.

Opening the event, Dacian Cioloş, Prime Minister of Romania underlined: “More than ever it’s the common responsibility of all Europeans to take an active part in the debate to say what they wants from the European Union and from the Common Agricultural Policy in particular. The CAP is one of the most – if not the most – achieved European policy”. “The agri-food community has the responsibility not only to highlight the problems, but also to make informed proposals on what future policy should be”, he also added. “There is not one single Member State in Europe that is not directly interested in the future of the CAP. It’s absolutely necessary to keep common rules while taking the specificity of each of our agricultures” (Full speech available here).

Mario Guidi, President of Confagricoltura and of the Global Food Forum noted that: “We need to better explain and modernize the CAP that is uniting the European Union and contributing to growth. It’s urgent to restore confidence in the CAP which is the first and probably the most important investment policy in Europe, with tangible results for EU citizens. Working on a better and more efficient CAP, it’s improving Europe as a whole. The Global Food Forum which will take place in October will provide a unique opportunity to put ideas on the table on how to strengthen the CAP”.

Tackling price volatility to secure investments, enhancing farmers’ organization and securing access to land for local farmers, were the key issues discussed during the debates in Bucharest during 3 workshops on Competitiveness, Resilience and Sustainability (Background paper here).

Most participants highlighted that the Common Agricultural Policy is at a crossroads, in the context of the post-Brexit referendum and of the current crisis which affects most – if not all – agricultural sectors across the European Union.

Will it goes down the path of a more “à la carte” policy, diverting more and more from a Common policy or will it take up effectively the challenges of investments all across the EU offering real responses to farmers needs and legitimate expectations?

The participants unanimously called for European solutions to face European challenges, while asking for a less bureaucratic approach of sustainability, for urgent initiatives to cope with market volatility, raising the necessity for EU farmers to be better insured against climate risks and the possibility to implement cost effective tools in that respect.

Furthermore, they stressed the urgency to deliver on market risks with more efficient tools such as insurance, mutual funds or individual savings. They called as well, for strongly, less ideological positions when it comes to environmental measures and trade bilateral talks, towards which Europe must show its capacity to protect its farmers in a much better way.