“Shaping EU agriculture, rural areas and wealth for the next decades”

PRESS RELEASE

GLOBAL FOOD FORUM DEFINES ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN FOR A TRULY EFFICIENT CAP REFORM WITHIN THE GREEN DEAL

“Shaping EU agriculture, rural areas and wealth for the next decades”

Brussels, 10 December 2019 – The 4th edition of the Global Food Forum took place on the 2nd and 3rd of December at the European Parliament in Brussels, gathering more than 300 political, economic and institutional decision-leaders as well as representatives of the civil society and academics. The event was an opportunity to draw orientations for the future of EU policies with having an impact on EU agri- food systems including the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and its relation to the proposed Farm to Fork Strategy and the European Green Deal. A full report of this participatory process will be presented later next year to EU leaders.

As stated in its opening of the 2019 Global Food Forum, it is time to declare an economic, social and environmental emergency for EU agriculture. European agriculture, its rural areas and farmers are facing more challenges than ever and currently today do not have the sufficient tools to be able to overcome them by themselves. Thus, given the societal, economic and environmental challenges to be met, the European Union needs a CAP that is strong, effective, common and adapted to the realities of a European Union’s rich diversity. A CAP able to last for at least a decade and can successfully outline which agricultural and food systems and what kind of rural areas we want for Europeans by 2035.

Hence, the CAP must become again an investment policy for the future of the European Union and must aim to meet the objectives of not only ensuring the food security and a correct level of incomes for the farmers but to effectively preserve the environment and maintain a strong agricultural network, a basis of territorial development for the EU, in order to keep the European Union as the world’s largest exporter of agricultural and food goods.

The challenge for those who have to decide on future European policies is not only to reconcile societal expectations and economic challenges but to put them in synergy by focusing the CAP on the challenge of the dual performance of our agriculture: no economic benefit without more environmental protection, no environmental protection without economic benefit.

Throughout the Global Food Forum, MEPs, speakers and participants had the chance to engage in a fruitful discussion – be it on the use of blockchain, questions on nutrition and innovation, sectorial strategies for meat and wine, trade relations or on the decarbonization of agriculture – on how to center the actions to make once again the “EU agri-food sectors as front runners of EU future.”

Amongst others to do so, the CAP reform shall focus:

• on the incentive for a transition of European agriculture towards carbon neutral agricultural systems,
• on the investments and innovations in farms and the food chain – as agricultural sectors need to seize digital opportunities quickly both for their relationships with consumers and their economic and environmental performance –,
• on securing European farmers against risks and crisis by combining basic direct aid, support for climate risk insurance tools and mutual funds for income stabilization and an effective European crisis management reserve
• and finally on the promotion of a quality European food model, diversified for all European citizens that can fight against the risk of a two tiers’ nutrition in Europe stratified on social classes.

Such actions can pave the way forward in finding the right CAP with the right tools to implement it and help European farmers so that in exchange they can help Europe and its citizens.

Thus, overall the CAP reform should be designed as to develop such strategies, to implement the core of an efficient Green Deal when it comes to farming, managing rural areas, shaping a balanced food chain and putting nutrition and good food at the very heart of Europeans’ habits.

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The 2019 Global Food Forum has been notably under the patronage and chair of MEPs Dacian Ciolos, Paolo De Castro, Anne Sander, Peter Jahr, Simona Bonafè, Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, Jérémy Decerle, Martin Hlavacek and Irène Tolleret.

More details on the event and press contact: https://www.farm-europe.eu/evenement/global-food- forum-2019/ or at info@farm-europe.eu

Twitter: @FarmEurope #GlobalFoodForum2019