Aligning voices for a sustainable food system

EU institutions have reached an agreement on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after more than two years of negotiations. However, critics fear that there is a deep divide between the CAP reform and the ambitions of the European Green Deal.

Organised right after the CAP agreement and before the UN Food Systems Summit, this online debate sought to address the future of the EU’s agriculture and food sectors and the role EU decisions on agriculture play at the international stage.

Urgency for change

“The main idea from the IPCC Special Report on climate change and land is that a focus on sustainable land management to prevent land degradation is a leading policy solution,” said Koko Warner, who manages the UN Climate Secretariat’s Vulnerability subdivision. (8:40)

Warner stated that “this is the window of opportunity to reshape policy and to ensure people are well fed and safe, as well as to tackle some of the greatest challenges posed by climate change.” (11:17)

Tassos Haniotis, Director for Strategy, Simplification and Policy Analysis at the European Commission Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, challenged some misconceptions. “It is important to move away from the old thinking pitting economic concerns against social development and environmental footprint. This is something we have to change,” he said. (50:10)

“We have no time to waste,” said Ivo Degn, Co-Founder and CEO of Climate Farmers. “Deciding on the CAP for the next seven years is not feasible,” he continued. “If we maintain this legislation for seven years, we will not be able to achieve our goals, which are not ambitious enough.” (01:09:50)

A passionate call to action was launched by Sarah Wiener, Member of the European Parliament Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development. “Business as usual is no longer an option. What we need is a system change, a real turnaround in how we produce our food. We need to reduce the use of pesticides by 50%, halve the use of antibiotics in livestock farming, and increase the share of organic farming to at least 25% of arable land.” (46:50)

Soil directive

The lack of a soil directive at EU level was highlighted as a key lacuna, given the continued focus on agricultural practices and land management.

“It is a paradox that we don’t have a soil directive in the European Union,” said Haniotis. “Yet most of our proposed solutions and most of the Common Agricultural Policy focuses on practices that affect land management and have an impact on soil.” (51:33)

This view was also picked up by Warner, who said that “if policy does not ensure soil can play its full ecosystem role, then there will be a point beyond which there won’t be very much that policy and society can do.” (01:06:53)

The external dimension of the agricultural policy of the EU

How the EU decides to regulate agriculture will not only affect farmers within its borders, but also other regions of the world. “The EU Farm to Fork Strategy will certainly affect us, particularly when it comes to reducing inequality,” said John Makoha, Regional Director for Uganda of the AVSI Foundation. (32:15)

The importance of the global dimension was also referenced by Haniotis. “There is no available land to produce food, so we need to find ways that solve a global problem in a global dimension. This is not something we can do alone.” (51:04).

Lorenzo Van Elsen of the Belgian Foreign Trade Agency stated that “as the world’s leading food importer, the EU can use its external policies to stimulate and encourage a global transition towards more sustainable food practices.” (39:32)

Civil society

“We need to listen to civil society organisations,” said Makoha. (35:40) “We need to listen to young people. You cannot improve the agriculture system in Uganda without having a political link to the youth.”

Christel Weller-Molongua, Director of the Rural Development and Agriculture Division at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), also touched on the national dialogues that are planned worldwide in the context of the UN Food Systems Summit. She called this is an “interesting approach” and encouraged the European Union to take notice of these national dialogues which brought forth “rich results”. (1:14:55)