Farming stakeholders have delivered their final report on the future of EU agriculture to the European Commission. This includes calls to overhaul the EU's common agricultural policy, harmonise sustainability assessments, and create an EU body to help implement the report's recommendations.
In January 2024, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen convened 29 major stakeholders from the European agri-food sectors, civil society, rural communities and academia who in the past eight months have drafted recommendations for the direction of EU farming policy.
The final report of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture was presented to von der Leyen on Wednesday. She said its recommendations will shape the Commission's new Vision for Agriculture and Food, due to be delivered within the first 100 days of von der Leyen's second mandate.
"The outcome of this Strategic Dialogue shows that it’s possible to move beyond a polarised debate and create trust among very diverse stakeholders. The Commission will now take a careful look at their ideas," von der Leyen said.
In his preface to the report, professor Peter Strohschneider (chairman of the Strategic Dialogue) said: "All too often agricultural production and its natural preconditions have become tangled in a lose-lose constellation".
Peter Strohschneider and Ursula von der Leyen. Credit: European Commission
Strohschneider said that the recommendations focus on the next ten to fifteen years and "ways of reconciling agriculture with nature", primarily at the European and Member State levels.
"After seven months of intensive work, the members of the Strategic Dialogue agreed on a shared conceptual consensus for the future of farming and food in Europe, through a new culture of mutual understanding and communication," he said.
Key recommendations: PAC reform?
Among the report's 14 key recommendations were the need to launch an EU-wide benchmarking system for farm sustainability assessments, as well as establishing a nature restoration fund to support farmers make more sustainable farming choices. A legally binding objective to have "no net land take by 2050" is also needed.
It recommended that the Commission sets up a process to develop a strategy on the future role of animal farming, as well as revising animal welfare legislation and creating a new legal framework for EU-wide animal welfare labelling.
The strategic dialogue suggested that the current Common Agricultural Policy be made more "fit for purpose", focusing on three central objectives: providing targeted socio-economic support to farmers; promoting positive environmental, social, and animal welfare outcomes for society; and invigorating enabling conditions for rural areas.
The report also called for a new European Board on Agri-food, to help consolidate the new "culture of co-operation" established by the strategic dialogue, and implement its recommendations.
Other recommendations included mobilising public and private capital to invest in sustainable farming practices, encouraging consumers to choose more sustainable options such as plant-based proteins, and setting out clear accounting systems and pathways for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Welcomed by Greens and farming organisations
The European Parliament's Greens/EFA party welcomed the report, "especially parts concerning resilience, the shift to healthy and sustainable diets, and the need to substantially invest in environmental protection for the good of farmers and long-term food security".
“This report shows the urgent need for major changes in the EU agricultural policies. It is now up to the Commission to ensure the recommendations are reflected in the next CAP proposal," said Greens/EFA MEP Thomas Waitz, coordinator of the Agricultural Committee.
EU-wide agriculture co-operative Copa and Cogeca said that among recommendations, the emphasis on financing the necessary transitions through different mechanisms "is especially notable and needs to be considered in the upcoming budget proposal".
Copa president Christiane Lambert said the report "should be viewed as the beginning of a constructive process that will lead to a more balanced, and strategic vision of agriculture under Ursula von der Leyen".
"We must continue the dialogue and involve the European Parliament and Council. Many stakeholders will share their views on this report in the coming days and weeks, and the Commission must listen to them," she said.
