The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) absorbs 36.1 percent of the total EU budget(€ 58.4 billion in 2019). But it still tends to favor industrial agriculture and (unrealistic) competitiveness in the global market over sustainability goals. The agroecological transition is at stake, between the positions expressed by the environmental and peasant movements, on the one hand, and the European Commission where an infighting seems to be going on.
European Commission, the ‘good intentions’
‘The Future of Food and Agriculture ‘-the European Commission’s ‘Juncker-era’ communication 29.11.17-indicated the priorities that the post-2020 CAP should address. (1) Young farmers, knowledge-based agriculture, farm sustainability and resilience. The Commission, without going into operational details, emphasized the need for radical reform in the CAP implementation model. (2) With a view to achieving the 9 objectives highlighted below. (3)
These goals were later effectively recalled in the so-called European Green Deal, the strategy presented on 11.12.19 by the new European Commission, under the leadership of Frau Ursula von der Leyen.
Nyéléni Europe Network. Values to promote and mistakes to overcome in the new CAP
The Nyéléni Europe Network represents in Europe the coalition of organizations fighting for food sovereignty and the rights of peasants and workers in rural areas, finally recognized by the UN, with the declaration of the same name 19.11.18. As well as representing indigenous and landless peoples, including victims of land grabbing, environmental and urban movements, and consumers.
CAP reform, according to Nyéléni, must come focused on supporting small-scaleagroecology, with the specific aim of affirming the principles of food sovereignty, solidarity and sustainable development in the EU. In line with theSustainable Development Goals(SDGs) in UN Agenda 2030.
It is therefore necessary to overcome the errors of the current system, which still favors an industrial-scale agricultural model that almost exclusively benefits large operators. (4) This model has so far been justified with the stated goal of ensuring the competitiveness of European agriculture globally. But this is a utopian goal, even in the face of the socio-environmentaldumping carried out by the first exporters. This approach, moreover, has serious side effects:
– you encourage the oligopoly of the Big 4 and Corporations that already control inputs (agrotoxics and seeds), production and trade of agribusiness commodities on a planetary scale. Pursuing unsustainable agricultural models based on intensive monocultures and pesticide abuse,
– environmental damage. Unregulated competition over agricultural commodities is a primary cause of biodiversity loss and climate emergency. (5) In addition to resulting in the depletion of soils and the pollution of soils as well as water,
– threat to human and animal health due to chemical residues in food, (6) the spread of ultra-processed foods, antibiotic resistance, (7)
– inequity. Unfair trading practices are still widespread, pending the concrete implementation of EU Directive 2019/633(Unfair Trading Practices, UTPs). Therefore, SMEs, on which the production chain in Europe is woven, continue to suffer from a serious power asymmetry with downstream operators. With the aggravation of lack of transparency on the value chain and repercussions on the labor force, which tends to be underpaid,
– concentration of funding on technological innovation, rather than on support for small producers, conversion to agroecology, and reducing the ecological footprint of animal husbandry.
The transition to agroecology
The transition to an agroecological system is the only way to achieve the goals hinted at by the Commission in announcing the Farm to Fork (f2f) strategy. The first pillar (i.e., direct aid) of the new CAP must includepeasant agriculture and provide for social and environmental conditions for the specific purpose of ensuring:
– accessibility of nutritious and healthy foods, thanks in part to direct relationships between producers and consumers,
– Preservation of soils and biodiversity. In a logic of regenerating soil fertility, reducing pesticide use, and consciously managing pests and weeds,
– social sustainability. Stable and affordable prices for consumers must then be matched by the dignity of agricultural labor and its fair remuneration.
National Strategic Plans and infighting at the European Commission.
The National Strategic Plan is the tool envisaged in the draft regulations for the post-2020 CAP to allow member states greater stakeholder (the social stakeholders) participation. In Italy, environmental and organic farming associations, united in the ‘Cambiamo Agricoltura’ Coalition, have presented a decalogue on how to offer due support to the agroecology model.
In Brussels meanwhile, Politico magazine reports a lively infighting between DG ENV(Environment)-which aspires to introduce a quantitative target to reduce consumption of pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers (-30 percent by 2030)-and DG AGRI(Agriculture). Which instead follows the orders of the Big 4-as evidenced by the wilful delay in entrusting EFSA with the assessment of risks associated with exposure to mixtures of agrotoxics (so-called cocktail effect)-and seems to oppose introducing quantitative reduction targets for poisons. (8)
Dario Dongo and Camilla Fincardi
Notes
(1) See the European Parliament website, in thearea dedicated to the CAP after 2020
(2) Idem c.s.
(3) European Commission, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, The Future of Food and Agriculture., Brussels 29.11.2017, COM (2017) 713 final, pp. 12,
(4) See Statement of Nyéléni (Sélingué, Mali), 27.2.07,
(5) In fact, 56 percent of birds typical of agricultural landscapes have disappeared in the past 40 years, 25 percent of bumblebees and other pollinating insect species face extinction, as do many other animal species. See also https://www.cambiamoagricoltura.it/lagricoltura-che-vogliamo/
(6) SEE https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/consum-attori/pesticidi-siamo-tutti-cavie-di-big-4
(7) See previous article %C3%
(8) Eddy Wax, Arthur Nielsen, Louise Guillot. ‘Epic battle’ over green farming divides EU departments.. Politico Europe, 13.2.20
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Graduated in Law at the University of Bologna and in Italian-French law at the Université Paris Nanterre, she is currently enrolled in the Master in Law and Food Safety Consultant at the University of Bologna.
