Planet

Via Campesina, farmers’ priorities in the European elections

April 24, 2024

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In view of the upcoming European elections, to be held on 6-9 June 2024, the European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) – the sole representation of family and peasant agriculture, which still accounts for 94.8% of farms in the EU – has published the farmers’ priorities. (1)

Table of Contents

2019-2024, a disastrous legislature

The 2019-2024 legislature, which began with admirable promises of ecological transition and sustainable development, has culminated in disaster. The Green Deal degenerated into a variety of measures serving the financial oligarchies, such as:

– the economic support for wind and photovoltaic mega-installations on land robbed from farmers and landscapes, with no limits on the unacceptable consumption of soil

– the demand to replace diesel power with electricity even on tractors and motor vehicles, at the expense of their users

– the obligation to improve the energy performance of private buildings, again at the expense of their owners.

The war economy is in turn diverting resources intended for civil society in favour of the arms industry, with little regard for their impact on the environment and public health.

Farmers in protest

Farmers in protest in the streets all over Europe, including England, are demanding a #fairprice for their produce, redistribution of the CAP in favour of family and peasant farms, cutting red tape and a drastic revision of free trade agreements. (2)

Eurocrats and national governments – instead of responding to these demands – followed the orders of the big agricultural confederations (i.e. Coldiretti, Copa-Cogeca, Farm Europe) to favour the interests of agribusiness instead. And so, after the withdrawal of the ‘Nature Restoration Law’ and ‘Sustainable Use (of pesticides) Regulation’ proposals, the ‘Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions’ were removed. (3) In addition to attempting the ‘deregulation’ of new GMOs and a ban on seed exchange (4,5).

Thus farms in the European Union continue to close and be sold to financial giants to produce electricity instead of food. And while the average age of farmers is getting higher and higher, 57 being the EU average, little and nothing is being done to incentivise young people to enter this sector.

Via Campesina, farmers’ priorities for the European elections

ECVC (European Coordination Via Campesina) expresses its political priorities for the 2024 European elections in seven points. Family and peasant farms – the real protagonists of our food, where the link between soil, biodiversity, animals and people is still alive – must be put at the centre. To ensure safe, sustainable and climate resilient agricultural and food systems.

More farmers for a transition to agroecology

CAP funds must be geared towards the transition to agroecology and favour small farmers who are today effectively excluded from support. The Common Agricultural Policy must recover its original objective, to guarantee farmers’ income through market regulation.

Review free trade treaties

International economic treaties cannot be tolerated to cause competition between EU agri-food products and those of third countries, with unacceptable socio-environmental dumping. (6)

Instead, food sovereignty, food and social justice must be promoted. And allow countries to build up public stocks of food to prevent and mitigate food security crises and price volatility. (7)

Regulate new GMOs, guarantee the exchange of seeds

NTGs (New Genomic Techniques) are GMOs in their own right and must remain regulated as such, in accordance with the precautionary principle. With a ban on patenting any living being.

The European Parliament must allow the free exchange of seeds and plant reproductive material between farmers, as mutual aid. (5) Today, some of ECVC’s requests have been accepted.

Young people in agriculture

Agriculture must be made accessible and attractive to young people, while respecting soil health and biodiversity. The assault of finance on agriculture, on the other hand, prevents generational change. And it is therefore necessary:

– introduce a directive against the concentration of land ownership and management

– establish pre-emption rights for young people practising agroecology

– create a European Land Observatory to record sale prices, soil quality, the real beneficiaries of agricultural land and ensure that those who get aid actually work the land

– provide training courses in agroecological practices for soil protection.

Eliminating the carbon credit system

The carbon credit system risks becoming yet another opportunity for agribusiness oligarchies to apply intensive and unsustainable farming systems. The accumulation of CO2 in the soil, moreover, cannot be calculated accurately and varies with respect to many factors.

It is necessary to plan a transition of food systems to have more farms and more agroecology. And in order to reduce CO2 emissions, we must abandon the mechanism of offsetting, which, on the contrary, accelerates climate change by allowing polluters to continue causing damage. (8)

Rebalancing animal husbandry

The livestock giants absorb a significant part of CAP subsidies, which must instead be redistributed in favour of small livestock farms where there is a real link between man and animals, respecting animal welfare. (9)

Rights of farmers and rural communities

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Farmers and Rural Communities (UNDROP) must be applied in all EU policies and regulations that affect agriculture in various ways. Starting with the reform of the CAP that must consider all rural workers, including seasonal and migrant workers.

Peace, Earth and Dignity

The above-mentioned priorities of the European Coordination of La Via Campesina (ECVC) – as well as the positions it has expressed over the years on various dossiers on the tables in Brussels and Strasbourg – are exactly in line with the political programme of the writer, a candidate in the North-Eastern College in the European elections to be held in Italy on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 June 2024. (10)

#PeaceEarthDignity

Dario Dongo