The nearly 300 organizations are calling in their appeal for stricter laws to promote sustainable agriculture. Their call coincides with proposals in the European Parliament later this week regarding EU subsidies for fertilizers.
Environmental organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund WWF, Foodwatch, and the European consumer association Beuc say that the future of food will need to shift from more frozen pizzas and other ready-made meals to more organic and regional.
This will give EU citizens fairer, healthier, and more environmentally friendly access to food, according to a letter published Monday addressed to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
The farm-to-fork strategy is one of the European Commission’s plans to make European agriculture more sustainable. Among other objectives, it aims to reduce the use of pesticides by half by 2030.
Due to the current international ban on the import of Russian oil and gas, gas prices have risen sharply over the past year, making fertilizer production very costly at present.
European farmers have been advocating for a year for some form of EU support to lower fertilizer prices. For example, Poland has already set up collective purchasing combined with state aid. So far, the European Commission has not responded to calls to open the agricultural crisis fund, arguing that this would only amount to paying extra millions to the shareholders of a few large fertilizer manufacturers.
On Thursday, the European Parliament will vote on an extensive resolution that among other things advocates that the EU develop a ‘protected sector’ for fertilizer production. This non-binding resolution also calls for finally taking action on the Dutch proposal to convert animal manure into permissible natural fertilizer.