The European Commission will soon include the halving of chemical use in agriculture in a revision of the EU directive on hazardous pesticides.
The European Commission expects support from the European Parliament in this regard, but also anticipates resistance from the 27 Agriculture and Fisheries ministers. This was stated by EU top official Claire Bury at the Forum for the Future of Agriculture (FFA) held in recent days.
During the seminar week, Dutch political scientist Jeroen Candel (Wageningen University & Research) gave a presentation on the possible consequences of the European Commission’s Farm to Fork strategy. The intention is to include as many elements of the “Farm to Fork” strategy as possible in the ongoing Common Agricultural Policy reform.
The fact that the Green Deal and F2F are so far only a strategy and not law is no problem for the European Commission. The strategy is in any case a mix of voluntary suggestions and targets that later should be transformed into legislation.
By already imposing green objectives on agriculture without first conducting an impact assessment, the Commission is making the agricultural sector vulnerable, according to the head of the European agricultural umbrella organization COPA-COGECA.
Although the Commission has previously indicated that each measure will be evaluated individually, no general impact assessment has been prepared regarding food policy. Brussels justifies this on the basis that the F2F plans remain voluntary for now, said Pekko Pesonen.
However, as Carla Boonstra, head of the Agriculture department at the Dutch Permanent Representation to the EU, recently noted: the fact that targets are voluntary does not mean that the sector is not required to achieve them, Euractiv reported.
The Corona crisis makes a more sustainable food chain in the EU only more necessary, said Claire Bury from the EU Commission’s Directorate-General for Health. F2F is not just about healthier eating and labeling: farmers suffered heavy damage during the corona crisis and therefore need financial support from the EU agriculture budget for restructuring and economic recovery, she explained.