Progress: Procedure completed
EPP
GUE/NGL
S&D
Renew
Verts/ALE
ID
ECR
PPE
NA
RELead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
RoP 57, RoP 58
Legal Basis:
RoP 57, RoP 58Subjects
Events
The European Parliament adopted a resolution on a farm to fork strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system.
Parliament welcomed the ambitions and goals of the farm to fork strategy as an important step in ensuring a sustainable, fair, healthy animal friendly, more regional, diversified and resilient food system, which is central to achieving the goals set out in the European Green Deal and in the SDGs. It encouraged the Commission to translate the strategy into concrete legislative and non-legislative action as soon as possible, accompanied by the proper financial support mechanisms for the transition.
Need for action
Members welcomed the announcement of an evidence-based proposal for a legislative framework for sustainable food systems based on transparent data and taking into account the latest scientific knowledge. They invited the Commission to use this proposal to develop a comprehensive, balanced, integrated, environmentally, socially and economically sustainable common food policy. This proposal should take full account of farm animal welfare as a fundamental aspect of food sustainability.
Parliament also supported the development of strategic food policy plans , stressing the need for a new cross-cutting approach to governance is needed to ensure coherence between EU food and farming policies and those that influence them such as trade, energy, competition, and climate policies. It also welcomed the Commission's proposal to develop an emergency plan to guarantee food supply and security to coordinate a common European response to crises affecting food systems.
Building a food supply chain that works for citizens, workers, producers, distributors and the environment
Parliament called for measures to promote sustainable agriculture, reduce the use of pesticides, protect and restore soil ecosystems , to help the recovery of species and habitats protected by nature directives, including pollinators and their habitats.
According to Members, the regulatory framework for the authorisation of pesticides should encourage innovation and research for the development of better and safer plant protection products and alternatives to them. Members insisted that each Member State should establish robust, effective and time-bound quantitative reduction targets in their reviews of the CAP strategic plans and other relevant policy instruments, with the ambition of reducing to zero the agricultural emissions to soil, groundwater, surface water and air.
Antimicrobial resistance is a transnational and cross-border health threat that requires coordinated EU action. Members stressed the need to further reduce the use of antibiotics, including in food production. It welcomed the Commission's plan to reduce overall sales of antimicrobials for farmed animals and in aquaculture by 50% by 2030.
Healthier food
Parliament called on the Commission to ensure that a mandatory and harmonised EU front-of-pack nutritional label is developed based on robust, independent scientific evidence and demonstrated consumer understanding, with open access for all market operators including small and medium-sized operators, taking into account the additional burden to food operators and unions. In order to facilitate comparison across products, it should include an interpretive element to provide transparent, comparable and harmonised product information and be based on uniform reference amounts.
According to the report, Member States should be given more flexibility to differentiate the VAT rates on food with different health and environmental impacts and enable them to choose a zero VAT rate for healthy and sustainable food products such as fruits and vegetables and a higher VAT rate on unhealthy food and food that has a high environmental footprint.
Parliament also called for an improved EU policy to promote agricultural products and foodstuffs by focusing on European quality labels, such as the EU organic label and geographical indications, on short, local and regional supply chains, on healthy nutrition and lifestyles, and on promoting greater consumption of fruit and vegetables as part of a varied and balanced diet, and lower intake of sugar, salt and fats with the aim of reducing obesity rates.
Making the transition possible
The resolution stressed the importance of EU funding for research and innovation, especially for SMEs and smallholders, as key drivers in accelerating the transition to a more sustainable, productive and inclusive European food system. It pointed out that the introduction of new smart-farming technologies and techniques, including digitalisation and protected cropping systems, can be beneficial for improving efficiency.
In addition, Members highlighted the key role that young farmers will have in accomplishing the transition to sustainable farming and in delivering on the aims of the strategy.
Promoting the global transition
Members called on the Commission and the Member States to:
- ensure that all food and feed products imported into the EU fully comply with relevant EU legislation and the Union’s high standards;
- maintain a holistic approach as the implementation of certain farm to fork strategy targets in the EU must not lead to the relocation of parts of agricultural production to other regions with lower standards than
the EU.
The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development jointly adopted an own-initiative report by Anja HAZEKAMP (GUE/NGL, NL) and Herbert DORFMANN (EPP, IT) on a farm to fork strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system.
On 20th May 2020, the Commission published the farm to fork strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system, together with the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 as part of its Green Deal.
Need for action
The European food system has played a crucial role during the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrating its resilience with farmers and their cooperatives or producers’ organisations, workers employed along the food value chain, processors, distributors and retailers working together under difficult conditions. Although the EU’s internal market and agricultural system largely and rapidly overcame the interruptions to supply amid the COVID-19 crisis, the situation revealed certain vulnerabilities in intricate food supply chains, demonstrating the need to ensure long-term food security, resilience and short supply chains.
The report stressed the need for urgent and bold policy and legislative change to improve the sustainability of the current food system. It also called for a structured dialogue between Parliament, Member States and all food system actors, including citizens, to seize all the opportunities offered by this strategy and to discuss gaps, opportunities and challenges in the development and implementation of a holistic common EU food policy.
Members welcomed the Commission’s proposal to develop a contingency plan for ensuring food supply and food security in order to coordinate a common European response to crises affecting food systems. They insisted that a prevention approach is needed to avoid panic movements and overreactions by people, firms or Member States. They urged the Commission to consider strategic food stock issues in the way that it does for strategic petroleum stocks across the EU.
According to the report, Member States should be given more flexibility to differentiate the VAT rates on food with different health and environmental impacts and enable them to choose a zero VAT rate for healthy and sustainable food products such as fruits and vegetables and a higher VAT rate on unhealthy food and food that has a high environmental footprint.
Improving access to farming
The report stressed the importance of EU funding for research and innovation, especially for SMEs and smallholders, as key drivers in accelerating the transition to a more sustainable, productive and inclusive European food system. It pointed out that the introduction of new smart-farming technologies and techniques, including digitalisation and protected cropping systems, can be beneficial for improving efficiency.
In addition, Members highlighted the key role that young farmers will have in accomplishing the transition to sustainable farming and in delivering on the aims of the strategy. As regards the issue of concentration of farmland as well as land-grabbing in the EU, Members called on the Commission and Member States, as well as regional and local administrations, to put an end to such practices in order to support young farmers and to facilitate their entry into farming.
Promoting the global transition
Members called on the Commission and the Member States to:
- ensure that all food and feed products imported into the EU fully comply with relevant EU legislation and the Union’s high standards;
- maintain a holistic approach as the implementation of certain farm to fork strategy targets in the EU must not lead to the relocation of parts of agricultural production to other regions with lower standards than
the EU.
Lastly, Members welcomed the Commission’s commitment to promoting the global phasing out of pesticides no longer approved in the EU and to ensuring that hazardous pesticides banned for use in the EU in accordance with the relevant legislation are not exported outside the EU. They also considered that the EU should support developing countries to help them reduce the imprudent use of pesticides and promote other methods to protect plants and fishery resources.
Documents
- Decision by Parliament: T9-0425/2021
- Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
- Committee report tabled for plenary: A9-0271/2021
- Committee opinion: PE662.054
- Committee opinion: PE663.298
- Committee opinion: PE661.894
- Committee opinion: PE663.077
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE680.918
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE680.919
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE680.920
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE681.105
- Committee draft report: PE662.094
- Committee draft report: PE662.094
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE680.918
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE680.919
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE680.920
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE681.105
- Committee opinion: PE663.077
- Committee opinion: PE661.894
- Committee opinion: PE663.298
- Committee opinion: PE662.054
Activities
- Clara AGUILERA
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Eric ANDRIEU
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Izaskun BILBAO BARANDICA
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Mara BIZZOTTO
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Paolo DE CASTRO
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Jytte GUTELAND
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Jan HUITEMA
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Jarosław KALINOWSKI
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Zbigniew KUŹMIUK
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Marian-Jean MARINESCU
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Joëlle MÉLIN
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Ulrike MÜLLER
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Anne SANDER
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Tom VANDENKENDELAERE
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Valter FLEGO
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Sandra PEREIRA
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Robert HAJŠEL
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Manuel BOMPARD
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Dino GIARRUSSO
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Eugenia RODRÍGUEZ PALOP
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Caroline ROOSE
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Irène TOLLERET
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Sarah WIENER
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Carmen AVRAM
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Jérémy DECERLE
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Petros KOKKALIS
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Sylvia LIMMER
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Edina TÓTH
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Daniela RONDINELLI
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Benoît BITEAU
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Atidzhe ALIEVA-VELI
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Mazaly AGUILAR
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Álvaro AMARO
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Delara BURKHARDT
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Krzysztof JURGIEL
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Isabel CARVALHAIS
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Pernille WEISS
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Antoni COMÍN I OLIVERES
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Claude GRUFFAT
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Alin MITUȚA
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
- Colm MARKEY
Plenary Speeches (1)
- 2021/10/18 Farm to Fork Strategy (debate)
The Left