As food and energy prices increase, more support is needed for vulnerable households and supply chains and agricultural production.
Russia's war against Ukraine threatens global food supplies and has further destabilised agricultural markets and driven up already high prices for food, feed, energy and fertilisers, compounded by existing disruptions to food supply chains caused by pandemics and the effects of the climate crisis. In this context, CoR members discussed how to make the European food system more sustainable and prepared for future crises with Janusz Wojciechowski, EU Commissioner for Agriculture, and MEP Marlene Mortler during the Plenary Session.
Strengthening local and regional food systems by investing in sustainable, high-quality local production, shortening supply chains and implementing a long-term strategy to ensure food security in Europe were the key recommendations by local and regional leaders, included in the opinion on food security and resilience led by Piotr Całbecki. Moreover, members did not shy away from more structural and long-term challenges that we urgently need to undertake in order to prepare for any future crises: need to develop local and regional food security contingency plans and strategies; further develop the regulation of agricultural markets to build up agricultural stocks and avoid financial speculations.
Janusz Wojciechowski, European Commissioner for Agriculture, said "The current crisis clearly confirms that we must address short-term challenges, while maintaining our transition towards more sustainable and resilient food systems. We need to improve the sustainability our food systems, not only for environmental and climate reasons, but also to ensure our strategic autonomy and to reduce our dependencies. Local and regional authorities have first-hand knowledge of these issues and the European Commission strongly welcomes their cooperation, contributions, and solutions."
Marlene Mortler, Member of the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, said "We believe that we should not wait to act until a crisis corps up. The EU needs to be better prepared for crises. Food production must become strategic cornerstone for the EU."
Piotr Całbecki, President of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region, said "To safeguard EU food security, we need to build upon resilient local food systems. This means: encouraging more diverse regional and local food production and fully exploiting the potential of local supply chains and food public procurement. The crisis we are facing today is not the first one and not the last one. Therefore, we need to better prepare for any future crises, including those linked to climate change and biodiversity loss. The crisis today must be seized to reduce our dependence on imported inputs such as fertilizers or pesticides. This is very important for many EU Regions and mine is certainly one of them. We have a fertile soil and an efficient agricultural production with high quality organic food and well-developed food processing. Our farmers are struggling because of high prices of energy and agricultural inputs. In addition, changes in our food systems are key to limit global warming, as they are linked to more than a third of the total global greenhouse gas emissions. We saw a devastating impact of climate change on our fields in many Member States this summer. We need to implement a long-term vision to move towards more sustainable food systems while strengthening our European and regional autonomy and resilience through an alternative agricultural development paradigm, one that encourages biodiverse, resilient, sustainable and socially just forms of agriculture."
Various EPP-CoR members intervened during the debate. Fernando Lopez Miras, President of Murcia region said "Costs for frarmer have continued to rise in the last year due to energy crisis, fertilizers or labour costs. All this leaves a direct impact on the shopping basket of everyone, including the most vulnerable households. Today, more than ever, we need competitive and sustainable agriculture. We must reinvent a new production system that guarantees food sovereignty, the main objective of the Common Agricultural Policy."
Joke Schauvliege, member of the Flemish Parliament, asked "What would be the consequences of the Eu Green Deal and Farm to Fork Strategy initiatives be, especially from a farming perspective and agrifood chain perspective? After all this legislation will be implemented at local and regional level and has an impact on our territories. We need an comprehensive territorial impact assessment how much we will produce after these policy measures have been put in place."
José Enrique Millo Rocher, "Secretary General for External Action, European Union and Cooperation, Government of Andalusia said "Faced with this world crisis, Andalusia recognizes the pressure that European farmers are facing and expresses its conviction of the need for a deep reflection on the effects that a lack of food could cause beyond European borders."
Bruno Hranic, Mayor of the Municipality of Vidovec said "We need to take note of the enormous price increases and artificial shortages of certain products. Within the framework of the European Union, we must establish stronger control in this direction."
Igor Androvic, Prefect, Virovitica-Podravina County said "Climate change further threatens food production. In our region Virovitica-Podravska we make a significant contribution to the irrigation and hail protection systems. EU incentives for irrigation systems contribute to the competitiveness of farmers."
Nikola Dobroslavic, President of Dubrovnik-Neretva Region said "Agriculture policy is the basic policy of the EU and we see that food is being used as a means to wage war as seen by the Russian aggression on Ukraine. This shows that the CoR was right when insisting for a strong MFF, defended the CAP and opposed cuts."
Piotr Całbecki, rapporteur of the opinion "Safeguarding food security and reinforcing the resilience of food system." pointed out that hundreds of millions of people around the world are at risk of starvation due to Russia's aggression. In his opinion, the rapporteur underlines the involvement of local food, fertiliser and energy suppliers in the creation of emergency and global stocks. recalls the strategic role of rural areas in terms of climate and food security, and underlines the CoR's role as an institutional representative of European cities and regions in support of Ukrainian partners.
Local representatives support the strengthening of local supply chains, while emphasising the pursuit of Green Deal goals and the Farm to Fork strategy. They also want to finance projects to improve food security at regional level. Local authorities are calling for more organic farming and systemic action to reduce food waste.
Yesterday, Całbecki presented his opinion during a European Parliament meeting of the AGRI Committee. He called on the European Commission to strengthen local food systems. Development of sustainable local food systems is the best way to guarantee quality food for our citizens and decent income for our farmers.
Background material:
• The plenary agenda and opinions and amendments.
• the CoR study on Repercussions of the agri-food crisis at local and regional level in the EU.