Fostering sustainable and resilient food systems at times of growing crises

Key points

The EESC:

• believes that EU agriculture, fisheries and food policy must be better equipped to adapt to the continuous challenges facing the sector. It must also be competitive, crisis proof, economically, environmentally and socially sustainable, producer-friendly, knowledge-based and capable of delivering high quality food at competitive prices, as well as providing producers with a strong, sustainable income;
• puts forward a series of concrete proposals, for economic instruments, environmental sustainability, and social and societal support, such as: 
  • budget increase and provision of adequate financing to meet policy needs and ambitions in the areas of EU agriculture, fisheries and food; 
  • ensure a fair and economically sustainable income for primary producers, for example by introducing price guarantees and regulating the balance of power in the food chain, and by introducing tools and mechanisms, to change how producer prices are set;
  • examine and devise an EU-wide system of public insurance against natural disasters with a high level of public investment; 
  • simplify and remove red tape throughout the food chain;
  • encourage young people and women by fostering generational renewal, education and training; support community-assisted agriculture and increase support for the cooperative and similar association models; 
  • regenerate and restore soil health, increased water efficiency through technologies to reduce water use such as precision irrigation; 
  • reward for carbon sequestration and avoid carbon leakage; 
  • ensure effective enforcement of unfair trading practices rules and the standardisation of their application at EU level and introduce a ban on below-cost pricing;
  • strengthen food security and strategic autonomy by reducing dependence on imports; 
  • regulate trade flows to avoid unnecessary market disruption and establish a digitised centre for collecting data on prices and costs to bring transparency to the food supply chain.
  • labelling of origin for raw materials and processed products, as an option to promote stable relations between producers and industry and a way to inform consumers;
  • set up the European Food Policy Council (EFPC) as a platform for strengthening dialogue on food-related issues, similar to the proposal by the strategic dialogue.