Põllumajandus

On 15 November the EESC will host a pivotal event focusing on the benefits of organic food and the critical role of public procurement in advancing sustainable practices. This event will bring together representatives from cities, national governments, and institutions to discuss the future of organic farming and its impact on farmers, workers, the climate, and the environment.

This public hearing aims to exchange views with civil society representatives from candidate countries and EU's stakeholders on the opportunities and challenges for the EU-agri-food sector with EU enlargement and to identify the contributions of the accession countries to the EU's social, environmental, and economic sustainability.

With this debate, the EESC wants to contribute to reflections on the foundations of a just transition framework on the agri-food sector to achieve a sustainable food system and move forward with concrete recommendations, for example, looking at the skills, capacity and mental support needed, or identifying some key policy areas and legal leverage points that could be triggered to start a just food transition for the EU.

Given the link between agriculture and rural areas and farmers with food production, the recommendations of this opinion will also have a positive impact on rural development.

On 6 November 2023, the EESC will host a public hearing in the context of its ongoing opinion on 'Promoting autonomous and sustainable food production: strategies for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2027' requested by the upcoming Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

On Friday, 14 April 2023, the NAT Section is organising a public hearing "Towards a European Food Policy Council / Sustainable Food System" to feed into the own-initiative opinion NAT/892- Towards a European Food Policy Council as a new governance model in the future EU Framework on Sustainable Food Systems in order to compile the views of the civil society organisations working on these issues.

The EESC will host the third EU Youth Round Table on Wednesday 30 November, 14:30-16:00 CET. Janusz Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture, will participate in the event and will engage with the youth representatives on the topic: food security and sustainable food systems.

In the context of the 60 years anniversary of the Common Agricultural Policy but also of the terrible war in Ukraine, the NAT section of the EESC will hold a thematic debate with its members, EU institutions and stakeholders to discuss the economic, social and environmental transition needed to ensure European agriculture continues to achieve its objectives in a sustainable and resilient manner.