Strategic resilience of the EU’s agricultural and food systems: supply chains, production capacity, and access to critical resources and information

Recent geopolitical, economic, and climate-related crises have demonstrated that the EU food system is a part of Europe's strategic infrastructure. Its functioning is directly linked to food security, societal resilience and the Union's strategic autonomy. While the Common Agricultural Policy contributes to agricultural production and farmers’ income stability, recent disruptions have highlighted the need to strengthen the resilience of the wider agri-food system, including supply chains, processing, storage, logistics and access to essential inputs.  

The Lithuanian Presidency requested that the EESC prepare an exploratory opinion to assess how EU policies can safeguard the functioning of critical supply chains in times of crisis, with particular attention to maintaining agricultural production capacity, the economic viability of farms and food businesses, and the availability of critical resources. The EESC will examine dependencies on external suppliers and structural vulnerabilities within value chains that may affect the continuity of food production and supply.  

Recent crises have also shown that sufficient production potential alone is not enough if supply chains are disrupted, key inputs are unavailable, or timely information on risks. Therefore, the opinion will analyze the role of risk management, access to reliable and timely information, the strengthening of short supply chains, knowledge transfer, and innovation in strengthening preparedness and reducing vulnerabilities.  

By addressing these issues, the EESC can provide recommendations on how to strengthen the resilience of the EU agri-food system, reduce critical dependencies and ensure long-term food security, farm viability and preparedness for geopolitical, market and climate-related disruptions.