The European Green Deal has admirable goals for a more sustainable future at no cost to the consumer, but a realistic lack of alternatives to conventional farming and uncertainty about what technology can be used to achieve the targets is raising concerns for EU farmers.
The European Green Deal is a growth strategy aiming to transform the European Union into a prosperous, fair, competitive and resource-efficient economy, with no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050, zero pollution and decoupling of economic growth from resource use. It has goals extending to many different sectors, including construction, biodiversity, energy, transport and food.
The ‘From Farm to Fork’ strategy pursues a sustainable food system that safeguards food security and ensures access to healthy diets while reducing emissions and increasing efficiency. The price and quality of goods are set to remain unaffected by its adoption.
According to Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission: “At the heart of the Green Deal, the Biodiversity and Farm to Fork strategies point to a new and better balance of nature, food systems and biodiversity; to protect our people’s health and wellbeing, and at the same time increase the EU’s competitiveness and resilience.”
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When the strategies were launched in May 2020, the objectives to protect the environment, fight climate change, improve the economic return to farmers and assure food security were welcome.
However, the two strategies prompted questions about the overall coherence of what was proposed - including pesticide and fertiliser reduction and a forced decrease in agricultural land without an impact assessment.
The Deal appears to be missing a list of credible alternatives to reduce the use of pesticides and fertilisers in the EU. This omission leaves farmers wondering how they will realise these ambitious goals without driving up production costs.
Concerns centre around the financial impact of the Green Deal when European agriculture is facing the challenge of generational renewal. Will the funding to adopt more sustainable practices available through the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy be enough to dampen the financial impact of meeting the targets? Or will the deal further detract the new generation of young farmers needed to bring the full benefits of technology to support sustainable farming practices in Europe.
Another burning issue is whether New Plant Breeding Techniques, currently blocked by the EU Court of Justice, will be allowed for sustainable food production.
These techniques allow the development of new plant varieties with desired traits, by modifying the DNA of the seeds and plant cells. They enable more precise and faster changes in the plant’s genome than conventional plant breeding techniques and have a significant potential for the plant breeding and agri-food industry.
European farmers are also concerned that they will be driven out of business if the EU imports food from other countries which have lower standards at a lower cost.
Critics claim that the combined strategies could result in a 15 percent reduction of EU agricultural production and a decline in EU food security.
