Open letter to the 22 Ministers of agriculture meeting in Paris on December 10th

Open letter to the 22 Ministers of agriculture meeting in Paris on December 10th

CAP 2013: food sovereignty, small scale sustainable farming and solidarity are a better response to the challenges of the next decades than the WTO, factory farming and competition.


Ladies and Gentlemen Ministers

The European Coordination Via Campesina is pleased about your meeting to be held on December 10th which shall contribute to prepare a post-2013 CAP integrating the regulation of agricultural markets. The current dairy crisis shows to what extent the production deregulation of markets since 1992 in the EU cannot “guarantee the future of European agriculture”, even less with regards to the future of small scale sustainable farming.

Solutions for the dairy crisis

The Agricultural Council of October gave out subsidies to calm down the demonstrators but it did not solve the crisis and many dairy farmers will not pass this winter. Your group of 22 Member States must intervene urgently to prevent the concentration of dairy production in some areas and some large farms from going any further. The producers need a stable price of milk: the global speculation yoyo prices must not continue. They need fair prices that cover the production costs. The countryside needs many sustainable peasant farms well distributed in all the areas with agro-climatic dairy vocation. The way out of this crisis will be a determining factor for the configuration of the CAP after 2013.

It will not be possible to regulate markets through risk insurances and private contracts

Your G22 is in favour of market regulation, which is all very well, but since the current CAP framework deregulates the markets, to accompany this drift with risk insurances will not prevent surpluses or shortages and we will pay dearly for this. Going from a public regulation to a private regulation in the form of contracts between the producer and the agro-industry means putting the producers at the mercy of the industry, particularly with regards to the small producers. We will not achieve an effective regulation of production and markets without a European public regulation.

The current framework of the CAP (WTO) is obsolete and unable to face the current challenges: please, dare to change it.

From 1992 the WTO rules have been framing the CAP and agricultural policies around the world. This framework is out of order (Doha Round). The “free”-trade ideology did not solve the problems of the planet but worsened them and is now unable to meet the challenges of food, climate and biodiversity. The current CAP misses legitimacy on an international level (white washing of dumping thanks to the decoupling and to the 2nd pillar: exports at prices below the production costs continue), on a social level (very unfair distribution of CAP subsidies), on an environmental level (more and more factory farms, less and less biodiversity), on a health level (pesticides = next tick bomb).

By aligning the European farm prices with speculative world prices frequently below the European production costs, and by compensating - only partially- the agricultural income by direct payments
, the CAP led many farms into poverty, particularly in disadvantaged areas, and turned farmers into recipients of state aid, without sufficient economic and social recognition to motivate young people to engage in this profession, which is essential for feeding the population.

Our priorities for a legitimate, fair, sustainable and solidarity-based food and agriculture policy that puts citizens first

To make a living from our work in a thriving countryside:

- We need a Common Public Food and Agricultural policy defined by Europeans, not by the WTO. It is time for food sovereignty.

- Farmers should make a living from selling their products, not from subsidies. In order to do so they need fair and stable prices – Production and agricultural markets must be regulated.

- Shorten the food chain – bring producers and consumers closer together by re-localising food production and consumption

- For a thriving rural world in all regions:

o Small farms and farms in less favoured regions should be supported

o Agricultural production should be better distributed throughout Europe

o Public services in rural areas must be maintained and improved

- International trade rules should be based on Food Sovereignty, Human Rights and International Worker’s Rights

Our production, our work and our workers

- Rural, agricultural employment should be a priority – it is vital to prioritise the setting up of young farmers

- Access to land, water, seeds and credit should be a right

- Agricultural workers should not be discriminated against – migrant workers must have the same rights as their European counterparts

- The rights of women farmers should be recognised and upheld

Nurturing the environment

- We must favour a sustainable agriculture which is economic in energy use and in it’s use of inputs – an agriculture which stocks much carbon in the soil (especially the organic agriculture) - and move away from industrialised production

- We must save the Earth’s biodiversity: No to GMOs, no to patents on life. Yes to the rights of farmers to save and improve their seeds.

- Agricultural land should be dedicated firstly to food production – and not to agrofuels.


Ladies and Gentlemen Ministers, it is important to define the post 2013 CAP priorities well before the post-2013 EU budget. We ask you to engage in a large public debate in your own countries. Food should be a matter of all citizens.