Morgan Ody, member of ECVC and peasant farmer in Brittany, France, today called for the European Institutions to put in place market regulation and additional economic support to guarantee a transition to peasant agroecology within the scope of the Green Deal, in order to ensure the resilience of food systems to produce sufficient and healthy food, protect the environment and promote social cohesion in urban and rural areas.
During the session on “Resilient EU agri-food systems: the farmers’ point of view”, the French farmer underlined that studies show how peasant agroecology has the capacity to feed 530 million people in the EU between now and 2050[1], but that this is only possible if the European Institutions and national governments of each country put in place efficient measures to enable all EU farmers to make a living out of sustainable food production.
“EU agriculture has immense potential to successfully transition towards agroecology. First of all, this model of diversified agriculture still represents the majority of farms in most European territories. Secondly, we still have a very large number of small and medium-sized farms where farmers have been able to maintain their know-how, mutual support and an impressive capacity for innovation. The 10 million farms in Europe are an opportunity for our continent!”
ECVC has long since been calling for the EU Institutions to implement public policies which can bring about real change and tackle the problems faced by small- and medium-scale farmers. This includes the need to ensure higher prices and income for farmers, the implementation of market regulation, limits to new speculative investments from investment funds and limits on industrial agriculture and livestock farming. To do this, the EU Institutions must be more ambitious with the measures and tools they are implementing in order to harness the potential of agroecology and meet the goals outlined in the Farm to Fork Strategy and Green Deal. Most recently, in a letter to Frans Timmermans, European Commissioner for Climate, and Commission Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, ECVC shared its concerns on the leak communication on “Restoring Sustainable Carbon Cycles” and the lack of consideration or inclusion of small- and medium-scale farmers’ responses to the roadmap within the leaked communication.
The farmers’ organisation, which represents farmers and rural workers across Europe, will continue to work on the European level, along with its member organisations on a national and local level, to ensure that the solutions offered by food sovereignty and peasant agroecology are taken into account by policy makers, for the benefit of society and the environment.
Contacts
Morgan Ody, Member of ECVC Coordinating Committee – +33 626 97 76 43 – FR, EN
Alisha Sesum, Communications Staff, European Coordination Via Campesina, alisha@eurovia.org, +447557537289 – EN, ES, FR
Contact information
Morgan Ody
FR, EN
Member of ECVC Coordinating Committee
+33 626 97 76 43
Alisha Sesum
+447557537289
Communications Staff
alisha@eurovia.org