The backdrop of the 2024 International Day of Peasant Struggles has seen peasant farmers in Europe and beyond carrying out massive protests against destructive agricultural policies, demanding fair prices, a dignified life and a viable transition to more socially and environmentally sustainable models based on agroecology. This 17 April, ECVC launches a new position paper outlining the priorities and demands of farmers that must be put on the political agenda as part of the European elections and for the following political mandate.
ECVC’s demands over the last three months have centred around ending Free Trade agreements and the imports that are driving down internal prices, as well as strengthening EU legislation to legally ensure that prices are higher than our production costs, putting in place market regulation and fairer aid distribution through the CAP, and reducing the administrative burden on farmers at the same time as responding to current climate and environmental challenges.
In the context of the European elections, ECVC is providing clear demands as well as concrete and implementable solutions to address the root causes to farmers’ issues and ensure the respect of peasants rights as outlined in the UN Declaration of the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas:
1) Ensure viable prices and more farmers in the EU, needed to enable the transition to agroecology, through the adoption of public policies that regulate agricultural markets and the control of production, as well as redistributing production to more farmers and areas in Europe and guaranteeing the right to healthy food for the entire population.
2) Prioritise local food and the needs of populations, instead of prioritising exports: stop free trade agreements.
3) Maintain strict regulation of all GMOs, including new genomic techniques, and enforce farmers' rights on seeds.
4) Make land a priority issue for public policies to guarantee the integration of more young farmers in the profession and protect soil health.
5) Shift the paradigm of climate policies towards direct emissions reductions and farming transition and avoid any land-linked carbon credit mechanism.
6) Rebalance the presence of livestock farms in all European territories by 2035.
7) Include the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) in all EU public policies on food and agriculture.
This 17 April, ECVC farmers across Europe will continue to mobilise to make these concrete solutions and proposals a reality in Europe.
Notes to Editor
- ECVC’s newest publication outlining the priorities of small- and medium-scale farmers for the European elections and next political mandate can be found here.
- The International Day of Peasant Struggle is celebrated on 17 April, to commemorate the massacre of the landless peasants in 1996 in Eldorado dos Carajás, Brazil, while struggling for comprehensive agrarian reform. This is a tragic example of the countless struggles of peasants around the world who fight every day to continue to feed the planet.
- The full call to action for the 17 April from La Via Campesina can be found here, where you can find out how to get involved and download the official communications kit, poster and materials.
Contact information
ECVC secretariat
EN, FR, ES , IT, DE
press@eurovia.org
+32 2 217 31 12