ProVeg slams EC for “ignoring” environmental impact of animal farming

21 May 2020 --- The EU’s Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy, which outlines a policy roadmap towards a more sustainable food system, has been met with mixed reactions from agri-food stakeholders. The strategy has largely ignored the environmental impact of animal products and completely failed to set meat and dairy reduction targets, according to ProVeg International. 

Conversely, representatives of the EU’s organic food sector, under IFOAM EU, have welcomed targets to reach 25 percent organic farming land in Europe by 2030.

As a key element of the European Green Deal, the F2F strategy further comprises an overarching ambition to make Europe carbon neutral by 2050, through the promotion of sustainable farming practices.

New food policy a “major missed opportunity” 
According to ProVeg, the EC has previously acknowledged the impact of animal farming on the environment and public health, and it had been expected that the new strategy would include further recognition and at least some proposals to address it.

This could include concrete policies, targets and timelines outlining how and by when the EU aims to reduce the overconsumption and overproduction of meat and dairy, including a sustainability charge on meat, VAT changes, new food labeling regulations, and menu changes within public canteens – these are some suggestions recently proposed by ProVeg.

“Incentives must change: the price of heavily-subsidized meat and dairy continues to be kept artificially low in price, yet there is not the same level of financial support for plant-based products, the prices of which remain higher for consumers. There is a clear lack of political will, even though more and more people are changing their diets to eat more plant-based,” Felix Domke, Head of Politics at ProVeg, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

“We expect to see more and more people shifting their diets towards plant-based proteins and away from animal-based foods. If this is accompanied by the right policies, then we could see this shift really accelerate. All indications point towards the continued rapid rise of the plant-based sector. Leading companies are making significant investments to help shift their strategy towards plant-based for the long term, while more start-ups are striving to repeat the success of Beyond Meat. We are also seeing investment funds placing greater emphasis on plant-based innovation, which should enable even greater growth in 2020 and beyond,” he notes.

Animal farming is a leading cause of climate change, and is responsible for about 14.5 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions, according to the FAO. Both the recent UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change special report and the Eat Lancet Commission’s Planetary Health Diet report recommend plant-based diets as a major opportunity for mitigating and adapting to the climate crisis. 

Scaling up organic production in the EU
Welcoming the new strategy, IFOAM EU highlights that the F2F strategy includes measures to boost the demand for organic products through promotion schemes and green public procurements. This is in addition to plans for scaling up organic production significantly across the bloc.

“Proposing an EU target for organic land is a landmark decision that puts organic farming at the core of a transition of European agriculture towards agroecology. Organic farming is a successful economic model for farmers with proven benefits for the environment. Making it a cornerstone of a future EU sustainable food system is the right decision,” says Jan Plagge, IFOAM EU President.

“We need to transform EU agriculture if we want to address the climate and biodiversity crisis and make our farming systems more resilient. The F2F strategy provides EU citizens with a clear vision for the future of our food system,” he asserts.

According to IFOAM EU, reaching 25 percent of organic land in the EU by 2030 is achievable if the common agricultural policy (CAP) provides the necessary remuneration for the benefits of organic conversion and maintenance through existing rural development policies or tools like eco-schemes. 

Including demand-side measures like promotion schemes and increasing the share of organic products in schools and hospitals through green public procurement is a smart choice as this push-pull approach has proven successful to increase organic farming in countries like Denmark, the non-profit organization notes.

However, IFOAM EU further stresses that the objectives of the F2F and EU Biodiversity strategies will only be reachable if they are fully taken into account in the negotiations of the ongoing CAP reform. “We must not make the mistake of using COVID-19 as an excuse to continue a backward-looking agricultural policy,” warns Plagge.

“This is why the organic movement calls on the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission to fully integrate the objectives of the F2F and Biodiversity strategies into the CAP Strategic Plans Regulation, to raise the level of ambition and make the CAP an effective tool to incentivize and help farmers to transition to agroecological and more sustainable practices,” he further outlines.

By Benjamin Ferrer