Ways to make the EU’s food system more sustainable, resilient and fairer will be debated by experts and MEPs from the Agriculture and Environment committees on Thursday.
The public hearing on the role, outlook and challenges of the Farm to Fork strategy will be divided into two parts. The first panel will focus on food systems and food policy, the second one on healthy diets and sustainable production.
MEPs will have a chance to discuss with academics, farmers’ representatives, NGOs and the Commission the added value of a food policy, the protection of geographical indications and what farmers want from the new strategy. They will also debate how to improve lifestyles, health and reduce the environmental and climate footprint of the EU food system from farm to fork.
WHEN: Thursday, 4 February, at 9.00 CET
WHERE: European Parliament, Paul-Henri Spaak building, room 1A002, Brussels (remotely)
The draft programme of the hearing is available here. The hearing will be web-streamed here (Parliament’s Multimedia Centre).
Members of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety will be able to participate and intervene remotely.
Background
Members of the Agriculture and Environment committees debated the Farm to Fork strategy together for the first time on 25 January 2021. The debate focused on the draft report prepared by Parliament’s co-rapporteurs Herbert Dorfmann (EPP, IT) and Anja Hazekamp (GUE/NGL, NL) and how it could be improved.
The Green Deal-related Farm to Fork and new Biodiversity strategies were presented by the EU Commission on 20 May 2020. The strategies are supposed to work in tandem and are closely linked to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which is currently being reformed.
In his initial reaction, the Agriculture Committee Chair said that the strategy must build on the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 crisis and give farmers the support they need to guarantee food security all across the EU. For his part, the Environment Committee Chair insisted that farming-related commitments in the Farm to Fork and EU 2030 biodiversity strategies must be implemented, including through the CAP reform.
The Farm to Fork strategy recognises the links between healthy people, healthy societies and a healthy planet and aims to accelerate the transition to more sustainable, fairer and more resilient food systems.
Information to the media
In an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19, Parliament is reducing the need for physical meetings on its premises, without compromising its role of democratic scrutiny and its ability to approve the necessary legislative measures to combat the virus and support the public, consumers, businesses and emergency services.
The meeting will take place remotely. It will be web-streamed and can be followed by the media without requiring their physical presence on EP premises.