Raising the ambition on global aspects of the EU Farm to Fork Strategy

The Farm to Fork Strategy includes a section on the external dimension entitled “Promoting the Global Transition”. The attention for the external dimension is crucial not only because the challenges the Strategy is seeking to address are global (climate change, biodiversity loss, public health impacts, animal welfare, living income for farmers, etc.), and require concerted responses from the international community; but also because Europe’s agricultural and food system has impacts outside Europe which need to be addressed. 

While the proposed Strategy goes in the right direction by addressing some of the urgent challenges in global and European agriculture and food systems, it remains driven by an approach aimed at making European agribusiness competitive on global markets. 

This brief aims to unpack these issues and highlights how the external dimension of the Farm to Fork Strategy could be expanded to drive an effective and a much-needed global just transition towards inclusive and sustainable agri-food systems.

The briefing's analysis and recommendations cover the following seven areas for action outlined in the Farm to Fork Strategy: 

1. Using international cooperation to build sustainable food systems in partner countries 
2. Using the EU trade policy to raise ambition on food and farming 
3. Legislative proposal to ensure that all goods placed on the EU market are free from deforestation and human rights violations 
4. Legislation to strengthen the position of farmers, their cooperatives and producer organisations in the food supply chain 
5. Zero-tolerance on unsustainable fishing 
6. The EU promoting a global transition to sustainable food systems in international space 
7. Legislative framework for sustainable food systems 

Categoria: Forest governance