The writer is an agricultural economist at KU Leuven

Farmers across Europe are making their voices heard. They want better prices for their products and looser regulations in the context of the green transition. Their target regulations are diverse: French farmers are protesting against high fuel prices and the reduction of subsidies for agricultural diesel; Flemish farmers are focused on regulations reducing nitrogen emissions.

The EU recognises the challenges and opportunities of agriculture. It launched the Farm to Fork Strategy as a pillar of the ambitious European Green Deal. However, while this strategy was intended to make Europe’s food system more sustainable, it seems to have become the straw that broke the camel’s back. What went wrong, and how can Europe turn the tide?

From CAP to Green Deal

First, we must note that the farmers blocking our roads are from a diverse crowd, representing everything from the smallest farms to those producing for the world market. They also cover a broad political spectrum. Where they meet is their shared anger and desperation, and their common enemy — namely, the EU.

Given Europe’s post-war history, this should come as no surprise. Europe launched its first Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 1962, aimed at protecting farmers and ensuring food security. It made agriculture one of the only sectors in Europe with a common policy. There is no common education or care policy — agriculture is just that important.

CAP’s direct and indirect support to farmers has resulted in enormous increases in productivity and efficiency. But this comes at a price: 30% of the total EU budget, which is worth more than €50bn in subsidies per year.     

The arrival of the Green Deal in recent years recognises the urgency of fighting climate change, leading to ambitious targets and strict regulations. These have consequences for agriculture: farmers are forced to invest to comply with new rules, such as reducing pesticides and fertilisers, conserving water and improving soil quality. Although they receive financial support to make these changes, it often falls short of the cost of the necessary investment. For some farmers, the new regulations spell an end to farming as they know it. In Flanders, Belgium, livestock farmers in areas where nitrogen emissions are deemed too high have received a red card in their mailbox as if they were playing in a football match. The farmers forced to change their operations to comply with new rules receive financial support to do so but, as mentioned, this frequently falls short. Policymakers, it seems, tend to forget the social and emotional component of ending generations’ worth of work on the field or in the stables.

It's true that a single farmer’s position in the food chain is weak; they are a price-taker, not a price setter. However, their collective power should not be underestimated: no farmers means no food. They also have a crucial role in society, and when they join forces, they can easily paralyse it. Policymakers simply can’t ignore their voices.

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Overshooting targets

So, is the Green Deal too ambitious and does the EU need to redo its homework? The science is clear: climate change and environmental protection are urgent issues. However, despite the best intentions, the Green Deal fails to provide a good compass for European agriculture and even risks overshooting its target. Structural changes, such as downscaling the intensive livestock sector in some regions, are a must with both economic and ecologic arguments. Europe should also reflect on the message it is giving to young farmers as they build their business models on changing support schemes. Further, member states need robust spatial planning strategies to manage farming and nature’s coexistence. 

Europe has sufficient expertise to create change that works for everyone, but it requires efforts from all actors in the food chain. Moreover, change cannot be expected overnight, and will not happen unless it is viable. In light of the farmer protests, the European Commission has scrapped its bill to halve the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilisers, and we can expect regional and national governments in Europe to undertake similar actions to get things moving again. It may work for a while — perhaps even until this year’s European Parliament elections in June — but what Europe really needs is a realistic and ambitious long-term agricultural strategy. 

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