Von der Leyen announces strategic dialogue with European farmers in January 2024

Bruxelles – A strategic dialogue to put farmers back at the center of the transition. At least before the next European elections. Ursula von der Leyen announced this in September in her State of the Union Address, and it was reconfirmed yesterday (Dec. 6) by the president of the European Commission as she opened the proceedings of the first European Agribusiness Days with a video message.

“Now is the time to come together: farmers and food entrepreneurs, scientists and technologists, retailers and consumers, environmental organizations and animal rights groups,” von der Leyen pressed, announcing the launch of the strategic dialogue in January 2024. “I will invite a group of stakeholders, based on the extraordinary diversity of the agricultural sector itself.  From small traditional or organic producers to large grain producers. From those who produce our food to those who process it or put it on the market,” the chairwoman of the community executive anticipated.

She pointed out that the European agribusiness sector has shown remarkable resilience despite the crises. “Our agribusiness exports increased by 16 percent in 2022. We are almost or completely self-sufficient in a wide range of essential foods, from wheat and tomatoes to meat and dairy products, which contributes to our strategic resilience.” At the same time, she acknowledged that “the European agribusiness industry is making considerable efforts to contribute to our collective green and digital transition.”

With the departure of former Vice President Frans Timmermans, the European Commission has launched a new phase of the Green Deal, one that is more attentive to the realities of industry and farmers, who in recent months have voiced their displeasure with some of the key pillars of Europe’s green growth strategy. And their dissatisfaction soon became a political banner of the European People’s Party (EPP) ahead of the upcoming June elections. The group, and the European center-right in general, first targeted the proposed Nature Restoration Law, which was accused of threatening agricultural production and thus food security at the current sensitive time of Russia’s war in Ukraine.  And then, it helped scuttle the proposal to reduce pesticide use, which will now slip directly to the next legislature.

In addition to the legislative impasse on some of the key pillars of the Green Deal, the most obvious consequence is that, especially in the run-up to the June 2024 elections, the European Commission has begun to talk and engage more directly with representatives of agribusiness and industry. The first energy transition dialogues dedicated to hydrogen and the energy-intensive industry have already been launched in recent weeks.

Few details yet, but the dialogues should serve to strike the right balance between food security goals and farmers’ income, while not losing sight of the green transition goals that must also involve the industry (since more than 10 percent of emissions come from there). “A future in which agriculture and nature go hand in hand,” she summarizes. They will also serve to “overcome the polarization that characterizes discussions about, for example, the use of pesticides or fertilizers. We should not ignore this polarization. We should address it.”