The Club of Rome in collaboration with Agroecology Europe and IPES-Food organised on the 8th of October an online Conference Debate: “From Farm to Fork”, Sustainable Food System and the EU Green Deal
On October 8th, from 5 to 7:30 pm, the Club of Rome-EU Chapter, Agroecology Europe and IPES-Food organised an on-line conference on the future of the «Farm to Fork» strategy announced by the European Commission on May 20th.
The conference was attended by 180 participants. This was a reference event for promoting a prompt and strong implementation of the “Farm to Fork” strategy «for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system», which the current reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should be aligned with.
Like other consumption and production patterns, the current ‘conventional’ agricultural practices have been destroying our natural capital and most of the ecosystem services that it provides for free. A number of tipping points have already been reached or exceeded. The EU therefore urgently needed a ‘Green Deal’ as a global vision supported by a range of strategies closely aligned with one another, based on key principles : ‘do no harm’, polluter-pays, public money for public goods and services.
We are delighted that the event of October 8th served to highlight the role of agroecology in supporting the shift to sustainable food systems as intended by the F2F strategy, and that it allowed to link the changes at the level of production with the evolution of consumption patterns.
As President von der Leyen stated it so correctly on December 11,2019 (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhl-YBhNFkA&t): «Our goal is to reconcile the economy with our planet, to reconcile the way we produce and consume with our planet and to make it work for our people…. The EU Green Deal is our strategy for growth that gives more back than it takes away. We owe it to our children,… now is time to act »
We are confident that further exchanges of factual information and dialogues between authorities, farmers, scientific actors, agro-industry and civil society contribute to the new participative governance we need to provide EU citizens with the food systems they are asking for. We therefore look forward to continued interaction to move forward together to achieve the objectives of the F2F strategy.
Roland Moreau Oliver De Schutter Alain Peeters
(Full Members of the Club of Rome – EU Chapter)
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Please click on the following link to watch again the whole conference and the reactions from the EU Commission (DG AGRI, SANTE and ENVI) and various stakeholders.
Please find hereunder the direct access to the various presentations given:
- A livable planet: Agroecology, a new path for European agriculture – Introduction by Alain Peeters, Secretary General of Agroecology Europe
- Healthy people: Transforming food systems for Healthy people – Introduction by Stefanie Vandevijvere, Senior Scientist, Sciensano, Belgium
- Prosperous communities: reforming the CAP for a rapid transition of EU agriculture to an agroecological model – Introduction by Olivier Lefebvre, Manager and Financier
- The potential of the private sector: the example of MIMOSA, Minimum Impact, Maximum Output Sustainable Agriculture – Introduction by Philippe Haspeslagh, President of the Board, ARDO Agro-industry
Please find here the full AEEU Press release in pdf format.