COPA COGECA

Today, COPA COGECA unveil their vision for the future of Agriculture, contributing to the initiatives announced by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Commissioner Christophe Hansen This vision serves as both a roadmap to tackle the immediate challenges facing the agricultural sector and a forward-looking strategy to secure Europe’s agricultural competitiveness and sustainability well beyond 2050. We are calling for a 'Fair Competitiveness Deal for Farmers and Agri-Cooperatives' to establish a long-term, stable, and predictable policy framework that truly empowers the agricultural community. What does this mean in practice? What are our proposals? Read out more on our website>>> https://lnkd.in/dVEAaYQ6

🎄 Dear members, colleagues, and friends, We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! ✨ As you celebrate this festive season, take a moment to appreciate the work of producers who bring delicious, high-quality EU food and drinks to your tables. Cheers to supporting our farmers and cooperatives ! 🥂

Who will pay the bill for the #EUMercosur agreement? Obviously, EU farming communities and consumers ! EU Representative organisations BEUC - The European Consumer Organisation and COPA COGECA share their legitimate concerns and call on European Parliament and Council of the European Union to take action to #stopmercosur !

Following a comprehensive 12-month assessment, the European Commission's SCoPAFF on Animal Nutrition officially endorsed the upgraded COPA COGECA & FEFAC Code of Good Labelling Practices for compound feed. The endorsement at the meeting of 2-3 December marks a significant step forward in the promotion of sustainable feed production and reduction of livestock production’s emissions. Inspired by the proposal for the Green Claims Directive, the updated code includes detailed guidelines for communicating the environmental performance of animal feed to farmers, addressing key impact areas such as climate change, eutrophication, and livestock emissions abatement techniques. The enhanced Code, which integrates the PEFCR Feed for Food-Producing Animals methodology and the Global Feed LCA Institute database, offers a harmonised approach to labelling that supports the feed sector’s efforts to reduce its environmental footprint. Consult the following Code for Green Labelling for Feed >>> https://lnkd.in/eyRb2Z9Z

📢 On Monday morning, we came to ask the European Commission a very clear question about the #EUMercosur deal: Who will pay the bill? 👉 Obviously, European farmers and consumers. Now it's up to European Parliament and the European Council to act and #stopmercosur.

COPA COGECA welcomes Commissioner Christophe Hansen's first political initiative to strengthen farmers' position in the food supply chain. Within just 10 days of taking office, 2 proposals for corrective regulations have been released: 👉 one addressing Unfair Trading Practices (#UTPs) 👉 another aimed at improving the Common Market Organisation (#CMO) framework. These proposals reflect many of the demands voiced by farming communities and their representatives earlier this year. However: ❓ While the proposal on #UTPs is a step in the right direction to correct and improve the 2019 directive, it is crucial for this to go further. Farmers and cooperatives can no longer bear the burden of selling their produce below the cost of production. The list of unfair trading practices must be updated to reflect the realities of today’s markets. ❓Particular attention must also be paid to the proposals to improve the #CMO regulation, especially regarding the role of Producer Organisations (POs). POs are instrumental in enhancing farmers' market position, ensuring better negotiation conditions, and securing fair prices. We will be actively engaging with policymakers in the coming months to ensure these proposals are refined to deliver the much-needed improvements for farmers and their cooperatives across Europe. Full Statement >>>https://lnkd.in/dAtBR_J

🛑 EU-Mercosur Agreement – The EU Farming Community refuses to pay the bill. The agricultural community’s fears have materialised: today, the European Commission, on behalf of the EU, and Mercosur officials have reached a renewed agreement on their bilateral trade deal. If accepted by Member States and the European Parliament, this agreement will have profound consequences for family farming across Europe affecting also 450 million of EU consumers. For years, we have expressed firm opposition to this outdated and problematic agreement. While we recognise the EU's need to deepen trade relations in the current geopolitical context, this must not come at any cost. The EU agricultural sector remains particularly vulnerable to the concessions made in the unbalanced agricultural chapter of this agreement. Sensitive sectors such as beef, poultry, sugar, ethanol, and rice face heightened risks of market saturation and income loss due to the influx of low-cost products from Mercosur countries. This agreement will exacerbate the economic strain on many farms already grappling with high input prices and challenging climatic conditions. The evidence is overwhelming: Mercosur countries do not meet the production standards required of EU agriculture, whether in terms of plant protection products, animal welfare, or sustainability practices. Mercosur nations also operate under lower labor and safety standards, enabling them to produce at lower costs, which makes fair competition impossible for EU producers. Where is the coherence in the European Commission's actions? In its previous mandate, the Commission multiplied constraints and regulations for our producers, yet now, at the start of its second mandate, it has prioritized this inequitable agreement! The additional protocol on sustainability, sent to Mercosur countries in March 2023, fell short of expectations and Mercosur's response in September 2023 clearly demonstrated a lack of ambition and commitment to uphold even basic international conventions and binding sustainability measures. This failure to address sustainability concerns has fueled opposition not only from agricultural producers but also from trade unions, environmental NGOs, and consumer organisations.

📃 OPINION PIECE by Guillaume Gandon Chair of the C.I.B.E. - International Confederation of European Beet Growers Economic and General Affairs Committee and COPA COGECA Working Party on Sugar beet "It is clear to me that the recent EU decisions have weakened the competitiveness and sustainability of the EU sugar beet sector. Since 2017, 15 beet sugar factories have closed and around 27,000 growers in the EU have ceased cultivating sugar beet. Since the 2006 reform, the figures are even more alarming: 104 factories have closed, and 200,000 growers have left the sector. Without a change in EU policies, including those reflected in the next Vision for EU Agriculture, this trend will undoubtedly continue." For a better understanding of sugar beet sector's challenges, read the full opinion piece on our website >>> https://lnkd.in/dAtBR_J

COPA COGECA welcomes today’s decision by the Bern Convention Standing Committee in Strasbourg to advance the proposal to amend the wolf's appendix status. We have long advocated for recognition of the real challenges posed by wolf populations and the urgent need for action. We are glad to see the EU institutions listening to the needs of farmers and rural dwellers despite the many pressures from those who often don't have to deal with the consequences of attacks. We now look forward to the final adoption of this proposal on March 7, 2025, and to working closely with EU institutions on the forthcoming delegated act. Full Statement >>> https://lnkd.in/dAtBR_J

👏 COPA COGECA congratulate the newly appointed European Commission, officially confirmed by the European Parliament. With so many pressing agricultural issues, it is essential that the sector is seen as a cornerstone of the “competitiveness compass” mentioned by Ursula von der Leyen in her speech this morning! We look forward to frank and constructive exchanges with the new Commissioners, starting with Christophe Hansen, who will have to propose the "Vision for the Future of Agriculture and Food" announced by President Ursula von der Leyen in July.