Just days ahead of the meeting of European Agriculture ministers taking place in Brussels today, Slow Food Europe joined a group of NGOs calling on the Agriculture and Fisheries (AGRIFISH) Council to take into consideration the voice of civil society when discussing the new Commission’s report on the development of plant proteins in the European Union.
In the letter addressed to the Agriculture ministers, organizations pointed out the report’s failure to identify industrial animal production systems as the leading driver of protein crop demand, including from outside the EU, and the need to transition to less resource intensive farming practices. Civil society groups encouraged the AGRIFISH Council to reconsider their requests sent to EU Agriculture Commissioner Philip Hogan and the Austrian Presidency earlier this year.
Slow Food Europe, together with other civil society groups urged the Commission to reduce overall demand for animal feed by lowering EU production and consumption of animal products, promote balanced, sustainable, and mainly plant-based diets, and to adopt an Action Plan on deforestation and forest degradation. Many of the demands, however, remained disregarded.
Additionally, civil society drew ministers’ attention to the ongoing Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform and its connection to the report of plant proteins. Organizations recommended removing subsidies for intensive animal production, excluding monoculture soy production from any CAP support, and focusing policy measures on leguminous crops.
Read the full letter to the AGRIFISH Council here.