On 6 February 2025, EARA hosted a senior AgriFood workshop as part of their Regenerating Europe Tour, in order to build common ground across pioneering farmers, businesses and civil society representatives. This common ground covered a range of topics, and forms the basis of this joint response to Commissioner Hansen’s Vision for the Future of Agriculture and Food.
Joint Response to Hansen’s Agri-Food Vision by European Pioneers of Regenerating Forms of Agriculture and Food
Published
The signatories to this response see the Vision as an initial step towards European food security, sovereignty and strategic autonomy, but that it does not go far enough in its approach. The signatories agree that regenerating forms of agriculture will be key to achieving these outcomes. The response addresses several key themes:
Regeneration
All regenerating forms of agriculture, including agroecology and Conservation Agriculture, focus on principles and outcomes. Singular practices without considering the holistic outcome can be ineffective, and at worst regressive in socio-environmental outcomes. As such, practices should not form the basis of policy, but rather, the outcomes. The signatories welcome the Vision’s emphasis on allowing farmers to have more autonomy in their farming practices, but stress that policy measures must be designed in order to measure and incentivise these goals. It is of concern that the Vision, at many places, emphasises discussion about practices rather than results, which can result in either unintended environmental outcomes or greenwashing. EARA’s network of pioneering farmers are eager to share their experience with the Commission, in order to provide technical and practical support in developing policy.
Simplification
The signatories are concerned that the Vision’s emphasis on simplification risks being led astray. Simplification cannot become a byword for deregulation, particularly of environmental or social protections. It must be limited to administrative or bureaucratic load.
Data harmonisation
We encourage the Commission to develop a shared data infrastructure for Europe to assist in simplification. This would allow policymakers to have targeted policy outcomes and reduce reporting burdens.
EARA’s policy paper Towards a farmer-centric CAP rooted in Agroecosystem Health proposes a core set of satellite-based measuring tools which can track farm performance in a hands-on manner.