BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – Last week, USA Rice joined the U.S. government and dozens of other U.S. and international agricultural trade associations in submitting
comments to the European Commission in opposition to Europe’s Farm to Fork Strategy, published in May 2020 as part of the European Green Deal.
The European Commission was asked to compile feedback from stakeholders and produce a report for the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament to study before proceeding with the proposed Farm to Fork Strategy to further regulate European food production and imported food products to help meet the climate and sustainability goals laid out in the European Green Deal.
Europe’s Farm to Fork Strategy aims to use regulatory and incentive-based initiatives to reach a series of unrealistic sustainability goals by 2030, including a reduction by 50 percent on the use of crop protectants, and mandated cropping and livestock production practices to achieve 25 percent of agricultural land under organic farming.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service’s (FAS) comments pointed out concerns, “that these requirements could unnecessarily restrict trade of safe agricultural products, disrupt production, and negatively affect the livelihoods of small and rural producers…The United States requests that the EU avoid instituting measures that unnecessarily restrict the ability of U.S. producers to enhance agriculture and food systems sustainability.”
USA Rice noted the U.S. industry’s decades-long record of sustainability and environmental improvements as well as the ambitious goals the industry has set for itself to reach by 2030, committing to continued, voluntary growth.
The USA Rice statement said, “Requirements for EU environmental standards on imported agricultural products also can have unintended consequences. Food exporting countries that the EU relies upon in the Western Hemisphere or Asia may redirect their shipments to markets that don’t have such stringent environmental requirements, limiting access to products. This supply shortage, along with the additional regulatory compliance added to normal production costs, will be sure to increase food costs for all EU consumers.”
In reference to the influx of rice-dependent refugees from throughout Europe from Afghanistan, Syria, and now Ukraine, USA Rice added, “These people have limited income and bring with them a surge in demand for food that the EU alone cannot meet without rice imports from the U.S. and abroad. The world is already dealing with staggering inflation levels for food and fuel, artificially increasing food costs on EU consumers on the tail-end of a two-year global pandemic through over-regulation is unnecessary.”
In recent weeks, the war in Ukraine has shifted the conversations across Europe, with some leaders calling on officials to pause Farm to Fork efforts or re-shape goals to better support food security. Earlier this week, the EU Commission announced that they will allow farmers to plant crops on fallow conservation acreage without taking a cut in conservation payments.