Copa and Cogeca are the united voice of farmers and agri-cooperatives in the EU. Together, we ensure that EU agriculture is sustainable, innovative and competitive, while guaranteeing food security for 500 million people throughout Europe.
LEARN MOREAgriculture is one of the most integrated sectors at European level and lies at the heart of many European institution initiatives. Copa and Cogeca organise themselves so as to respond to the challenges and questions posed by European decision-makers, allowing European farmers and cooperatives to put forward their views and proposals concerning a multitude of subjects that directly affect farmers no matter what agricultural activity they are involved in. In the following 12 categories, you will find our positions on key issues affecting the future of European agriculture.
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The coming decade is pivotal for EU agriculture. Many challenges lie ahead. We will face difficult debates on generation renewal, low farm income, market volatility and climate change. As European farmers and cooperatives, we are aware of and ready to navigate these difficult issues and to weather the changes in store. We seek to deliver the type of agriculture that our citizens expect and demand: agriculture that provides a high level of food security and high standards of quality, welfare, sustainability and environmental protection. This is our commitment to Europe! In return, we look to Europe’s leaders to deliver the policy framework that will feed our future.
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Today, Copa and Cogeca met with the new Presidency of the Council, Agriculture Minister Jože Podgoršek to discuss the Slovenian Presidency priorities. These priorities included the conclusion of the legislative acts regarding the CAP reform, the organic farming action plan, animal welfare, the ‘End the Cage Age’ EU citizens’ initiative and trade issues. With the CAP vote having reached an agreement and being adopted, important work must continue in order to keep moving these strategies forward as European farmers stand ready to assist and work towards a more durable farming.
The European Forestry Strategy published today by the European Commission leaves many EU foresters and forest owners wondering whether the real needs of the sector and their realities on the ground have been completely disregarded. This is only two weeks after the release of the long-term vision for the EU's rural areas that emphasized the need to better listen to rural communities!
Today, the European Commission published its EU Forest Strategy for 2030. Despite some improvements, the text adopted does not succeed in re-balancing the previous versions of the text that have already caused controversy. The strategy puts European forest owners’ commitment at stake, as it does not strike a balance between the various functions of forests, between risks and opportunities, and lacks comprehensive concrete actions to support the forest sector.
Under the title "Fit for 55", the EU Commission proposes the launch and revision of no less than twelve policy initiatives today. Copa and Cogeca share the objective of achieving carbon neutrality as soon as possible in all sectors; agriculture and forestry being key players. However, the way to reach this very ambitious objective is another issue and EU farming organisations will remain vigilant on many points featured in the package.
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In the context of the revision of the EU Promotion Policy and the ongoing discussions on the draft 2022 Annual Work Programme, the undersigned agri-food sector organisations, which are part of the Civil Dialogue Group on Promotion and Quality, would like to share their common vision on those two important files for the sector…
The European farmers’ confidence survey was carried out in seven EU Member States and the UK, and saw a tendency for a slight increase after autumn 2020. However, while the results of the survey show a bit more optimism for the future, they vary across and within countries and even where the sentiment had improved significantly it still remained in the negative spectrum.
The European Commission’s Fit for 55 Package promises a bold new era in the fight against climate change, with proposed regulations to enable a 55% GHG emissions reduction target for 2030 and set the EU on course to achieve carbon-neutrality by 2050.
In order to facilitate a smooth transition to a climate neutral economy, it is crucial that the European Union continues to foster a positive regulatory framework for technologies and practices that are enabling the green transition, including bioenergy which today accounts for 57,3% of renewable energy and 11,4% of overall energy consumption in the EU27...
After a complicated year in 2020 throughout Europe, Copa and Cogeca is forecasting better results for the 2021 harvest. For cereals, the total EU-27 production should be about 3.8% above the 5 year trimmed average with around 292.45 million tonnes, while for oilseeds, EU production could reach the threshold of 30 million tonnes, 1.6% above the 5 year trimmed average.
More than 100 agricultural and forestry cooperatives participated in the 5th edition of the European Award for Cooperative Innovation; a record. The award, organised by Cogeca and supported by the Spanish cooperative bank Cajamar Caja Rural, aims to recognise innovations that deliver value under the economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainability. The number and the quality of submissions from across Europe confirm that agricultural transitions are underway in all domains, driven by the cooperative enterprises.
Last March, Copa and Cogeca welcomed the general principles proposed by the European Commission in its action plan for organic farming. In order to reach the target of 25% of land cultivated according to organic farming principles, a clear direction and concrete options for farmers will have to be discussed more precisely. Copa and Cogeca released a position paper today on the three axes of the strategy, giving its thoughts on the way forward.
Today the European Parliament Intergroup on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development organised an event, “EU Green Deal Ambitions: What do we want and need from EUforests?”. The event was very timely as the Commission is currently discussing the content of the new EU Forest Strategy. The draft strategy was leaked last week and European forest owners and managers raised their concerns in a joint statement from the forest and forest-based sector.
Today the European Commission is releasing a long-awaited communication, "A long-term Vision for the EU's Rural Areas". This communication is interesting in several respects and deserves to be commented on, particularly through a farmer’s perspective. This communication is divided into two parts, firstly on the current situation and secondly on the actions to be taken. I think that the two parts deserve a different comment, although we can agree on the observation, the objectives put forward by the Commission must be specified.
Following the resolution of the European Parliament earlier this month, today the Commission came up with its communication on the call for the “end of cages in livestock production”. For Copa and Cogeca, the approach taken by the Commission is relevant when it comes to the internal market, but it is weakened by the limited solutions on animal welfare guarantees for imported products
After three years of complicated negotiations and an uncountable number of trilogues, we welcome the fact that negotiators have finally reached a provisional political agreement on the future CAP today in Brussels. We should highlight the hard work done by the Portuguese Presidency as well as the key role played by the European Parliament’s rapporteurs.
Despite COVID-19 limitations, the EU farming community was mobilised today at the call of Copa and Cogeca in front of the European Parliament as the CAP trilogue negotiations continue. A symbolic action was organised in partnership with the Belgian agricultural federations (FWA, Boerenbond). The European organisations expressed their exasperation as the EU farming community has been waiting for more than three years for a clear and coherent line on the CAP while at the same time the EU is pushing the European Green Deal targets without even considering the cumulative impacts on the sector.
Potatoes are the fourth most important food crop in the world after corn, rice and wheat and play an important role in Europe and worldwide in ensuring food security. Their short cultivation cycle and adaptability to a wide range of climatic conditions have helped potatoes to spread from their South American roots across multiple geographical borders.
Today the conclusions of the animal welfare labelling subgroup of the Commission’s Animal Welfare Platform were released. Copa and Cogeca welcomes the main conclusions of this report, which recommends, among other things, the establishment of a voluntary labelling scheme at EU-level based on a multi-tier system that would be flexible enough to integrate existing initiatives and reflect the diversity of livestock farming in the Union.
In a letter sent to Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, Copa and Cogeca express its growing concern about the consequences of the EU-Morocco agreement on the fruit and vegetable markets and in particular the tomato market. With the cumulative effects of Brexit, the EU tomato prices have plummeted to levels that do not cover the production costs for most European growers, putting the production at risk in strategic regions of the EU.
“Welcome to my forest” is a campaign with a series of video clips from forest owners from multiple Member States where they invite viewers to their forests to hear about what being a forest owner is like, what challenges they face, what objectives they have when it comes to forest management and what keeps them motivated.
“Welcome to my forest” is a campaign with a series of video clips from forest owners from multiple Member States where they invite viewers to their forests to hear about what being a forest owner is like, what challenges they face, what objectives they have when it comes to forest management and what keeps them motivated.
The EU Farm to Fork strategy is high in ambition, but Europe’s livestock sector fears it does not really take into consideration its farming traditions and the huge progress already achieved. EU livestock farmers are committed actors of change for increased sustainability, but they believe that the Farm to Fork approach is based on erroneous preconceptions. European Livestock Voice and the Italian sustainable meat project, Carni Sostenibili have identified a number of paradoxes in a series of short videos.
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