European Commission’s proposals to improve the position of farmers in the value chain: case closed?

The long-awaited proposals, announced by President Von der Leyen in March 2024 as a reaction to farm protests, and supported by the Strategic Dialogue on the future of agriculture, offer concrete tools to farmers on the fronts of cooperation and contractualisation, including long-term demands from young farmers. Some question marks remain open, however, particularly regarding enforcing rules against Unfair Trading Practices (UTPs), whose challenges go beyond cross-border considerations.

CEJA’s Vice President Elisabeth Hidén commented on these positive developments: “The lack of certainty surrounding the access to fair and stable incomes is one of the main obstacles to generational renewal in EU agriculture. With these proposals, the Commission addresses some of the levers we have identified to address the asymmetry of information and pressure on prices that impede new generations to make a decent living, hence build viable activities.”

The proposed revision of the Common Market Organisation puts forward interesting measures for young farmers: enhanced cooperation between farmers and support to new generations to take part in it, mandatory written contracts with options for renegotiation, and integration of socio-economic objectives into sustainability agreements among other elements. Additional attention is given to crisis management measures, in line with CEJA’s core priority in the EU mandate ahead. Further work will be needed on the latter, with interrogations linked to the upcoming CAP reform.

On the front of the fight against Unfair Trading Practices, the EU’s executive chooses to focus on operationalising cross-border cooperation between national enforcement bodies. While better cooperation between Member States is indeed needed, the variations between national transpositions, the lack of insurance on the anonymity of complainants, as well as the inclusion of selling below costs into the grey list of UTPs remain necessary debates for the future. CEJA will maintain its high level of ambition for the future in the Directive and intends to contribute to the evaluation report scheduled for the end of 2025.

Europe’s young farmers invite legislators to maintain their level of commitment to achieve fairer, more stable incomes in agriculture, and to make the revisions of the CMO regulation and UTP directive smooth and efficient.

The European Council of Young Farmers (CEJA) represents the political interests of around two million young farmers from across Europe. Its main objectives are to facilitate the installation of young farmers, to inform and train them as well as act as a forum for communication and dialogue between them.