“Global & European Drivers for Sustainability in Agriculture”, speech delivered by Mr Janusz Wojciechowski at Re-Imagine Europa conference on Sustainability in Agriculture & Food Systems
First of all, we must look to ourselves. We must look at our own actions, capabilities, and responsibilities. In this sense, the European Union aims to lead by example. Through our reformed Common Agricultural Policy, which began this year, we are providing stronger incentives to help our farmers strengthen sustainability, while maintaining productivity and economic viability.
Each member state of the European Union has designed a unique national strategic plan to contribute to these shared objectives, in ways that meet their farmers’ needs and maximise their capabilities.
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By setting shared goals and providing collective support, we can amplify the impact of individual actions. This brings me to my second point: to drive sustainable and resilient agriculture, we must not only look to ourselves; we must also look to each other.
As I said at the beginning, if we are to make meaningful changes to our food systems, we must make them on a global scale. From an international perspective, a key focus must be solidarity with small farmers: according to the FAO, five of every six farms in the world consist of less than two hectares.
These farms account for only 12% of all agricultural land; yet produce roughly 35% of the world’s food.
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Fonte: European Commission
