Bodensee-Stiftung (Lake Constance Foundation)
LCF
The Lake Constance Foundation is a private organisation for environmental protection and nature conservation in Radolfzell, Germany.
ID: 368272115503-48
Lobbying Activity
Meeting with Martin Häusling (Member of the European Parliament) and Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V. and
8 Sept 2023 · Austausch zum Thema Gentechnik
Response to Farm to Fork Strategy
15 Mar 2020
Loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystems exacerbates many of the key challenges to be faced by the EU in the 21st century, from freshwater provision and sustainable agricultural production for 9 billion people, to catastrophic climate change, regional conflicts and migration due to resource shortages.
The Farm to Fork Strategy as well as the CAP need to be based on a new contract between farmers and society, one which pays for farming practices that work in harmony with nature and that secure the good state of our natural resources such as water, soil and biodiversity. The new CAP policy must be based on a solid polluter pays principle and a new governance structure that allows all the societal interests which are affected to be properly involved in the decision making process. An important benchmark should be the strict application of the principle “public funding for public goods”.
The core of the public goods bonus is intended to protect the most important land-related public goods as equal to traditional agricultural production and to devise efficient income subsidies. In future, farmers will not only be able to produce market products such as corn, potatoes or milk on their fields, but also ecological goods such as diversity of species, intact bodies of water and climate protection that will also contribute to their income from the farm. Farmers will be able to make their own decisions voluntarily and from an entrepreneurial perspective.
Transform Direct Payments into payments for public goods: Farmer providing more environmental services should receive more public funding through the public goods bonus. The public goods bonus would enhance the urgently needed increase of biodiversity protection and the creation of potential for biodiversity on agricultural land. Baseline is the good agricutural practise as legally requiered. Very good agricultural practise as well as the implementation of a Biodiversity Action Plan should be rewarded because it would reduce negative impacts on biodiversity and lead to advanced biodiversity performance. Farmers implementing additional measures to protect ecosystems and species, water and climate (Premium Biodiversity Performance) should receive financing and incentives through specific aid programmes.
General objective of the EU should be a zero decline, followed by increasing farmland biodiversity expressed by indicator species and habitats, is achieved at the earliest possible point in time. Within other measures, farmers should set aside at least 10% of agricultural area for semi-natural habitats without production, like buffer strips, fallow land or landscape features. Measures which are essential for biodiversity and associated ecosystem services should be obligatory: extensive arable land, buffer strips, fallow land, landscape elements (terraces, hedges, trees on farms etc.), high-diversity grasslands, wetlands, peatlands, and, at the landscape scale, High Nature Value farmland and mosaic landscapes. Support for extensive grazing should be increased.
Protection of biodiversity and related ecosystem services contributes to climate change mitigation and adaptation to impacts of climate change. The costs related to biodiversity protection as well as other costs to implement social and environmental standards need to be covered by the price for this good quality good. Profit of biodiversity responsible farmers should be enhanced. This cannot be achieved only with voluntary instruments for farmers and for the food sector. Biodiversity protection and social standards need to become an essential part of the quality of food products and food must again be valued differently. The EU Commission should therefore establish a legal framework which prohibits price dumping and unfair prices for farmers - not only in the EU, but also for imported products from (smallholder)farmers outside EU.
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