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Farm Europe

FE

Farm Europe is an association that stimulates thinking on rural economies in the EU, focusing on agriculture, food policy, and the Common Agricultural Policy.

Lobbying Activity

Meeting with Jérémy Decerle (Member of the European Parliament)

10 Dec 2025 · Elevage

Meeting with Gerassimos Thomas (Director-General Taxation and Customs Union)

2 Dec 2025 · Exchange of views on import controls and CBAM

Meeting with Michele Picaro (Member of the European Parliament)

24 Nov 2025 · Meeting

Meeting with Katri Kulmuni (Member of the European Parliament)

18 Nov 2025 · Ruokaturvallisuus, EU:n ruuantuotantopolitiikka

Meeting with Maria Walsh (Member of the European Parliament)

11 Nov 2025 · Agricultural Policy

Meeting with Matthieu Moulonguet (Cabinet of Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra) and Institut de l'Elevage (IDELE)

30 Sept 2025 · Carbon Farming certification and market

Meeting with Taru Haapaniemi (Cabinet of Commissioner Christophe Hansen)

3 Jul 2025 · Bioeconomy, biofuels, Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming Regulation (CRCF)

Meeting with Valérie Hayer (Member of the European Parliament)

3 Jul 2025 · Divers

Meeting with Veronika Vrecionová (Member of the European Parliament)

4 Jun 2025 · Conference Future of Farming

Meeting with Benoit Cassart (Member of the European Parliament)

12 May 2025 · Global Food Forum

Meeting with Valérie Hayer (Member of the European Parliament)

18 Mar 2025 · Divers

Meeting with Maria Walsh (Member of the European Parliament)

11 Mar 2025 · Common Agricultural Policy

Meeting with Benoit Cassart (Member of the European Parliament, Shadow rapporteur)

11 Mar 2025 · Elevage durable

Meeting with Camilla Laureti (Member of the European Parliament)

19 Feb 2025 · agricoltura

Meeting with Olivér Várhelyi (Commissioner) and

13 Feb 2025 · EU food system and animal welfare

Meeting with Christophe Hansen (Commissioner) and

12 Feb 2025 · Introductory meeting and discussion on the Vision for Agriculture and Food

Meeting with Alessandra Moretti (Member of the European Parliament)

11 Feb 2025 · Presentazione evento bioplastiche

Meeting with Céline Imart (Member of the European Parliament)

4 Feb 2025 · Agriculture

Meeting with Carmen Crespo Díaz (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur)

4 Feb 2025 · Future of the CAP

Meeting with Stefano Bonaccini (Member of the European Parliament)

22 Jan 2025 · Meeting with FARM EUROPE

Meeting with Christophe Grudler (Member of the European Parliament)

22 Jan 2025 · Echanges autour des actualités européennes

Meeting with Eric Sargiacomo (Member of the European Parliament)

22 Jan 2025 · Agriculture

Meeting with Maria Walsh (Member of the European Parliament)

22 Jan 2025 · Agricultural policy

Meeting with Dario Nardella (Member of the European Parliament)

21 Jan 2025 · Priorities of the next CAP

Meeting with Céline Imart (Member of the European Parliament) and Specialised Nutrition Europe

21 Jan 2025 · Agriculture

Meeting with Herbert Dorfmann (Member of the European Parliament)

21 Jan 2025 · Future of the farming sector

Meeting with Taru Haapaniemi (Cabinet of Commissioner Christophe Hansen)

15 Jan 2025 · Biofuels

Meeting with Kamil Talbi (Cabinet of Commissioner Dan Jørgensen)

14 Jan 2025 · biofuels

Meeting with Cristina Maestre (Member of the European Parliament)

17 Jul 2024 · Expectations about AGRI

Meeting with Clara Aguilera (Member of the European Parliament)

14 Feb 2024 · global food forum: sustainability and sovereignity

Meeting with Maria Noichl (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur for opinion)

9 Nov 2023 · Soil health

Meeting with Jorge Pinto Antunes (Cabinet of Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski)

24 Oct 2023 · Memorandum of understanding with Ukraine

Meeting with Irène Tolleret (Member of the European Parliament)

18 Oct 2023 · Enjeux de la filière bovine

Meeting with Lukas Visek (Cabinet of Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič)

12 Sept 2023 · sustainable food systems

Meeting with Irène Tolleret (Member of the European Parliament)

4 Jul 2023 · Emissions industrielles

Meeting with Irène Tolleret (Member of the European Parliament)

6 Dec 2022 · Agricolture

Meeting with Janusz Wojciechowski (Commissioner) and

5 Dec 2022 · Opening session of the Global Food Forum and participation at the dinner

Meeting with Anne Sander (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur for opinion)

30 Nov 2022 · Nature Restoration Law

Meeting with Jorge Pinto Antunes (Cabinet of Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski)

20 Oct 2022 · REPowerEu and Biomethane

Meeting with Irène Tolleret (Member of the European Parliament)

12 May 2022 · Crise alimentaire causée par la guerre en Ukraine

Meeting with Maciej Golubiewski (Cabinet of Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski)

15 Nov 2021 · Farm Europe Agri Forum

Response to Sustainable food system – setting up an EU framework

26 Oct 2021

Although for several years now agricultural and food production has been moving towards greater sustainability in production practices, communication to consumers is not always clear and unambiguous. Primary production, thanks to the current CAP with cross-compliance and greening (which will be further strengthened through eco-schemes in the future CAP) is already much more sustainable and environmentally friendly than in previous years. If we take the use of pesticides as an example, we notice a 20 % reduction between 2011 and 2017 of the Harmonised Risk Indicator I based on the quantities of pesticides placed on the market in each Member State. At the same time, precision agriculture is being developed and spread with the aim of reducing the use of inputs and natural resources. We also had an increase in European organic production that will be further supported by the EU Organic Action Plan. Also the attention to animal welfare has achieved its results thanks to the commitment at European level. In terms of food processing, European food is also increasingly taking into account consumer demand for sustainability. The word “sustainability” includes many different parameters that intersect with different sensitivities and consumer needs. Use of chemicals, impact on GHG emissions, use of natural resources, local sourcing, animal welfare, reduced intake of sugars, fats, and salt, environmental impact of packaging: all of these elements intersect with each other, and consumers value each of these aspects differently. This shows how difficult it is to unambiguously communicate the "sustainability" of a food product to consumers. The EU has already two well established systems to meet some consumer expectations: EU organic and Quality schemes (Geographical Indications). In addition to these two EU schemes, there are many private or national initiatives that highlight some aspect of sustainability and attract consumers through marketing strategies that ride the increased awareness (and therefore availability to spend more for) on sustainable food products. For example, in the wine sector, there is the Certification of "High Environmental Value" (HVE) of the French Agriculture Ministry, based on biodiversity outcome indicators, phytosanitary strategy, fertilization and irrigation management. HVE is the third and the highest level of a more general scheme of environmental certification for farms. This certification combines economic performance with ecological one. French winemakers have shown a strong interest in the HVE certification. In 2020 the French cooperatives have made a commitment with the Ministry of Agriculture to ensure that within 5 years 100% of French wine cooperatives make commitment on environmental certification (at least the second level, which includes the respect of 16 environmental requirements) or organic certification and at least 50% will be HVE certified (HVE3). Another interesting example is the label “Made Green in Italy” which characterizes the products that, in addition to meeting the requirements of "Made in Italy", also meet the parameters necessary to be judged "sustainable" on the basis of a benchmark at national level. In assessing these parameters, the European PEF (Product Environmental Footprint) methodology is applied, which allows the environmental footprint to be calculated by measuring the impact of the product at each stage of its life cycle, starting from the way the raw materials are produced and ending with their use by the consumer. Adding to these interesting national initiatives are claims and labeling by private companies, often without a clear protocol of sustainable practices to apply. Sometimes, it is very difficult to distinguish true sustainability from clever marketing strategies. Please find the conclusions in the attached file.
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Meeting with Riccardo Maggi (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans)

3 Feb 2021 · Biofuels and RED II review

Response to Setting of nutrient profiles

28 Jan 2021

Front of Package (FOP) Labeling has to be considered as just one tool in the toolbox of consumer information However, several considerations must be taken into account when elaborating a European-wise FOP system: - It should not lead to a judgment of the product as a whole (“non-interpretative”), but rather neutrally inform about the nutritional value of foodstuff and consider them as part of a diet. - It should consider portions rather than 100gr as a reference, given the closer to reality approach, and it should not penalize those products that are used as ingredients in small quantities. - It should consider defining a European common base for Dietary Guidelines in coherence with National Dietary Guidelines, being NDG the tool that most of the current FOP systems use as a baseline. - It should be a harmonized system that allows flexibility in order to adapt to national food cultures. - It should not nullify the efforts of the Commission in the protection and promotion of GIs, PGIs, PDOs. Overall, it should consider the national sensitivities towards food culture. - It should consider social, economical, and educational differences and assure access to healthy food (nutrient-balanced) also to low-income strata and the understanding of the label to less educated people. - It should consider the level of process that raw food has been subject to, given the link between Non-communicable Diseases (cancers, diabetes, etc.) and consumption of ultra-processed foods. - The Commission should set guidelines for a European definition of “processed” and “ultra-processed” food, as well as the possible link to FOP. - The same harmonized system should be used in every Member State. Moreover, FOP should be accompanied by complementary policies in support of healthy lifestyles: - Education on food and nutrition should be boosted in national school programs by extending balanced menus offer in school canteens, and introduce mandatory class hours on health in relation to lifestyles (physical activity, sleep, and healthy eating). - Communication campaigns in order to explain and share knowledge with the general public. - Creation of an EU food transparency database based on the EAN code that would ease the access of information to consumers.
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Meeting with Maciej Golubiewski (Cabinet of Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski)

2 Dec 2020 · WINE SECTOR: THE CRISIS AND A STRATEGY FOR THE FUTURE

Meeting with Jorge Pinto Antunes (Cabinet of Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski)

26 Jun 2020 · EU made biofuels and biogas contribution to the Green Deal.

Response to FuelEU Maritime

24 Apr 2020

Please find attached Farm Europe’s Green Energy Platform’s reply to the public consultation on CO2 emissions from shipping – encouraging the use of low-carbon fuels EUROPEAN BIOFUELS MAKE AN ESSENTIAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE GREEN DEAL The transport sector poses one of the greatest challenges to the Green Deal. GHG emissions have risen fast, from 15% of total EU GHG emissions in 1990 to over 25% now. Since 1990, fossil fuel consumption in transport is up 33%. Not only the conventional car fleet is growing steadily but the maritime traffic is expected to grow as well. According to the 3rd IMO GHG study, emissions from shipping emissions could under a business-as-usual scenario still increase exponentially by 2050, instead of decreasing. In the next decade, the EU has to tackle head-on the decarbonisation of the transport sector, including for shipping, to comply with its Paris Agreement obligations otherwise the absolute consumption of fossil fuels will grow further and liquid fuels as energy carriers in transport will be in use for decades. This further underlines that there is no plausible scenario where a single technology delivers the necessary decarbonisation of transport by 2030. Therefore, it is of crucial importance that policies consider a wide array of technologies. Hence, we underline an open approach to sustainable biofuels, which provide meaningful options in volumes and prices and thus recommend including all sustainable biofuels under the Renewable Energy Directive’s existing criteria to make progress for sustainable alternative fuels in maritime transport. Sustainable European sourced biofuels make a positive contribution to decarbonising the transport sector, as they reduce the carbon emissions of liquid fuels by 65-70%, and their carbon savings are increasing steadily. Biofuels generated from European crops have not displaced food and feed production in the EU. They have not caused land-use change. Whilst their production was on the rise, forest land was also expanding in the EU. Moreover, of the current biofuels commercially available, only biodiesel and bioethanol are produced at a level where they can supply significant volumes of fuel. Furthermore, they contribute to the development of rural economies and to reduce Europe’s dependence on protein imports to feed livestock. Worldwide steady increase of biofuels has come with no significant impact on food and feed prices. These facts are now widely accepted by International Organisations and ratified by events in the past decade. It is high time that long-lasting residual prejudices are not an impediment to fully exploiting the potential of sustainable biofuels to contribute to decarbonising transport also in the EU.
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Response to ReFuelEU Aviation - Sustainable Aviation Fuels

17 Apr 2020

Farm Europe’s Green Energy Platform’s reply to the public consultation on ReFuelEU Aviation - Sustainable Aviation Fuels EUROPEAN BIOFUELS MAKE AN ESSENTIAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE GREEN DEAL The transport sector poses one of the greatest challenges to the Green Deal. GHG emissions have risen fast, from 15% of total EU GHG emissions in 1990 to over 25% now. Since 1990, fossil fuel consumption in transport is up 33%. Not only the conventional car fleet is growing steadily but the commercial air traffic is expected to grow as well. Under existing EU plans, emissions from air transport are still increasing, with CO2 emissions expected to increase by a further 21% to reach 198 Mt in 2040, instead of decreasing. The absolute consumption of fossil fuels will grow further and liquid fuels as energy carriers in transport will be in use for decades. In the next decade, the EU has to tackle head-on the decarbonisation of the transport sector, including for aviation, to comply with its Paris Agreement obligations. There is no plausible scenario where a single technology delivers the necessary decarbonisation of transport by 2030. Therefore, it is of crucial importance that policies consider a wide array of technologies. Hence, we underline a more open approach to sustainable biofuels, which provide meaningful options in volumes and prices and thus recommend not excluding any sustainable biofuels under the Renewable Energy Directive’s already existing criteria from the energy basket to make progress for the Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). Sustainable European sourced biofuels make a positive contribution to decarbonizing the transport sector, as they reduce the carbon emissions of liquid fuels by 65-70%, and their carbon savings are increasing steadily. Contrary to the Inception Impact Assessment, we state that biofuels generated from European crops have not displaced food and feed production in the EU. They have not caused land-use change. Whilst their production was on the rise, forest land was also expanding in the EU, therefore they should not be automatically sidelined unlike palm oil and its residues. They contribute to the development of rural economies and to reduce Europe’s dependence on protein imports to feed livestock. Worldwide steady increase of biofuels has come with no significant impact on food and feed prices. These facts are now widely accepted by International Organisations and ratified by events in the past decade. It is clear that considering only advanced and waste-based biofuels will not be enough as clearly demonstrated by the fact that the goal previously set by European Advanced Biofuels Flightpath for 2 million tonnes of SAF to be produced annually by 2020 will not be met. It is high time that long-lasting residual prejudices are not an impediment to fully exploiting the potential of sustainable biofuels to contribute to decarbonizing transport also in the EU. The right incentives (mandates, taxation) should be put in place to develop SAF in the forthcoming EU policies including the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy.
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Response to Minimising the risk of deforestation and forest degradation associated with products placed on the EU market

3 Mar 2020

Farm Europe welcomes this consultation and would like to give the following feedback to the initiative: Due to their importance to the Earth’s ecosystem, forests and especially rainforests like the Amazon, Borneo or the Congo Basin are a universal common good and concern of all humanity and should be preserved. Accordingly, if the EU wishes to be a world leader preserving the world's forests and fighting climate change it must do more. - value the preservation of rainforests more than the products that originate from its destruction. - stop imports of goods linked with deforestation, and put efficient safeguard mechanisms to be activated at any time by the EU on the basis of objective data and reports that the EU should revisit every 6 months. Both for its imports of biofuels and feedstocks used for biofuel production in the EU and for imports of agricultural and food products from areas at risk of deforestation, the European Union should either build a robust system of deforestation free import certifications or an efficient system of verification of deforestation free export certificates made by exporting countries. Such certifications would be the first sine qua non for authorization of entry of these products into the territory of the European Union. On top of that promoting publicly accessible data on the matter at hand would make sense and put Europe in a perspective of co-construction and search for solutions as it could help to prevent the start of deforestation of intact forests and contribute to work together in order to develop “local” regional strategies. - Proposal for specific conditions for an efficient and trustworthy EU deforestation certification scheme (safeguard clause): Every 6 months, the European Commission should present a report covering the trends related to deforestation and the expansion of deforestation risk related products into high carbon stock areas including forests and peatlands. The European Commission should be empowered to trigger a safeguard clause allowing the European Union to suspend the deforestation free certificates in regions or countries, where deforestation is observed. The safeguard clause should be applied at an appropriate geographic level in order to cover indirect effects and potential market transfers. This would mean that products in zones that have proven on-going deforestation (‘red zones’) should then be blacklisted and EU customs should block the imports from those regions/products. In order to be consistent with the principle that the EU shall not make any compromises on the issue of deforestation no exemptions shall be given to such products. This would require an improved system of information and transparency. For proving such practices field inspections would be almost impossible to carry out. Therefore the unbiased monitoring of forest cover change through satellite imagery seems to be the most appropriate methodology to follow deforestation, degradation and the state of the forests. Such technologies have been developed by European enterprises and initiatives such as Copernicus, used in particular by companies as part of their Zero Deforestation commitments. The EU could accept, and even support, equivalent systems to monitor deforestation implemented by the concerned countries, if those are also based on objective and verifiable satellite imagery and open to auditing. This would represent a welcome step towards empowering countries where deforestation has been a plague to take the matter on their hands and implement the appropriate mix of control, economic, social and environmental policies to halt deforestation and forest degradation. In this context the EU could also support measures that aim at increasing agriculture productivity, which would ultimately reduce the economic and social pressure to deforestation and use of peatlands.
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Response to Climate Law

6 Feb 2020

The Green Energy Platform By Farm Europe would like to give the follow feedback to the European Climate Law. EUROPEAN BIOFUELS MAKE AN ESSENTIAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE GREEN DEAL The transport sector poses one of the greatest challenges to the Green Deal. GHG emissions have risen fast, from 15% of total EU GHG emissions in 1990 to over 25% now. Since 1990, fossil fuels consumption in transport is up 33%. The conventional car fleet is growing steadily. Under existing EU plans, emissions from road transport would increase by over 20% by 2030, instead of decreasing. The absolute consumption of fossil fuels will grow further and liquid fuels as energy carriers in transport will be in use for decades. In the next decade, the EU has to tackle head-on the decarbonisation of the transport sector to comply with its Paris Agreement obligations. There is no plausible scenario where a single technology delivers the necessary decarbonisation of transport by 2030. Therefore, it is of crucial importance that policies consider a wide array of technologies. Electrification and biofuels are both essential for the Green Deal. Biofuels are the single most prevalent renewable energy source in road transport today, with however a modest contribution of 5%. Sustainable European sourced biofuels make a positive contribution to decarbonising the transport sector, as they reduce the carbon emissions of liquid fuels by 65-70%, and their carbon savings is increasing steadily. Biofuels generated from European crops have not displaced food and feed production in the EU. They have not caused land-use change. Whilst their production was on the rise, forest land was also expanding in the EU. They contribute to the development of rural economies and to reduce Europe’s dependence on protein imports to feed livestock. Worldwide steady increase of biofuels has come with no significant impact on food and feed prices. These facts are now widely accepted by International Organisations and ratified by events in the past decade. It is high time that long-lasting residual prejudices are not an impediment to fully exploiting the potential of sustainable biofuels to contribute to decarbonizing transport also in the EU.
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Response to High and low Indirect Land-Use Change (ILUC) - risks biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels

25 Feb 2019

AS IT STANDS, THE DRAFT DELEGATED ACT TO DETERMINE HIGH-ILUC RISK AND CERTIFY LOW-ILUC RISK BIOFUELS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE During the debate on the adoption of RED 2, it was clear that in particular the European Parliament was adamantly against accepting that biofuels that contribute to deforestation and peat land drainage be counted for the RED 2 targets. It was agreed that those food & feedstocks presenting a high risk of deforestation and peat land drainage should be frozen and then phased-out entirely. Palm oil production in particular is well known to be a cause of massive deforestation and peatland drainage in South-East Asia. The draft Delegated Act now published correctly defines palm oil as high-ILUC risk, even if it should focus on all palm products including PFAD, not only palm oil. But, unfortunately, it also paves the way to certifying most of it as low-ILUC risk, and thus exempt palm oil from phasing-out, thus nullifying the objective agreed by the co-legislators, which make it unacceptable as it stands. General remarks Above all, the Commission shall take into account proposals tabled in the course of the consultation process, which would be the only levers to provide tangible guarantees to cut the link between EU biofuels and deforestation and peatland drainage and a real enforcement of the delegated act, in accordance with producing countries commitment for “zero deforestation”: - low iLUC risk certification shall not be available to plantations in countries where deforestation and peatlands drainage goes on; - a safeguard clause shall allow the Commission to suspend low iLUC certificates in case of expansion of high iLUC feedstock on high carbon value lands. Specific comments on the draft DA In addition, when certifying low-ILUC risk the Commission draft Delegated Act creates massive loopholes. When it is known that palm oil is selling in the EU at a discount of 40% relative to the EU produced food and feedstock, the economic interest for operators in South-East Asia to explore these massive loopholes needs no further demonstration. First, it opens a de facto exemption for small holders from the main criteria of additionality, by stipulating in Art. 5 that small holders meet the additionality criteria and a lack of clarity of Art. 4. All small holders depend upon big operators for crushing and certification, and their production is channelled through the latter. Moreover, they are estimated to be in a position to double their exports to the EU to 6 million tonnes in the next few years, therefore doubling the exports of palm oil to produce biofuels. It should be noted that it is part of the strategy of the palm oil supply chain to increasingly rely on small holders. The Palm Oil Agribusiness Strategic Policy Institute considers that small holders will manage 60% of palm oil areas by 2030 . The provisions on small solders shall be deleted as there is no reason for any specific exemption. Second, it does not define any benchmark for assessing additionality. It leaves it to the discretion of the interested parties to self-ascertain what it means. On the contrary, a minimum productivity increase shall be defined at each producing country level according to a reliable methodology (See Annex). At plantation level only yields above the national trendline should be eligible to low iLUC. Third, it asks for independent auditing of the producers claims, but it leaves to the interested parties which auditors to choose, without any further control by the Commission. Only schemes approved by the Commission should be eligible to low iLUC certification to provide minimum guarantees on the credibility of the auditing. Only a serious redrafting of the proposed Delegated Act according to the complementary amendments proposed above would make it acceptable.
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Meeting with Jerzy Bogdan Plewa (Director-General Agriculture and Rural Development)

2 Mar 2018 · Exchange of view on the future of the CAP

Meeting with Jerzy Bogdan Plewa (Director-General Agriculture and Rural Development)

16 Feb 2018 · Exchange of view future of the CAP

Meeting with Michel Barnier (Head of Task Force Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom)

26 Apr 2017 · Meeting with the Task Force for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under Article 50 TEU