Farm to Fork Strategy

Introduction and Overview

The Farm to Fork Strategy is a cornerstone of the European Green Deal, aiming to transition the EU's food system to a global standard for sustainability. Published by the European Commission on May 20, 2020, this communication outlines a comprehensive 10-year plan to create a fair, healthy, and environmentally-friendly food system. It recognizes the intricate links between healthy people, healthy societies, and a healthy planet, and is central to achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The strategy addresses challenges across the entire food chain, from production to consumption, aiming to reduce the environmental and climate footprint of the food system, ensure food security, and generate fairer economic returns for all actors, especially primary producers.

Evolution and Relation to Other Laws

The Farm to Fork Strategy is intrinsically linked to several key EU policies:

• European Green Deal: It is a central component, designed to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050.
• Biodiversity Strategy for 2030: It works in tandem with the Biodiversity Strategy to protect and restore nature.
• Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP): It aligns with CEAP's goals, particularly on reducing food waste and promoting sustainable packaging.
• Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and Common Fisheries Policy (CFP): The strategy calls for these policies to be key tools in supporting the transition, for example, through eco-schemes and sustainable management.
• Future Legislation: The strategy is not a law itself but a roadmap for future legislative action. It announces plans to propose a legislative framework for a sustainable food system by the end of 2023 and to revise numerous existing laws, including those on pesticides, animal welfare, food contact materials, and date marking.

Main Goals and Objectives

The overarching goal is to create a sustainable food system that has a neutral or positive environmental impact, helps mitigate climate change, reverses biodiversity loss, and ensures food security and public health. The strategy sets several concrete, ambitious targets to be achieved by 2030:

• Reduce the use and risk of chemical pesticides by 50%.
• Reduce the use of more hazardous pesticides by 50%.
• Reduce nutrient losses by at least 50%, leading to a reduction in fertilizer use by at least 20%.
• Reduce overall EU sales of antimicrobials for farmed animals and in aquaculture by 50%.
• Achieve at least 25% of the EU’s agricultural land under organic farming.
• Halve per capita food waste at the retail and consumer levels.

Who It Applies To

The strategy applies to all actors across the entire food value chain, including:

• Primary Producers: Farmers, fishers, and aquaculture producers.
• Food Industry: Food processors, manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers.
• Hospitality and Food Services: Restaurants, canteens, and catering services.
• Consumers: All EU citizens, who are empowered to make sustainable choices.
• Governments and Public Authorities: EU institutions and Member States, who must implement and enforce policies.

Key Dates and Timeline

• May 20, 2020: The Commission adopted the Farm to Fork Strategy.
• 2021-2024: A detailed action plan outlines numerous initiatives with indicative timelines, including:
  • A contingency plan for food security (Q4 2021).
  • An EU Code of conduct for responsible business and marketing (Q2 2021).
  • Proposals for revising legislation on pesticides (Q1 2022), animal welfare (Q4 2023), and food contact materials (Q4 2022).
  • A proposal for harmonised mandatory front-of-pack nutrition labelling (Q4 2022).
• End of 2023: The Commission will propose a legislative framework for a sustainable food system.
• Mid-2023: The Commission will review the strategy to assess progress and determine if additional actions are needed.

Key Provisions and Requirements

The strategy is built around six main pillars:

1. Sustainable Food Production: Promoting practices like carbon farming, agro-ecology, organic farming, and precision agriculture. It involves reducing dependency on pesticides, fertilizers, and antimicrobials, and improving animal welfare.
2. Food Security: Developing a contingency plan to ensure food supply during crises and improving the resilience of the food system.
3. Sustainable Food Processing and Retail: Encouraging reformulation of products for healthier diets, reducing packaging, and developing an EU code of conduct for responsible business practices.
4. Sustainable Food Consumption: Empowering consumers with better information through mandatory front-of-pack nutritional labelling, a sustainable food labelling framework, and clear origin information. Promoting healthy diets with less red meat and more plant-based foods.
5. Reducing Food Loss and Waste: Setting legally binding targets for food waste reduction and clarifying rules on date marking ('use by' and 'best before').
6. Combating Food Fraud: Strengthening controls and enforcement to ensure a level playing field and protect consumers.

Obligations and Requirements for Affected Parties

While the strategy itself is non-binding, it signals future obligations:

• Farmers and Fishers: Will need to adopt more sustainable practices, reduce input use (pesticides, fertilizers), and improve animal welfare, supported by the CAP and CFP.
• Food Industry and Retailers: Will be expected to reformulate products, provide clearer labelling, adopt sustainable packaging, and adhere to a new code of conduct. They will also be required to integrate sustainability into their corporate strategies.
• Member States: Must design their CAP Strategic Plans to align with the Green Deal's targets, promote sustainable practices, and enforce new and existing EU rules.

Affected Products, Actors, and Processes

• Products: All agri-food products, including crops, livestock, fish, and processed foods.
• Actors: The entire food supply chain, from farmers and fishers to processors, retailers, food service operators, and consumers.
• Processes: Farming techniques, fisheries management, food processing, packaging, marketing, labelling, transportation, and waste management.

Penalties and Enforcement

The communication does not establish direct penalties. However, it emphasizes the need for stronger enforcement of existing legislation (e.g., on animal welfare and pesticides) and proposes to scale up the fight against food fraud with stricter deterrents and better import controls. Penalties will be defined in the specific legislative proposals that will follow this strategy.