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Agriculture and Sustainability
Principles and Recommendations from the
European Consultative Forum on the Environment and Sustainable Development (June 1998)
Executive summary
Introduction
Conclusions and recommendations
The European Consultative Forum on the Environment and Sustainable Development
The Forum has identified five core conclusions about the kinds of policies that will need to be pursued if this shift to a sustainable agriculture is to be achieved.
The European Consultative Forum on the Environment and Sustainable Development is an environmental consultation body under the Fifth Action Programme on the Environment created by the European Commission in 1997. It covers all issues relevant to sustainable development and has members from the European Economic Area (EEA) and the associated countries of Eastern and Central Europe.
The Forum advises the European Commission on policy development. The members of the Forum are appointed in a personal capacity on the basis of suggestions from European interest groups. Members of the Forum come from trade unions, NGOs, business and industry, consumers, farmers, local and regional authorities, scienctific communities and other interest groups.
The Forum has done substantial work in developing scenarios for sustainable development with recommendations to the Commission for future action. The Report on Agricultural Integration will be followed by other recommendations on issues relevant to sustainable development.
Thorvald Stoltenberg
Chairman
European Consultative Forum on the Environment and Sustainable Development
Ongoing reform of the European Union's Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) presents major opportunities to make key areas of European policy more sustainable. On all matters from global trade to local land management and food quality , the new CAP will need to be driven by much stronger environmental imperatives. Social, economical and environmental considerations will need to be consistently integrated across the whole agriculture and food chain - from agricultural production processes, the rural economy and animal welfare through to food markets, human health and the role of the consumer.
The result should be a policy framework that promotes a system of agriculture which produces wholesome food, makes it available to consumers in a sustainable way, enhancing and sustaining communities, the environment and quality of life. Active participation by all stakeholders would be encouraged with decision-making devolved to local communities within an overall strategic framework; producers would be closer to their consumers; the value of landscape, nature and biodiversity would be recognised and reflected.
The Forum has identified five core conclusions about the kinds of policies that will need to be pursued if this shift to a sustainable agriculture is to be achieved.
The Forum looks forward to receiving the Commissions response on the core conclusions suggested in this contribution to CAP reform and the wider process of integrating sustainability into the agricultural life cycle and food chain.
Integration of sustainability concerns into agriculture policy needs to be seen in a number of distinct contexts. This report sets out recommendations of the Consultative Forum on the Environment and Sustainable Development on integration of sustainability considerations across the whole agriculture and food chain. It does not intend to be exhaustive in covering all the measures that can be taken towards a sustainable development of the whole sector.
In 1996, the predecessor Consultative Forum on the Environment adopted a set of recommendations for a sustainable rural development, setting principles and proposed orientations for action. The Forum acknowledged that sound agriculture is indispensable to food supply and that it must be economically viable in the long term. The Forum identified sound agriculture as the key factor of sustainable rural development.
This report builds on the previous Forum's work, recognising that integration demands a broader approach in which the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability are considered alongside one another. All aspects of the agriculture and food chain need to be considered, including world trade and globalisation; the economy of rural areas; agricultural practices; animal welfare, resource use; landscape; biodiversity and nature conservation; employment; consumer behaviour/choice and food markets. Policies will need to be developed that take account of the contributions and responsibilities of the full range of stakeholders in the chain, from governments and international organisations through to farmers, industry and consumers. Leaving out any link in the chain is likely to jeopardise sustainability efforts undertaken somewhere else in the chain.
The European Commissions 1997 policy document Agenda 2000 reflects the rapidly changing context for European agriculture policy, emphasising a welcome shift towards a more quality-oriented agriculture policy and towards consideration of the rural economy as a whole, with an emphasis on employment. Issues related to the prospective enlargement of the European Union are also a core theme of Agenda 2000. Member States aiming at a sustainable European agriculture should recognise that enlargement provides opportunities to learn many positive lessons from the associated countries, e.g. in relation to nature conservation systems and extensive agricultural practices. [The Forums recommendations on enlargement can be found in the report Environment and Enlargement published in 1998]
The Forum welcomes many of the changes heralded by Agenda 2000, but many unresolved issues remain to be considered further as reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) gathers pace.
On all matters from global trade to local land management, the new CAP will need to be driven by much stronger environmental imperatives and its reform provides significant opportunities to make key areas of European policy more sustainable. The key to this shift will be integration of environmental, social and economic considerations. It will mean far more than simply piecemeal reform or the status quo with 'green' or 'social' add-ons. For the agricultural and food chain, sustainability will need to be pursued through integration across and within all economic sectors (like transport or agriculture) and agricultural product markets (like olives, tobacco, or maize). Consistency between all policy areas will minimise potential conflicts that may arise from integration across the whole chain.
The Forum has reached five core conclusions about achieving integration of environmental and sustainable development concerns into the agricultural sector. They relate to:
Any system of European agriculture should reflect these core themes to arrive at a sustainable agriculture which actively requires the inclusive participation of all its stakeholders, enhancing the environment, local communities, employment and quality of life, based on an awareness of the importance and value of environment in agriculture.
Ultimately, agriculture must be looked upon by policy makers as any other productive sector in society.
The Forum looks forward to receiving the Commission's response on the core conclusions suggested in this contribution to CAP reform and the wider process of integrating environmental considerations into the agricultural life cycle and food chain.
The European Union should use its influence within the World Trade Organisation to create market conditions in which sustainable agricultural production and food consumption is promoted everywhere.
Agricultural trade liberalisation is a high priority on the global trade agenda. Liberalisation of agricultural trade appears to be driving a number of processes including the concentration of production in large enterprises with global, regional or national dominance; lengthening of the supply chain; an increase in distances travelled by agricultural and food products before they reach their point of sale ('food miles'), and accelerated product standardisation. It is essential that further liberalisation and globalisation is directed towards sustainability, so that all farmers can operate in market conditions that promote sustainability. Failure to do this is likely to offset efforts undertaken to increase sustainability elsewhere.
In the context of world trade negotiations, a fine balance needs to be struck between environmental integration and commercial viability. European farmers competitiveness as part of the social dimension of sustainable development needs to be preserved. This complex issue is dealt by a Forum report on Trade, Competition and Globalisation.
It is essential that European policy should preserve diversity and promote subsidiarity through local approaches across the entire agricultural and food chain in such a way that high standards of environmental protection are achieved.
There is a need for a common basic floor of environment and quality standards for agriculture below which no-one should fall. However, it is essential that European policy should promote subsidiarity. This is about getting the right balance between clear strategic objectives set at European level and Member State level and devolving implementation from Member States to local communities. European strategic objectives must allow local circumstances - ecological, economic, social and cultural - to be taken into account. Ensuring that local communities always retain the ability to participate in and shape their own futures contributes to the preservation of biological and landscape diversity. New policy instruments are needed that are enabling rather than prescriptive, so that product diversity resulting from local conditions is promoted. Action can thus be tailored to local socio-economic and environmental circumstances and needs, creating a climate for innovative and participatory action.
There is a need to find better ways of celebrating, protecting and perpetuating local diversity and environmental quality. Policy should enhance diversity throughout the agricultural life cycle and food chain - in products, processes, distribution methods and landscape.
In recognition of the key contribution that local communities can make to delivery of biodiversity and landscape conservation, financial mechanisms should include enhanced support to:
The Commission should undertake a review of agricultural and food product standards, with the aim of removing barriers to diversity and broadening participation in decision-making. In particular, the Commission should ensure that barriers to production and distribution of local traditional produce do not inadvertently result from application of Community rules.
As a means of promoting local produce, consideration should be given to exempting local products sold locally from EC food standards on form and size. Consideration should also be given to means of encouraging more effective participation by consumers and farmers in the development of standards.
Above a basic set of minimum environmental standards applicable to all, the Commission should encourage the negotiation of voluntary agreements at the local/regional level as one means to minimise environmental impacts across the agricultural life cycle. Farm plans addressing nutrient balances, conservation, and landscape among other issues may prove a useful tool for wider use in this context. Agricultural producers should be encouraged to negotiate agreements covering among other areas reduction of biocide use and nitrate pollution. Voluntary agreements and other new forms of governance are also appropriate instruments to preserve diversity.
More should be done by the Commission to develop ideas of good environmental management in relation to the agricultural life cycle; for example in relation to EMAS (the European Eco-Management and Audit Systems Regulation). Here, agricultural producers should be treated on an equal footing with other industry sectors, including special attention given to small farmers ability to management improvement.
The externalities of agriculture and world trade in food products should be recognised and evaluated.
'Externalities' are those environmental and social impacts which are not reflected in the price of goods and services. There are many ways in which these impacts can be recognised - for example through strategic environmental assessment or life cycle assessment. Full account should be taken of hidden or neglected environmental and social external factors in decision-making at the policy, business and individual levels. They should be identified, quantified, and when possible given monetary value. Not only the negative, but also the positive environmental externalities of agriculture should be recognised and valued, such as maintenance of traditional agricultural landscapes and their flora and fauna.
The 'polluter pays principle' should be reflected in the agricultural support system and the precautionary principle applied. Its effective implementation should allow for the identification of externalities. In some cases (e.g. biodiversity and landscape impacts) careful consideration will need to be given to identifying who should meet the costs of externalities.
Taxes and economic instruments based on the "polluter pays principle" have a role to play in promoting more sustainable agriculture. Consideration could be given to the possible benefits of environmental taxes that do not compromise competition or the internal market. Such taxes should address for example the use of commercial fertilisers, pesticides and other agro-chemicals. Both general taxes on such processes and more focused taxes targeted at particular applications need attention. The revenue from agri-environment taxes should be used to subsidise more sustainable agriculture and agro-environmental activities including 'extension services' involving advice, information and education. However, the Forum recognises that for the time being at least, some of these instruments will need to be developed and implemented by Member States themselves.
There is a need for a thorough review of the overall social, environmental and health impacts of EU subsidies (e.g. tobacco subsidies; subsidies for intensive livestock farming), with a view to ensuring that their allocation takes account of environmental and health issues and that opportunities to promote environmentally beneficial alternatives are seized.
As an interim measure, and provided that they respect competition considerations, 'environmental conditionality', in which payment of EU funds or grants is made contingent on adoption and maintenance of good environmental standards and practices, will have an important role to play. Eligible standards should gradually become stricter to ensure increased levels of environmental protection.
Major shifts are needed in European institutions and approaches to facilitate integration. Agriculture policy should follow the EU policy trend towards a more consistent and integrated overview of all stages involved.
The overall emphasis of European agriculture policy must shift fundamentally to a horizontally based integrated approach to the management of the land, its environment, and its people, and European citizens as a whole. In particular there is a broad expectation that sustainable farming should be substantially less input intensive and that therefore action should be taken to promote more sustainable farming. This will mean going beyond a narrow focus on agricultural commodity practices regimes towards an approach in which the critical contribution of other policy areas such as land use planning and transport is also recognised. The Commission's proposed Directive on strategic environmental assessment is one beneficial horizontal tool that should be applied to agriculture.
More sophisticated linkages within different existing environmental policy instruments should be developed. Trade-offs between different impacts could be avoided, allowing for full benefits of measures taken in one area to contribute to sustainable development as a whole. Linkages should be promoted at each level of European agriculture and food policy - from the European level, e.g. by better developing linkages between agri-environment measures and the Birds and Habitats Directives, to the national and local levels, e.g. through local biodiversity action plans and domestic policies on national and regional parks.
The Forum welcomes the measures adopted by the Commission in July 1997 to improve and reinforce its internal procedures to ensure better integration of environmental considerations in its policy-making and management as well as the May 1998 Communication on Integration (Partnership for Integration) in order to make EU policies more sustainable. However, these measures need to be treated as a starting point only and in future:
The Forum welcomes the invitation by the Cardiff European Council (June 1998) to all relevant formations of the Council to establish their own strategies for giving effect to environmental integration and sustainable development within their respective policy areas and that agriculture sector was invited to start this process together with transport and energy sectors.
The Forum’s Statement on Integration published in May 1998 provides a broader approach that should be applied in agricultural policy.
A shift towards sustainable agriculture will entail changes throughout the whole agricultural chain. This calls for better information, awareness, scientific understanding and knowledge transfer across the whole life cycle and supply chain. Capability-building knowledge-based approaches should be promoted as an important tool for integration.
The Commission can play a major role in stimulating understanding; in ensuring transfer of knowledge across sectors; and in communicating the issues to the full range of stakeholders in the agricultural life cycle including the food chain. Particular emphasis should be placed on dissemination of best practice and on ensuring that support is made available for training in skills that capture or recapture the tacit knowledge required to retain and maintain the diversity and quality of European agriculture in its widest sense.
With a view to increasing the capabilities of farmers and rural populations (e.g. in relation to understanding the damaging environmental effects of intensive farming; better evaluating the costs and benefit of excessive use of chemicals and their impact on human health; adapting production methods and the choice of products to the specificity's of the regions) the Commission should create and subsidise schemes of education and information on sustainable farming; consider the introduction of an eco-audit scheme in agriculture including specific labelling for the products coming from such farms; and enhance the public awareness on the 'real' (social, economic and ecological) cost of the diverse products.
Building on its work to date, and, as appropriate, ongoing work on agricultural indicators within the OECD, the European Environment Agency should develop and publish a set of environmental indicators for the agricultural life cycle, so that progress towards a more sustainable agricultural system can be measured in Europe as a whole. Indicators need to be developed through inclusive processes that ensure their social legitimacy and acceptability. An integrated set of indicators should cover both the social and the environmental impacts of the whole agricultural and food chain, including issues such as the rural economy, transport (particularly food miles) and land use and consumption patterns.
Examples of indicators related to agricultural processes that could be considered further include:
Development of an integrated set of rural development indicators should also be considered, covering for example:
Other subjects related to food supply on which occasional reporting would be valuable include:
The importance of the role of consumers in pursuit of sustainable agriculture must be recognised, in their ability to both minimise environmental impact through consumption and demand sustainable products for purchasing . New ways must be found that bring consumers closer to producers, facilitate responsible purchasing decisions, and reinforce instruments which promote local products, varieties and skills. Competition and internal market issues will need careful consideration when developing mechanisms that pursue these goals. New information-based mechanisms such as labelling and information systems need to be developed to promote understanding of the social and environmental benefits of quality and variety, and provide consumers with better access to information on safety, origin and production methods of the products they buy, promoting responsible choice hand in hand with consumer satisfaction.
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