Speech by President von der Leyen at the EU Agri Food Days
1 | EU Agri Food Days | EU 농식품의 날 |
2 | the Common Agricultural Policy | 공동 농업 정책 |
3 | Copernicus satellite system | 코페르니쿠스 인공위성 시스템 |
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to address you today at the first-ever EU Agri Food Days.
Thanks to Europe's farmers and the food industry, we have access to healthy, high-quality food – in our shops, markets, school cafeterias, and on our family tables. Your efforts have been crucial in overcoming recent challenges.
Through a pandemic, an energy crisis, and high inflation for agricultural inputs and food, Europe's agri-food sector has shown remarkable resilience. In fact, our agri-food exports increased by 16% in 2022. We are nearly or fully self-sufficient in many essential foods – from wheat and tomatoes to meat and dairy, enhancing our strategic resilience.
At the same time, Europe's agri-food industry is significantly contributing to our collective green and digital transitions. We are on the right path forward, supported by the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This strategy is the most ambitious ever from an environmental and climate perspective, backed by over 300 billion euros in funding.
This is a reason to be proud and confident in the future of Europe's agri-food sector. However, we know this sector faces many challenges. Farmers operate in a highly competitive global market and are often the most vulnerable part of the value chain. They face difficulties passing on their farms to the next generation and worry about crop failures, animal disease outbreaks, or price shocks for fuel and fertilizers.
High inflation has made it hard for many European citizens to afford food. Additionally, the agri-food sector is heavily impacted by the climate crisis. This year has seen record-breaking extreme temperatures, floods, storms, droughts, and wildfires, as well as pest and disease outbreaks, both globally and in Europe. This year alone, Europe provided over 500 million euros in exceptional support to the farmers most affected by crises.
We must adapt faster to protect our food production from an increasingly unpredictable and volatile environment. The good news is that we have solutions.
First, there are many good practices and new technologies. Many of you are pioneering the fourth agricultural revolution with state-of-the-art clean tech and resource efficiency. For example, farmers now have access to data from our Copernicus satellite system, facilitating precision farming.
Thanks to EU funding, broadband internet connections in rural areas have tripled. 5G will soon be available in most rural areas, opening new possibilities for drones and autonomous machines
Next spring, the Commission will propose an initiative on EU biotech and biomanufacturing, which is a crucial sector in the global technology race. These tech upgrades aim to increase food production, circularity, and resource efficiency. We need to empower all agri-food stakeholders to be part of the solution. We must utilize these innovations across the entire value chain, leaving no one behind. This is beneficial for nature, farmers, and society at large.
But this is only half the opportunity. The other half is nature-based solutions, the next agricultural revolution. Through the new Common Agricultural Policy, Member States and the farming community are achieving their climate and nature-related objectives. Farmers are promoting biodiversity, capturing carbon, improving soil management, and increasing water resilience.