Speaking in Brussels, Copa & Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen said “Farmers are currently facing a very difficult market situation and it will be vital for policy to evolve to ensure a sustainable, competitive and economically viable sector in the future. This is particularly important given the crucial role the EU farming community makes to enhancing rural economies and to biodiversity & contributing to climate change mitigation and sustainable rural areas. We need more support for generation renewal, for supporting young farmers in embracing this challenging job and to enhancing farmers entrepreneurship to create stronger links between rural businesses and also with the urban areas”.
Outlining key points, Sofia Bjornsson, Chairwoman of Copa and Cogeca working party on rural development said “To maximize our potential, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) must have the right tools in place to enable farmers to deliver goods and services to society whilst ensuring a fair income for them. Rural development policy must continue to focus on making sure farmers are viable as they are the backbone of rural economies. Investment measures are and should continue to be the main instrument of EU rural development policy to achieve its objectives . Investment is crucial in helping farmers to improve their economic and environmental performance, to support the modernisation of farms and to help the farming sector in implementing smart technologies that contribute to an efficient use of resources”.
“To be effective, policy must be simplified and red tape cut. Advisory and training services and rural networks activities need to be prioritized in our upcoming policy to enable farmers to better respond to the new challenges . Financial instruments that are flexible and adapted to the challenges facing farmers need to be developed to boost sustainable investment in rural areas. Tools to help protect farmers against risk meanwhile must be efficient”, Bjornsson said.
“Strengthening farmers positioning in the food chain is also important. One way of doing this is through cooperatives which enable farmers to join forces and better respond to markets and increased volatility. This should be encouraged more in some member states. In addition, farmers play a vital role in innovation and it needs to be better adapted to their needs. ”, added Pesonen.
Copa & Cogeca will have around 30 experts participating in the four panel sessions to put our key messages across. For details of the programme, please see:
http://www.cvent.com/events/cork-2-0-conference/custom-18-3087bbd3680b4bb3951b869f1579016e.aspx
