Posted on February, 19 2025

The document highlights the need for climate action in agriculture and calls for adjustments in direct payments under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to make income support fairer and reward farmers who work with nature. However, the Vision remains vague, failing to provide a clear direction for the transformation of the EU food system. 

Commenting on the Vision for Agriculture and Food, Giulia Riedo, Sustainable Food Policy Officer, said: “The Vision is taking very timid steps towards creating fairer and more sustainable EU food supply chains. It includes a few positive elements, such as a commitment to a stronger enforcement of green legislation and financial incentives for farmers who go beyond existing environmental requirements. Yet, in trying to please everyone, the European Commission has failed to address critical issues, such as the necessary increase in environmental payments, as agreed in the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture.”

Riedo added: “As a result, we are left with a vague roadmap for transforming EU agriculture. We need a clear path to transition to an EU food system that works with nature, ensuring long-term stability for our farmers and helping make sustainable, healthy food more affordable.”

Some of its key highlights include:

• CAP reform: The vision sets out general principles for more targeted CAP measures that benefit farmers who actively contribute to the preservation of the environment. There is little intention to tackle the unfair distribution of CAP funds through measures such as capping and degressivity. Furthermore, the criteria for direct income support distribution will remain hectare-based, and there is no clear indication that payments for environmental efforts will increase in the near future.
• Sustainable livestock strategy: The Vision places special emphasis on strengthening the competitiveness and resilience of the livestock sector, announcing the development of a long-term strategy to create an "excellence livestock production chain." In shaping policy pathways for this sector, the European Commission will consider addressing its environmental footprint and improving nutrient management - though not as a priority. Regrettably, two key elements are missing from the Vision: a plan for the necessary reduction of synthetic fertilisers and policies that support access to more sustainable and healthy food for all citizens.
• Public procurement: The Vision announces the revision of the EU Public Procurement Directive which, though a positive step, remains the only proposal from the European Commission that specifically addresses food education and diets. 
• Climate and nature: Among future measures, the European Commission will explore pathways for the agri-sector’s contribution to the EU 2040 climate target and aim to reduce emissions from the livestock sector. More specifically, the European Commission is announcing “a toolbox of tailored measures” to support the livestock sector and regions in their efforts to cut emissions. Unfortunately, climate considerations play a minor role in the Vision, with references in the text remaining rather underwhelming. Despite agriculture accounting for 11% of the EU's total greenhouse gas emissions - barely lower than 20 years ago - climate receives little attention. 
  The European Commission underlines that carbon farming activities under the Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming Certification Framework, as well as nature credits, can be innovative financing tools for farmers. However, it fails to provide necessary safeguards against offsetting and double counting, leaving many critical questions unanswered and risking undermining real progress.
  As for the preservation of the environment, in addition to enforcing existing environmental legislation - though, regrettably, it does not reference the Nature Restoration Law - the European Commission plans to introduce more incentives, including voluntary benchmarking to standardise the evaluation of farms’ environmental performance. Unfortunately, the Commission does not intend to step up efforts to reduce pesticide and fertiliser use, which is concerning given worsening water quality - a threat to our health - caused by agriculture and nitrogen pollution.

The Commission signals that the CAP will move away from conditionality to incentives. “If there are less conditions and more incentives under the Common Agricultural Policy for upholding environmental standards, then those incentives must be very well designed. The budget allocated to environmental payments should be attractive enough for farmers to adopt more sustainable practices. Incentives should support measures that enhance biodiversity, rather than simply paying farmers to comply with existing laws,” said Riedo.

This Vision will shape future policy measures in EU agriculture and food, including the reform of the CAP, with discussions set to begin in July this year. These discussions will need to consider the allocation of agricultural funds under the Multiannual Financial Framework. “If the European Commission truly aims to create a more impactful, policy-driven budget in times of limited resources - and wants to maintain control over common money - the disbursement to Member States should be more tightly linked to performance and accountability mechanisms,” concluded Riedo.

For more information, please contact:
Giulia Riedo
Sustainable Food Policy Officer
griedo@wwf.eu

Alejandra Morales
Senior Communications Officer, Agriculture, Freshwater & Climate Adaptation
amorales@wwf.eu
+32 488 84 98 05

Notes to editors:

• Last September, after seven months of debate within the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture, farmers’ unions, industry, NGOs and other key stakeholders achieved a groundbreaking consensus, sending a clear message to EU decision-makers: Business as usual is not an option. The EU Vision for Agriculture and Food was intended to build on the outcomes of the Strategic Dialogue.
• According to the WWF report ‘Can your money do better? Redirecting harmful subsidies to foster nature and climate resilience’, up to 60% of the EU CAP funding, totalling €32.1 billion annually, is spent by EU countries on activities that encourage unsustainable farming.
• See WWF’s recommendations on how to make our food systems more sustainable, fair, and resilient.
• See WWF’s position on water resilience, together with the Living Rivers Europe NGO coalition.
• Read ‘The 2040 Horizon: Assessing the EU's Climate Targets and Policies against 1.5°C Scenarios’
• See WWF’s position paper outlining key recommendations for the next multiannual EU budget, ‘An investment commission for the green transition’.
• See WWF’s policy recommendation on Carbon Dioxide Removal.