Study finds reduction in EU agricultural production
The European Commission (EC) has unveiled its Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies that would impose restrictions on European Union (EU) agriculture through targeted reductions in the use of land, fertilizers, antimicrobials, and pesticides. The Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies represents a fundamental shift in EU food and agriculture policy, with correspondingly fundamental implications for the structure and productivity of the EU food and agriculture industry.
The Study suggests that the EC’s 10-year plan of targeted reductions in the use of land, antimicrobials, fertilizers, and pesticides would lead to a reduction in EU agricultural production and reduce its competitiveness in domestic and export markets. If the plan were adopted beyond the EU, those impacts would also expand with consequences for worldwide welfare and food insecurity
Food insecurity, measured as the number of people who lack access to a diet of at least 2,100 calories a day, increases significantly in the 76 low- and middle-income countries covered in our analysis due to increases in food commodity prices and declines in income, particularly in Africa. By 2030, the number of food-insecure people in the case of EU-only adoption would increase by an additional 22 million more than projected without the EC’s proposed Strategies. The number would climb to 103 million under the middle scenario and 185 million under global adoption
