{"id":116903,"date":"2025-01-27T17:35:15","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T16:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/?p=116903"},"modified":"2025-01-27T17:35:15","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T16:35:15","slug":"collaboration-remains-on-the-menu-with-appointment-of-new-agri-food-advisory-board-ebaf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/de\/collaboration-remains-on-the-menu-with-appointment-of-new-agri-food-advisory-board-ebaf\/","title":{"rendered":"Collaboration remains on the menu with appointment of new Agri-Food Advisory Board (EBAF)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new high-level food and farming advisory body announced today [1] by the European Commission signals continued efforts to foster positive dialogue and fight polarisation, despite concerns <\/span><\/b>about a slight <\/span><\/b>agri-food industry weight majority<\/span><\/b>.<\/span><\/b> The group aims to build on the success of the \u201cStrategic Dialogue\u201d [2] which brought together farmers, food chain representatives and NGOs resulting in a groundbreaking consensus in September 2024. <\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The new European Board for Agriculture and Food (EBAF) consists of 30 members representing the rural and farming communities, agri-food industry, and civil society, including the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), Birdlife Europe<\/span>, and Greenpeace<\/span>.<\/span> The membership builds on that of the Strategic Dialogue, with the addition of health groups (EPHA), alpine farmers (Euromontana), pesticides lobbies (CropLife), and feed manufacturing lobbies (FEFAC).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Balanced representation and a consensus-based approach were a vital condition that led to the Strategic Dialogue historic consensus [3]. However, the EBAF membership shows a notable shift in favour of Big Agri industry, as this new body will operate based on a simple majority rule.<\/span><\/p>\n

Faustine Bas-Defossez, EEB Director for Nature, Health and Environment said:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe look forward to building on the historic success of the Strategic Dialogue in the new EBAF. The Strategic Dialogue\u2019s result was achieved thanks to a rather fair balance of interests and a focus on consensus. Now, with a somewhat more industry-heavy group and majority rule, there is a risk the EBAF will struggle to achieve the same success. It is therefore of paramount importance that all members focus on operationalising the consensus recommendations of the Strategic Dialogue, to build a better future for farmers, consumers, and the environment. We will continue to strive for constructive dialogue and consensus to help achieve just this and hope others will too.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ariel Brunner, BirdLife Regional Director, Europe and Central Asia said:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when the future of our planet hangs in the balance, farmers cannot have a future unless we all do. We must fundamentally and democratically transform the agrifood sector. We can protect biodiversity, fight the climate crisis, and have long-term food security. As environmental NGOs, we will engage in open and loyal way with <\/span>EBAF, and<\/span> expect the same from all participants.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Marco Contiero, Greenpeace EU Policy Director on Agriculture, sai<\/strong>d:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>The secret ingredient in the Strategic Dialogue was that it united, in a balanced way, very different stakeholders in a shared commitment to change. EBAF must maintain that and build on it to create food systems that are fair for farmers, good for nature and beneficial for people’s health. The result will be unique, and exceptionally tasty, only if all stakeholders will be ready to understand and add each other’s unique flavours, instead of simply sticking to polarised positions.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The EBAF will have its first meeting on <\/span>4<\/span> February<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[ENDS]<\/p>\n

Notes for editors<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

[1] European Commission <\/span>EBAF announcement<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] The establishment of the EBAF follows on from the recommendations in the final report of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture. <\/span>Read more<\/span><\/a> on the purpose of the EBAF and the initiatives of the Strategic Dialogue.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[3] <\/span>EEB press release<\/span><\/a> following Strategic Dialogue announcement.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new high-level food and farming advisory body announced today [1] by the European Commission signals continued efforts to foster positive dialogue and fight polarisation, despite [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":116904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[118,116,3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-nature-agriculture","category-news","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/francesco-gallarotti-ruQHpukrN7c-unsplash.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}