First modification:
Some of their environmental complaints are that the limitations of GMOs do not allow them to compete with imported products. And they have already won the fight against some regulations of the Green Pact, such as not reducing the use of pesticides between now and 2030 and not leaving 4% of arable land free so that it can be regenerated, what is known as fallow.
Farmers have been protesting in Europe for more than a month. Tractors and trucks have blocked country roads in countries including France, Belgium, Poland, Italy and Spain. Although there are many reasons for demonstrating, several of them have to do with the environment.
Their argument is that the regulations that the European Union has to reduce pollution and protect biodiversity go against agricultural development and especially put them at a disadvantage with farmers in other countries. This is explained by the Agrarian Association of Young Farmers (ASAJA), one of the three organizations that promote protests in Spain.
“In Europe, most transgenic products are prohibited, which are genetically modified to be able to grow and resist droughts, for example. But those products that may come from Brazil, Canada, and the United States are allowed to enter through European ports. As is the case with transgenic corn. We want to play with the same rules of the game,” Juan Luis Delgado, vice president of ASAJA Nacional and president of ASAJA Salamanca, explained to France 24.
But GMOs are not only about competitiveness. Eight environmental organizations They explain that genetically modified crops can have an impact on human health and nature. For example, it can affect the adaptation that some ecosystems have already achieved to face the climate crisis. And they could also affect patents on farmers' rights to access certain seeds.
In this sense, the European Commission tried in December of last year to create a regulatory framework to regulate GMOs and decide how to study the risks. But there was no agreement due to the opposition of some countries such as Poland and Hungary. For all these reasons, the rules on these genetic modifications remain the same.
The EU gave its arm to twist on pesticides and fallow
Unlike what has happened with GMOs, the European Union did grant some of the requests made by farmers in their protests.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von Der Leyen, asked to withdraw the legislative project that intended to reduce the use of pesticides by half by 2030. Although as Tom Kucharz, from Ecologistas en Acción, explained on the social network X, The measure died in 2023 when the European Parliament rejected it amid pressure from the agrochemical lobby.
Another rule that was withdrawn has to do with productive lands. The European regulation establishes that 4% of arable land must be left free so that the land does not wear out and regenerate, which is known as fallow. The protests managed to allow them to grow food crops such as lentils or peas in that space at least during 2024.
These had been two of the greatest demands of farmers, who claim that the Green Deal's environmental regulations reduce their competitiveness against imported products. The Green Deal is a package of political initiatives created by the European Union to become the first climate neutral region in the world by 2050.
The regulations promise that the transformation of the bloc's countries includes a modern and sustainable economy, although protesting farmers believe otherwise. The vice president of ASAJA maintains that more than environmental measures, the European Union needs to strengthen food sovereignty.
For Laia Serra Valls, an agroecology expert at Ecologists in Action of Catalonia, food sovereignty is an issue that is on the table. But she claims that the reason why farmers have lost room for maneuver is not the Green Deal, but the current production system.
“The great loss of biodiversity and ecosystems is, to a large extent, caused by the agroindustrial system that uses toxins, that exploits the soil to the maximum and kills the life that is there. Therefore, we must point out the true causes of the situation, where a large part of the peasantry is in very difficult conditions. But, we cannot give up any small step to achieve a more responsible and sustainable agriculture. There are measures that we propose, but obviously they do not involve canceling fallow or increasing the use of phytotoxic elements,” Serra Valls explained to France 24 in Spanish.
However, she clarifies that there is no dichotomy between environmentalists and farmers because in the end they both love the land. Although she adds that “the world of the peasantry is neither uniform nor homogeneous.”
“Here there are businessmen, day laborers who are making a poor living, small producers who are businessmen, but who are trying to regenerate the soil,” he points out; and differentiates them from large industries. “There is an agribusiness system that is poisoning and impoverishing us. It only benefits a few,” he emphasizes.
For this reason, he maintains that although it is necessary to fight for the food sovereignty of the European Union, this cannot be done by going against environmental treaties.
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