EU publishes farming sector reform ‘vision’ which aims to cut red tape and redistribute subsidies

BRUSSELS — The European Union’s executive on Wednesday heeded the call of activist agricultural organizations and the complaints of hard-right parties by proposing a vision for the future of farming and food production that aims to cut deep into the complicated rules designed to protect the environment. “Lighter and more agile policy is a must,” he said, adding: “More farming, fewer forms to fill in.” Environmentalists, and many farmers, see the cutting of red tape as a relaxing of environmental rules that are necessary to protect the continent against climate change. “EU farm policy pays massive amounts of public money to a model of farming that eats away at nature, rewards billionaire land-owners, puts small farms out of business and hollows out rural communities,” said Greenpeace farm policy director Marco Contiero. “This is the Commission’s tunnel vision on farming, unwilling to change course even as our food system crumbles.” ‘Stronger alignment of production standards’ Farmers have also criticized EU trade negotiators for striking deals with foreign nations in Asia and Latin America which they say allows them to import many foodstuffs containing substances deemed illegal in the EU and farm practices that are outlawed in the bloc. Under the EU Vision project, the bloc “will pursue a stronger alignment of production standards applied to imported products, notably on pesticides and animal welfare.” “As a principle, the most hazardous pesticides banned in the EU for health and environmental reasons should not be allowed back to the EU through imported products,” the EU said in a statement.