Author: Serafin Pazos-Vidal (AEIDL)
The Conference on the Vision for Agriculture and Food took place on 8 May 2025 at The Square in Brussels. It was centred around the theme of “Shaping the future of farming and the agri-food sector”.
The event brought together key stakeholders – including European agri-food sectors, civil society, rural communities, consumers, think-tanks, academia, Member States and MEPs – to contribute to the debate to shape an attractive farming and agri-food sector for future generations.
The conference aims were to:
- continue to build consensus around the Vision and its roadmap
- discuss and gather feedback on the way forward, focusing on key initiatives outlined in the Vision
- engage with stakeholders on the future direction for the CAP post 2027
It was the first major event after the close of the public consultation on the future of the EU Budget post 2027, including CAP, which closed earlier in the week, and whose results will be tabled in July. It is also one of the key agricultural events of the year, following the presentation of the Vision for Agriculture and Food as a priority initiative for the first 100 days of this Commission’s mandate, and the launch of the European Board for Agriculture and Food and aims to secure the long-term competitiveness and sustainability of the EU’s farming and food sector. The goal of this conference to foster a collaborative dialogue to ensure a sustainable and competitive future for the agri-food sector.
Conference Highlights
- Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, delivered a video speech emphasizing the importance of a sustainable and competitive agri-food sector. She emphasized the need for a simpler CAP with more exemptions for small farms, increased payments, and better access to capital. She also highlighted the importance of supporting small farms and new generation farmers.
- Christophe Hansen, Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, highlighted the strategic initiatives needed to achieve these goals. Mr Hansen discussed the renewal of fair trading directives and the ongoing efforts to simplify the CAP. He stressed the importance of generational renewal, noting that only 9 million farms remain in the EU, down from 3 million. Land acquisition and land leasing will be facilitated. He confirmed that the EU land observatory to be launched before summer.
- In line with the CODECS project, he highlighted the even more crucial role that digital and smart technologies will play in both farming but also the EU Strategic autonomy in food production (where EU remains net exporter). Similarly, bioeconomy is a key priority with 400.000 skilled jobs created by 2035.
That said, environmental resilience remains a source of concern, which specific measures to be included in the EU Water Resilience Strategy to be launched in June. In outlining his plans for the Livestock Sector vision he underlined that livestock has decreased by 7.8% in ten years. The competitiveness, resilience and sustainability of the livestock sector is crucial for the viability of areas with natural constrains such as mountain areas.
While all eyes are in the post 2027 CAP to be unveiled later this year Mr Hansen stressed the important that the present CAP delivers. Simplification CAP is the priority of his mandate, with a new simplification package to be presented in May and a second one on policies beyond CAP by end 2025. He vowed for better recognition of organic farming and simplified payments, digitalisation and access to capital for small farmers.That said, this also require that countries and regions reduce their own amount of gold-plating of EU rules. next week
Plenary Sessions
1. From Vision to Action: This session focused on fostering an attractive, competitive, resilient, future-proof, and fair EU agri-food sector.
- The panel discussion included figures such as Czesław Siekierski, Polish Minister of Agriculture under the present EU Presidency, called for evolutionary changes to the CAP, emphasizing the need for a separate CAP budget and stronger dialogue with farmers.
- Eric Sargiacomo MEP, Vice-Chair of COMAGRI, European Parliament, highlighted the need to evolve direct payments to better align with environmental objectives and strategic value chains.
- Peter Schmidt, President NAT section, European Economic and Social Committee, advocated for a food systems approach to developed in the next CAP, with more funding for smaller farms and a consistent CAP with the Do No Significant Harm (DNSH) principle.
- Piotr Całbecki, President NAT Commission, Committee of the Regions, while noting that the Vision reflected the imput from his earlier CoR Opinion he stressed that the next CAP must consider the territorial dimension and the National Single Plans that are likely to be proposed to be drafted through the Partnership Principle with local and regional authorities.
- Massimiliano Giansanti, COPA President called for increased competitiveness, fairness in the whole value chain with better salaries for farmers, and more digitalization in farming. He was among those that called to keep the current two pilar structure in CAP (farm support and rural development)
Building an Attractive Farming Sector for the Future:
This session emphasized fostering investment and entrepreneurship for generational renewal. In addition to panel included Anne van Leeuwen, a young Dutch farmer, and Peter Meedendorp, CEJA President, Gelsomina Vigliotti, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank, delivered the keynote speech. Since 2024, EIB Strategic Roadmap identifies agriculture and bioeconomy as one of the strategic priorities. A key issue is climate resilience and the need to work with insurance sector to cover for extreme weather events and develop more financing methods for de-risking agriculture (public guarantees, EU loans). The EIB took the opportunity to highlight the present services to the faring sector such as Fi-Compass as to address the €62bn finance gap facing farmers in mainly for land acquisition or the €3bn pan EU-wide funding for: young farmers, sustainable farming practice and land purchase, gender equality.
Interactive Breakout Sessions
Participants engaged in three interactive breakout sessions:
1. Enhancing Resilience to Risks and Crises: Led by Luis Planas , Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, this session focused on strategies to enhance resilience in the agri-food sector. He discussed generational renewal and women, innovation, no clash between agriculture and environment, fast track procedure for authorisation of pest management products. Like many other speakers he insisted on the need to avoid the conflict of priorities between defence and food security within the next EU budget; rather the focus should be on increasing the EU budget for financing EU public goods.
2. Developing Excellence in Livestock Production Chains: This session, directed by Pierre-Marie Aubert, Director of Agriculture and Food Policies Programme at IDDRI, discussed ways to improve livestock production chains.
3. Leveraging Opportunities from Bioeconomy, Nature, and Climate Protection: Sari Essayah, Finnish Minister for Agriculture and Forestry, led discussions on how farmers can benefit from bioeconomy and climate protection initiatives.
Conclusion and Future Directions
The conference concluded with a wrap-up session where representatives from academia presented the outcomes of the breakout sessions. Pierre Bascou, Deputy Director-General of the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, delivered the closing speech, emphasizing the importance of continued collaboration and innovation in the agri-food sector. No doubt all eyes are now in the future of CAP proposal to come out after the EU budget is tabled next July. As Ms Von der Leyen has proposed that there will be National Single Plans combining all sources of EU funding that are delivered by national and regional authorities it is expected that significant changes in the way CAP is delivered post 2027.
