Europe’s food policymakers face an increasingly complex challenge as the continent grapples with overlapping crises related to food production and consumption.
Climate change, food security, a cost of living crisis, and public health trends, such as increasing obesity rates, have created a policy environment where difficult trade-offs are required.
An important new report, commissioned by premier health and wellness company Herbalife has now added to this debate by defining a path forward that could support European policymakers as they try to balance the competing pressures that they face.
Produced by respected consultancy firm, Altermind, in collaboration with leading experts, the report takes a deep dive into the challenges and conflicts that exist in European food policy.
“This is a debate where policymakers are often struggling to achieve an apparently impossible set of outcomes,” Alessandro Tschirkov, from leading nutrition company Herbalife, explained to The Parliament. “The shared goal is a food system that is environmentally sustainable, healthy for consumers, and affordable. But with a system under pressure from rising costs, public health concerns and regulatory burden, that feels increasingly out of reach.”
The report identifies the need for a holistic approach to our food systems and products that allows a balance to be maintained between health, sustainability, and affordability. However, the authors find that achieving that aim is far from straightforward. It will require new thinking that places innovation at the centre of future EU food systems.
As we face the mounting challenges of climate change, food security, and public health, it is vital that we adopt innovative and sustainable food policies that benefit all Europeans
Those new solutions are desperately needed. Events in recent years have demonstrated the fragility of the European food system. Supply chain disruption caused first by COVID and then by the Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to spiralling food inflation and starkly demonstrated that the European food system is not immune to shocks. At the same time, the transition to a low-carbon future and growing concerns about public health are piling additional pressure on policymakers.
The cumulative impact of those events is starkly set out in the Altermind report. Food prices surged 15.5% in the 12 months to March 2023. The report also finds that worldwide agriculture accounts for around a third of GHG emissions and that over half of the European population is obese or overweight creating pressure on already overstretched health services.
Dario Nardella MEP, who sits on the AGRI Committee, tells us: “As we face the mounting challenges of climate change, food security, and public health, it is vital that we adopt innovative and sustainable food policies that benefit all Europeans.”
Nardella says policymakers, agriculture, and wider industry must “embrace new thinking and work collaboratively to ensure that Europe’s food systems are environmentally sustainable, economically viable, and accessible to everyone”.
One of the most significant pressures on Europe’s agrifood sector comes from the continent’s ambitious environmental goals. Policies such as the Green Deal and Fit for 55 packages aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions, reduce water and land use, and minimise waste across the agrifood value chain. However, the Altermind report demonstrates that the fragmented nature of food production, with numerous stakeholders, from small farmers to multinational corporations, makes this transition both slow and contentious.
“We need to think very carefully about what we need from our food systems,” Tschirkov tells us. “Many farmers feel squeezed between rising costs, stringent environmental regulations, and volatile market conditions. We need food policies that are not only environmentally responsible but also economically viable for those who produce our food.”
The Altermind report highlights products like Herbalife’s F1 as potentially important in achieving this triple-bottom line, combining sustainability, affordability and nutritional value.
But while the report says such products represent progress, it also argues that a wider structural shift is also needed to help Europe achieve resilient, competitive food systems.
The call for this shift comes amid growing concerns over Europe’s capacity to maintain its competitive edge in the global agrifood sector. An influential 2024 report led by former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on competitiveness notably left out the agrifood sector. Some industry leaders believe that omission could potentially disadvantage a sector that is critical to Europe’s long-term sustainability and food security.
“Insufficient investment in innovation could cause Europe to fall behind its global competitors,” Tschirkov explains. Profound lifestyle changes have taken place over the past 40 years, and consumer preferences have changed alongside with them. “Investing in research and development to meet the needs of today’s consumers is key for achieving a sustainable agricultural model. We need an innovative industry to be a partner in this process.”
Alongside increased R&D, the Altermind report also zeros in on other important changes that could help policymakers achieve Tschirkov’s “impossible set of outcomes”.
Diversifying financial support provided through the Common Agricultural Policy, for example, could begin to help farmers transition from meat and dairy production to embracing production for plant-based solutions for human consumption.
Sebastian Everding, a German MEP from the Left Group and a member of the AGRI Committee, says supporting people to switch to a plant-based diet would not just help solve the ‘trinity’ identified in the report, but offers a “five-fold win-win”. “The health of animals and humans benefits, climate targets are largely met, biodiversity can be restored, farmers can have a secure income and, of course, animal welfare is fundamentally improved,” he said, adding that it would be “fatal” for the environment “if we continue to inefficiently put several times more calories into animal feed than we receive in food”.
What is clear is that achieving a sustainable, accessible, and competitive food future for Europe will require close collaboration between industry players, research institutions, and policymakers.
That deeper dialogue within the agrifood sector is vital if we are to identify solutions that meet consumer demands while addressing the unique challenges of European food production. However, collaboration and innovation can potentially help European food systems thrive in an increasingly competitive global landscape.
Read the full report here
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