Harriet Bradley, EU Agriculture and Bioenergy Officer argues in this piece that we currently produce more than enough food in the EU – even too much when it comes to meat and dairy. But our food systems will be in danger if we don’t urgently bring them in line with planetary boundaries. The COVID crisis is bringing into ever-sharper relief the battle between intensive and sustainable agriculture.

Forty organisations including organic, small scale and agroecological farmers have joined forces with environmental NGOs and other civil society organisations, to stress the urgent need for sustainable European farming policies - from the Farm to Fork Strategy to the Common Agricultural Policy (or the CAP, one of the largest systems of farm subsidies in the world).

Europe isn’t forced to continue down this path. A study into the viability of shifting to agroecological production systems in Europe by 2050 showed that it can be done: we can lower overall production and still feed Europe’s population sustainably and nutritiously. How? By producing differently and smarter. Freeing up land by reducing meat production by 45%, reviving ecosystems by dedicating 10% of farmland to agroecological infrastructures such as hedges, flower strips, and ponds, and preserving semi-natural grasslands. The transition to agroecology also involves phasing out pesticides and fertilizers and stopping burning food crops like maize and rapeseed for biofuels.

The author states that we must use the next CAP to deliver this transition to agroecology, or we will knowingly court the next crisis, where our ability to produce food will be a real problem. The science is clear: we must urgently shift to nature-friendly farming. The real dividing line is not between environment and production, but between those who want to contribute to the current self-destructive path of intensive agriculture for short-term profit, and those who want to bring farming back in line with planetary boundaries and safeguard the resources and ecosystems that we rely on to produce food in the long-term.