"Local and regional authorities have an important role to play in contributing to the sustainable development of food systems, greening public procurement, promoting a healthy diet, raising awareness of food waste and implementing concrete actions on the ground." EPP-CoR member Piotr Całbecki, made these remarks when presenting his opinion on 'Safeguarding food security and reinforcing the resilience of food system'.
To respond to the threat to food security, the rapporteur called on the European Commission to place greater emphasis on funding projects aimed at increasing food security at regional level to ensure the security of local communities. This objective should be achieved through diversification of food production, increased areas for producing food, adaptation of agricultural space to climate change, funding for research and implementation towards the production of food with a longer shelf life, and EU-level guarantee mechanisms for those regions which, for physical and geographic reasons, are unable to achieve the same self-sufficiency.
In the context of increase in food prices, Całbecki, who is President of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region said that the rapidly rising cost of living, including food prices, is a very high threat to the stability of local and regional socio-economic systems. "It will negatively affect the labour market, people's incomes and local government incomes, ultimately increasing poverty and in turn forcing local and regional authorities to be involved in addressing the effects of the problem." He thus stressed the importance of creating and promoting short and fast supply chains from farmer to consumer (meaning lower prices, high quality and rapid delivery).
The Rapporteur stressed the need to steer consumer behaviour towards diets with a high intake of fruit and vegetables, as well as towards the purchase of local/regional, fresh and seasonal foods produced using sustainable production methods. To this end, he called for the introduction and implementation of a large-scale educational programme. He also pointed out that, in order to encourage the public to use locally produced food, it is worth highlighting the place where it is produced (creating regional brands), as this can facilitate the acceptance of higher food prices if such are necessary in view of the cost of producing food;
Całbecki concluded "As a child of farmers I know the challenges farmers are experiencing. Farmers are key to making the transition to more sustainable food systems and should be backed by an appropriate toolkit and funding."
Further information
On 23 March 2022 the European Commission published a communication on Safeguarding food security and reinforcing the resilience of food systems, providing an overview of short-term and medium-term actions aimed at enhancing food security and supporting farmers and consumers in the European Union in light of rising food prices and input costs provoked by the Ukraine crisis.
The opinion of the CoR is expected to be adopted in the plenary session taking place next week in Brussels.
Piotr Calbecki was also entrusted by the CoR NAT Commission to organise an external meeting and conference on 'Food crisis: Innovative building of resilient regional and local communities' in Toruń, Poland next May.