In 2011, the European Food and Drink Confederation became FoodDrinkEurope with the aim of collaborating with European and international institutions on issues that have an impact on the food and drink industry. It currently consists of 26 national federations, two of which are observers, 27 European sector associations and 21 major food and drink companies.
What are FoodDrinkEurope’s goals?
“FoodDrinkEurope’s mission is to facilitate the development of an environment in which all European food and drink companies, whatever their size, can meet the needs of consumers and society, while competing effectively for sustainable growth.”
In particular, FoodDrinkEurope operates through a network of more than 700 experts on 4 specific subjects: i) food safety; ii) consumer policy (science, nutrition and health); iii) environmental sustainability; and iv) competitiveness.
In short, FoodDrinkEurope is the food and drink industry’s lobbying arm for supporting and influencing policies that affect the sector. Note that in using the term “lobby” we do not intend to suggest that this will automatically have a negative impact on the environment and/or society. All organizations can and should put forward their proposals while respecting the law and environmental and social sustainability.
We would like to draw readers’ attention to 2 interesting reports that are directly or indirectly to do with the soil:
- Industry Working with Farmers
- Unfair Trading Practices – A historic opportunity to bring fairness and predictability to all in the food supply chain!
We are putting them together here because one is the continuation of the other and both have a direct impact on farmers and their choices and therefore on the soil.
Strengths
- Agriculture in the EU complies with high standards in the fields of food safety, plant health, animal health and welfare and the environment.
- The EU farming community also depends on the EU food and drink industry, which buys some 70% of all EU agricultural raw materials.
- Good examples of relationships between food producers and the food industry.
- Bargaining power is not concentrated in the hands of industry but in the chain of retailers who impose their prices regardless of the real costs of production.
- Individual producers are in a position of dependency on retailers because they represent just a tiny fraction of the retailer’s activity.
- An EU directive can further strengthen producers’ positions as regards the fear factor, increasing business certainty and providing balance in the food supply chain.
- Protection against the stranglehold of retailers does not have repercussions on the prices paid by consumers.
Weaknesses
- There is no direct reference to the need to conserve the soil, and the need for sustainable farming is mentioned without any analysis of its impact on industry choices.
- There is no analysis of the impact of industry choices on producers.
- There is no acceptance of responsibility for the impact of commercialization on the environment and society.
We invite our readers to send us their analyses, clarifications, and comments.
Gruppo Suolo Europa 