Action Days: EU Citizens Call for Food Justice

This October citizens from all over Europe call EU Institutions for a transition to #FoodJustice.

Strong political ambition is needed to transform the entire food system - from the way food is grown, harvested, processed and distributed, to the way it is shared and consumed so that it does not end up in the trash.

This means shifting power away from corporations and ensuring that quality food is treated as a human right, not a privilege.

Visit the website of our partners Good Food Good Farming and be part of the change! See all the initiatives and how you can get involved in this important mission: https://goodfoodgoodfarming.eu/action-days/

Why is it important?

Europe has lost five million farms in the past 15 years, and one in ten Europeans can no longer afford a healthy meal every other day.

At the same time, agricultural workers, 2 million of them migrants, face some of the harshest working conditions in the EU, while the dominant model of industrial agriculture continues to destroy nature and worsen the climate crisis.

The system is failing the farmers who grow our food, the people who eat it, and the environment that sustains it. We need to urgently turn this around.

Solution:

If rooted in agroecology, our food system could feed a growing population while cutting agrifood emissions by 40%.

To make farmers livelihoods more just, we need stronger market rules and to redirect public funds to support farmers in implementing nature-friendly, rights-based practices.

To reverse the trend of disappearing farms in Europe, new farmers and food workers need training, fair pay, and safe working conditions.

To ensure better access to healthy food for all, public kitchens should prioritise local, sustainable and healthy produce.

We want to:

1) Regulate markets and redirect public funding - Stronger regulation is essential to create fair prices and incomes for farmers. Once markets provide fair prices and incomes, public funding can move away from just keeping farmers afloat and focus more on supporting public goods and services.

2) Support new farmers and ensure social equity - To secure the future of food, we must make farming a viable and appealing for new farmers, especially those ready to lead the agroecological transition. Workers across the food chain must have safe conditions, fair pay and equal rights.

3) Work with nature, not against it - Protecting soils, water and biodiversity is essential to keep producing enough food for the future. The way we care for nature today will decide how much food we can grow tomorrow.

4) Guarantee equitable access to food - To ensure that everyone has access to healthy, sustainable food, we must confront deep - rooted inequalities in land ownership, market access and public services. Strenghtening local food systems and using public procurement - like school meals and hospital kitchens - to prioritise local, sustainable produce are key steps toward realising the right for food for all.

5) Democratise food systems - To build fairer food systems, communities must have a say in how food is produced, distributed and governed. This means ensuring transparency in the whole supply chain, holding corporations accountable, and guaranteeing fair representation, in policymaking so that decisions reflect people's needs and rights.