Transforming EU food systems – CIDSE

Transforming EU food systems

A 10+13 Agroecology approach to shape policies and transform EU Food Systems
A policy brief by the EU Food Policy Coalition, January 2021.

In this new policy paper, 25 organisations of the EU Food Policy Coalition including CIDSE, put forward a proposal to mainstream agroecology into the policies governing EU food systems. It builds on the consensual vision of a coalition of EU civil society, farmers and scientific organizations to use the FAO ‘10 Elements of Agroecology’ and ‘13 Agroecological Principles’ as a framework to develop the appropriate instruments and targets for EU policies.


As part of both the EU Biodiversity and Farm to Fork strategies, the EU will adopt a legal framework for Sustainable Food Systems. The 10 Elements and 13 Principles should be used to guide the design of policy interventions across Europe, and enable national authorities to address the EU targets stemming from the EU Green Deal framework.

In parallel, EU funds – especially from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) – will be available in each Member State. Member States will have a significant responsibility to enforce new EU standards and to design new schemes to support the transition towards agroecology and sustainable food systems. In this context, the 10 Elements and the 13 Principles should be used by Member States as a guide to define their strategies and interventions.

Agroecology is not one of the tools in a toolbox, it is a different toolbox altogether. The EU must recognise agroecology as the key pathway to transform EU food and farming systems, embracing the whole potential of agroecology through the framework proposed, and translate this commitment into all its future policies relating to food systems.



Cover photo: Organic market in Toulouse, France by Alexandre Delbos, Creative Commons

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