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La Commission européenne a proposé une loi-cadre sur les systèmes alimentaires durables. Pour stimuler le débat, ce Point de vue résume les messages clés d'une note d'orientation du Réseau européen des conseils consultatifs pour l'environnement et le développement durable (EEAC). Le système alimentaire européen ne propose pas de régimes alimentaires durables à faible impact sur l'environnement qui contribuent à la sécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle et à une vie saine pour les générations présentes et futures. Un cadre européen devrait favoriser la santé humaine et planétaire dans une approche cohérente et équilibrée entre une politique d'approvisionnement agricole, une politique environnementale et une politique alimentaire (de consommation). Il devrait orienter la forte capacité d'innovation des acteurs vers une agriculture, une transformation et une consommation alimentaires plus durables plutôt que vers la recherche de prix alimentaires toujours plus bas. Cependant, une transition juste est essentielle : dans la mesure où des régimes alimentaires sains ne sont pas abordables pour les consommateurs, une compensation devrait leur être apportée par des modifications du salaire minimum, de la sécurité sociale ou de l'impôt sur le revenu. Différents instruments de politique sont nécessaires. Les acteurs du système alimentaire ne devraient pas être exemptés des mesures générales à l'échelle de l'économie telles que la tarification du carbone. La certification de toutes les exploitations commerciales, généralisant les méthodes de l'agriculture biologique et des certifications du secteur privé, est nécessaire. L'étiquetage, l'approvisionnement durable et une obligation d’incorporation récompenseraient les producteurs plus durables et augmenteraient le prix moyen du produit en le rapprochant de son coût réel.

Die Europäische Kommission hat ein Rahmengesetz für nachhaltige Lebensmittelsysteme vorgeschlagen. Um die Debatte anzuregen, fasst dieser Blickpunkt die Kernaussagen eines Positionspapiers aus dem Netzwerk der Europäischen Beratungsgremien für Umwelt und nachhaltige Entwicklung (EEAC) zusammen. Danach gewährleistet das europäische Lebensmittelsystem keine nachhaltige Ernährung mit geringen Umweltauswirkungen, die zur Lebensmittel- und Ernährungssicherheit und zu einem gesunden Leben für heutige und künftige Generationen beiträgt. Ein EU-Rahmenwerk sollte die Gesundheit der Menschenweltweit in einem kohärenten und ausgewogenen Ansatz unter Einbeziehung einer landwirtschaftlichen Versorgungspolitik, einer Umweltpolitik und einer Lebensmittel- (und Konsum-) politik fördern. Dieser Rahmen sollte die starke Innovationskapazität der Beteiligten weg von immer niedrigeren Lebensmittelpreisen hin zu einer nachhaltigeren Landwirtschaft und Lebensmittelverarbeitung sowie eines nachhaltigeren Lebensmittelkonsums lenken. Entscheidend ist hierbei jedoch ein gerechter Wandel: Soweit eine gesunde Ernährung für die Verbraucher und Verbraucherinnen nic

New entrants to farming are eligible for CAP targeted supports. The intention of these supports is to promote innovativeness and sustainability in the agricultural sector through generational renewal. However, new entrants (successors or those completely new into the industry), still face multiple barriers above other longstanding farmers, including lack of access to necessary capital, land and housing. There is also ambiguity about the success of new entrant supports in achieving their stated objectives. We draw on results from an online survey distributed to anyone involved in farming in Europe, including European new entrants and those working in new entrant support services. Survey respondents were asked how they would define a ‘new entrant farmer’. A clear majority of respondents indicated that new entrants should be new to the industry; that is, not successors to existing farm businesses. A substantial minority of respondents indicated that new entrants should be establishing innovative new businesses, with an overlapping cohort emphasising sustainability. Very few respondents identified age as an important criterion. We argue that the new entrant definition utilised in policy supports could be more targeted towards policy objectives, distinguishing social justice supports (enabling newcomers to enter the sector), from supports for innovation (e.g. venture capital funds) and sustainability (greening the CAP).

The agricultural sector in the EU Southern Neighbourhood Partners (SNP) is struggling to respond to sustainability challenges. It needs stronger policies to deliver balanced sustainability outcomes in economic, social and environmental terms. Based on recent information and a structured assessment of the impacts of prevailing public policies on the sustainability of agriculture in Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Turkey, carried out within the Sustainmed project (https://sustainmed.iamm.fr), we conclude that several factors contribute to the struggles in strengthening sustainability functions of agriculture in these countries. In the main, there is a lack of policy coherence toward sustainability uncovered by the dual, unbalanced consideration given to different sustainability factors in the study countries: pure economic factors largely prevail over factors related to resource conservation and social and cultural values, these latter factors being a precondition for long-term economic growth. Consequently, there is a genuine need for a more consistent vision of sustainability issues in future policy agendas, including better data systems and specific policies to incentivise sustainable agriculture in the SNP; as the challenge over the coming decades in these countries will be to increase agricultural production and productivity while at the same time managing natural resources sustainably. Findings can guide policymakers and other stakeholders in the agricultural sector to identify pathways towards sustaining agriculture in the SNP.

The reverberations of the Ukraine–Russia conflict have been keenly felt in 2022 as the impacts of Russia's invasion of Ukraine quickly cascaded across the globe, significantly exacerbating existing pressures on global systems. The vulnerabilities of the global food system have been particularly laid bare with significant disruptions to food and fertiliser supply chains instigating profound shocks on global food supply – disproportionately affecting poorer and vulnerable populations of the Global South. The immediate concerns and potential solutions to the global impacts of the Ukraine–Russia conflict were recently discussed by a panel of industry, academic and civil society experts convened by the European branch of the International Life Sciences Institute, all of whom are authors of this manuscript. The key concerns: the reduced affordability of food – focussing on those most vulnerable to its effects; the socio-political implications of reduced food security; food safety; and nutrition security are all discussed in this Point de Vue. The authors voice the need for improved resilience to future shocks and stress on the food system.

Food systems require reorientation to take greater account of interactions with the environment, economy, health and society. Transitions to agroecological farming practices and systems can connect policy areas and realise environmental, economic and social aims. These transitions provide a lens for reviewing policy, practice and behaviours of actors in farming systems and value chains, identification of barriers to uptake, and policy areas to which they contribute or where there are gaps. Developing social and human capital, and governance structures that enable transitions to agroecology are key to their prospects of success. Education and life-long learning are key to developing the knowledge and skills of younger generations of land managers and other actors in value chains, throughout their careers. The outcome sought is for a shared understanding of the benefits of agroecological practices and systems, creating opportunities to rebalance policies towards delivering climate neutrality, reversing biodiversity loss, and enhancing rights of citizens. To realise those opportunities policies and strategies should be coherent across territorial and systems levels, and tailored to place, system, people, and stages of transitions. Overall, they should be designed to ensure all citizens are beneficiaries of transitions to agroecological farming systems, over the long term, and that no-one or place is disadvantaged by the processes of change or the outcome intended.

Dr Gerald Schwarz, Thünen-Institute of Farm Economics, Germany

Farming systems in transitions towards agroecology, i.e. the application of ecological principles to agricultural systems and practices, have gained prominence in the scientific, agricultural and political discourse in recent years. In particular, this corresponds to the ambition of the European Union's Green Deal and the Farm-to-Fork Strategy of ‘designing a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system’. The current European Union (EU) regulation of organic production (EU, 2018) is an example of a formalised implementation of farming approaches based on agroecological practices that have had some success. But while there is some initial evidence of the economic impacts of agroecological practices (van der Ploeg et al., 2019), questions remain about the economic viability and trade-offs in the economic, environmental and social performance of farming systems that are in transition towards agroecology (Tittonell et al., 2020). In addition, risks of negative impacts on food security and displacing production to other world regions have been highlighted (Fuchs et al., 2020). Hence, the socio-economic dimensions of the sustainability of farming systems in transition to agroecology requires further attention (Bezner Kerr et al., 2021).

This Special Issue of EuroChoices aims to provide some answers to these questions, highlighting and combining key findings from two related EU-funded research projects, the LIFT and UNISECO projects. Both projects have been running separately, with different methodologies and concepts, but provide complementary views on these questions. The articles in this Special Issue adopt a broad understanding of agroecological practices, i.e. those that aim to produce food, fibre and energy and contribute to improving the sustainability of farming systems. We expect the contributions to the sustainability of farming systems to be based on the optimisation of ecological processes contributing to environmental and public health and well-being; along with reductions in socio-ecological costs from agriculture such as soil degradation, water contamination, greenhouse gas emissions and inequitable social structures (Bezner Kerr et al., 2021; HLPE, 2019).

Agroecological practices include practices at field level such as the use of cover crops and reduced or no tillage; at farm level such as the creation of riparian buffers and the integration of crops and livestock; at regional and community levels, the management of landscape features and increasing local markets that connect consumers to producers (Prazan and Aalders, 2019; Wezel et al., 2014). In the LIFT and UNISECO projects, practices were implemented in different combinations in a range of farming approaches transitioning to a