farmers

Strengthen farmers' position in the agri-food supply chain

NAT-VIII/003
Loredana CAPONE
 Adoption: 15/05/2025
The Commission acknowledges the CoR’s support for the proposed amendment to the CMO Regulation, in particular measures to:
• improve transparency, stability and price transmission in farmer-buyer relations, thereby strengthening farmers’ bargaining position and helping them move away from a price-taking role;
• support cooperation among producers, including by extending the competition law exclusion to non-recognised producer organisations that meet the relevant recognition criteria;
• promote producer organisations for organic producers; and
• increase transparency and reliability in the food chain, including through future implementing legislation defining the terms ‘fair’ and ‘short’ supply chains.
The Commission notes that some CoR requests go beyond the scope of the current proposal, notably those concerning crisis prevention and management, supply management mechanisms and a dedicated performance framework. It recalls that the EU’s market-oriented approach has helped increase farmers’ income and competitiveness, while excessive supply management could weaken market responsiveness, innovation and the sector’s ability to meet consumer and societal demands.
On the proposed EU UTPs platform, the Commission underlines that an active network of enforcement authorities already exists, supported by regular meetings and an online platform for exchanging information on closed investigations and interpretation issues.
Finally, the Commission informs the Committee that the evaluation report on the UTP Directive will be presented in November 2025.
THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS:

- welcomes the European Commission’s legislative proposals to strengthen farmers’ position in the agri-food supply, however, considers that the proposed measures, while necessary, are not sufficient on their own to ensure a fair and stable income for farmers
- considers therefore that the Regulation establishing a common market organisation of agricultural products (CMO) should be further amended in order to guarantee farmers prices that at least cover production costs
- requests therefore the creation of a tool that allows aid for voluntary reduction in production to be triggered automatically as soon as certain thresholds are crossed
- calls on the Commission to adopt a performance framework within which to place its action in terms of crisis management
 welcomes the explicit recognition of the importance of establishing POs specifically for organic producers but considers that allowing the production of different kinds of animals in one organic PO would be a great support for the stability of the organic sector.
- reiterates that it will be impossible to make markets more fair and balanced by marginally reforming the CMO and UTP, while agreeing at the same time to the deregulation of European agricultural markets in the context of international trade agreements
- welcomes the European Commission’s proposal to enhance cross-border enforcement against UTPs and proposes establishing an ‘EU UTPs Platform’ with the presence of all Member States’ designated enforcement authorities, so that they can better coordinate their work and ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of the measures established by this Regulation
- looks forward to the revision of the UTP Directive expected by the end of 2025, which should be based on those national approaches which have provided for stricter rules than those provided thus far by the EU framework; in particular, considers it necessary to extend the list of prohibited unfair practices to include resale at a loss, the inclusion of the self-preferencing prohibition, and double-race auctions, and to punish purchases at prices below production costs