Speakers:

MEP Bert-Jan Ruissen (SGP/ECPM)

Roel Jongeneel -Senior Scientist at Wageningen Economic Research

Bart Kemp- Spokesman for the farmer organization Agractie

Kees Huizinga- Dutch farmer living in the Ukraine

Hosted by our MEP Bert-Jan Ruissen and attended by over seventy-five people, we organized a seminar in Putten, NL where we discussed the current threats to our food supply and what that means for our future.

The European Union has been largely self-sufficient in most agricultural products and is the largest exporter of agri food products, but all that is in danger of changing. The rapid increase in world population, climate change and the war in Ukraine are threatening to destabilize the global food security.

The speakers have drawn attention in particular to the European Green Deal and its provisions which greatly restrict and regulate the agricultural sector, causing significant tension among the farmers and fishermen (as the protests in the last few years have shown). Those present have echoed the discontent of the food producers about all the red tape and bureaucratic burden they need to put up with in order to be able to continue their activities. Restrictions planned by the Dutch government (and others in Europe) to reduce the size of agricultural land and transform it into protected areas or designate it to settlements have been discussed with much concern.

MEP Ruissen committed to continuing the fight at European level on behalf of fishermen, farmers and gardeners, praising the people engaged in these industry for their hard work and for keeping Europe fed.