Activists from across Europe have begun a march on Brussels, calling for radical farming reform. The marchers, calling for changes to farming policies which they maintain serve to benefit agribusinesses and large farms over smaller, independent farmers.

The Good Food March, which has been organised by groups from around Europe, is entering its last leg. Having met in Strasbourg, France marchers and cyclists from across the EU have begun the final stretch of the march to the seat of European political power in what they hope will be the biggest ever gathering of EU citizens calling for a major reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The event’s climax will be on 19th September and the marchers have pointed to the world food situation, where poor harvests in two of the world’s major grain producing regions have caused cereal prices to rocket, limiting access to essential staples for the world’s poorest, as evidence of the need for fundamental change. Supporters of the campaign have said price rises have been artificially stoked by speculation.

A decision on the future of EU farming policy for the next seven years is expected next year. Opinions throughout Europe’s states differ on the direction the CAP should take going forward. Whilst France has pushed for greater environmental considerations, many farming groups have balked at the prospect of compulsory ‘greening measures.’ Equally unpopular is the UK government’s willingness to slash subsidies and leave Europe’s farmers at the mercy of the market.

The coalition behind the Good Food March is calling for “fair and sustainable farming Systems,” including a reduced reliance on “factory farming and monocultures, an end to food speculation and food waste, and support to cultivate local protein feed crops, rather than importing soy to feed Europe's farm animals.”

Stanka Becheva, food and agriculture campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe, one of the organisations lending support to the march said, “Farming is in a crisis. Farmers and biodiversity are disappearing, corporations are increasing their control, and global food prices are rocketing. The Good Food March is bringing together thousands of people across Europe calling for a real reform of farming that takes account of the needs of citizens and farmers. We want fair conditions for farmers, a greener countryside and an end to policies that are harming poor people in developing countries.”

The groups behind the march hope the European Parliament’s inclusion in the CAP decision-making process, a first, will increase the chance of an outcome more acceptable to the European public, which research has shown want greater environmental consideration from any new policy.

A British delegation of the pan-European march initiative will be present at the London office of the European Commission to deliver the message that current European policy is benefitting transnational corporations and the extremely wealthy, rather than the European citizens and farmers it is intended to protect and food insecure people around the world, who it risks putting in a more precarious position.

In line with calls from sustainable agriculture groups in the UK and around the world, and even the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN, the British delegation has called for social, environmental and animal welfare criteria to form the core of decision making processes in allocating subsidies.

Haidee-Laure Giles, international programmes officer with War on Want, outlined the reasons for the charity’s involvement with the march, "For more than a decade the CAP has focused on subsidising unsustainable, industrialised agriculture, to the detriment of both small-scale farmers in Europe and the global south, and the environment. It is time the new CAP allows for a fair trade system, which does not encourage European agribusinesses to export huge quantities of food worldwide that poor farmers cannot compete with on price."

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