Copa and Cogeca are the united voice of farmers and agri-cooperatives in the EU. Together, we ensure that EU agriculture is sustainable, innovative and competitive, while guaranteeing food security for 500 million people throughout Europe.
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In a powerful display of unity, Copa Cogeca did everything so that 10,000 farmers from all 27 EU Member States gathered today in Brussels for a peaceful march, sending a clear and unified message to the EU institutions: the three challenges facing agriculture are shared across the continent, and the time for action is now.
Agriculture is one of the most integrated sectors at European level and lies at the heart of many European institution initiatives. Copa and Cogeca organise themselves so as to respond to the challenges and questions posed by European decision-makers, allowing European farmers and cooperatives to put forward their views and proposals concerning a multitude of subjects that directly affect farmers no matter what agricultural activity they are involved in. In the following 12 categories, you will find our positions on key issues affecting the future of European agriculture.
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The coming decade is pivotal for EU agriculture. Many challenges lie ahead. We will face difficult debates on generation renewal, low farm income, market volatility and climate change. As European farmers and cooperatives, we are aware of and ready to navigate these difficult issues and to weather the changes in store. We seek to deliver the type of agriculture that our citizens expect and demand: agriculture that provides a high level of food security and high standards of quality, welfare, sustainability and environmental protection. This is our commitment to Europe! In return, we look to Europe’s leaders to deliver the policy framework that will feed our future.
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Following the mobilisation of 10,000 farmers from all 27 EU Member States on 18 December 2025, EU Agriculture Ministers met today in an extraordinary session with Commissioners Hansen, Šefčovič, and Várhelyi, alongside Council Presidency Minister Panayiotou. The meeting aimed to address the urgent challenges, raised by the farming community, which have pushed the sector to a tipping point.
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China has announced provisional duties of 21.9% to 42.7% on EU dairy products, effective on December 23, following an anti-subsidy probe that reeks of political retaliation. Since the EU launched its anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles in 2023, Beijing has systematically targeted EU key agricultural exports: brandy, pork, and now dairy. This decision is not just an attack on our dairy sector, it’s an attack on the livelihoods of thousands of European farmers who work tirelessly to produce high-quality, sustainable food and an attack on our Common Agriculture Policy, which is fully compliant with WTO rules!
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Farmers face unprecedented challenges: rising climate pressures, emerging pests, and a shrinking toolbox to protect their crops. The lack of efficient and accessible solutions is causing yields in some sectors to stagnate or worse, decline. Without urgent action, Europe’s food security and farmers’ livelihoods are at risk.
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Two days before the large-scale farmers protest on the streets of Brussels, Copa-Cogeca, supported by the undesigning agri-food organisations, urge EU lawmakers to reject the Mercosur Agreement. The signature and ratification of the EU–Mercosur Agreement would send an unequivocally wrong political signal. It would risk further destabilising an already fragile agricultural sector and erode trust in European policymaking.
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Farmers, agri-cooperatives, food processors, traders and fertiliser blenders warn that the small tweaks to the CBAM tax calculation formula introduced by the secondary legislation adopted today will not prevent the risk of fertiliser shortages or the prohibitive production costs threatening EU crop production. In this context, we once again jointly call on the Commission and Member States to postpone the implementation of #CBAM for fertilisers until conditions are met.
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The European Commission has finally presented its long-awaited Environment Omnibus. Unfortunately, it falls short. Despite its own Vision for Agriculture and Food, which recognises the urgent need for real, cross-cutting simplification beyond the CAP, the Commission has again chosen minimal ambition and cosmetic changes, at least for now.
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Copa and Cogeca welcome the political agreement reached yesterday evening by EU lawmakers to postpone the implementation of the EUDR and to continue the work of the Commission on simplification in 2026.
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Co-legislators have agreed on a text that constitutes an important signal to support the EU wine sector, as it faces its most important crisis. This new agreement marks a significant improvement over the initial proposal.Nevertheless, it is unfortunate that several key elements that could have strengthen the text were not retained, such as: the carry-over of unspent funds to the following financial year and the omission of cooperatives for the highest co-financing rates. In light of the outcome of this trilogue, Copa and Cogeca call for the swift approval of the agreement by both the Council and the Parliament
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Copa and Cogeca welcome the historic agreement reached between the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament on the regulation of New Genomic Techniques (NGTs). This milestone concludes more than a decade of debate and firmly upholds the science-based and proportionate approach proposed by the European Commission. Crucially, the agreement confirms that NGT 1 plants, being indistinguishable from conventionally bred plants, will be regulated in the same manner as conventional plants.
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Last night we celebrated 5 women farmers making waves in sustainable water systems at the 8th Innovation Award for Women Farmers, hosted by COPA COGECA Women’s Committee with the support of Corteva, in presence of Commissioner Hansen. Cheryl Poole (ICOS, Ireland) took home the top prize for her science-based, community-focused approach to water stewardship on her dairy farm. Alessandra Pighin (Coldiretti, Italy) received a special mention for her resource-efficient horticultural enterprise, where she saves 10 million litters of water per year through an innovative water recovery system.
On Tuesday, 21 October 2025, Copa-Cogeca and its members gathered in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg to urge MEPs not to accept the unacceptable, following the European Commission’s summer release of budget and CAP proposals that crossed all red lines and posed an existential threat to our sectors.
Who will pay the bill for the EU-Mercosur agreement? For BEUC and Copa-Cogeca, the answer is clear: European farmers and consumers. The reasons explained by the Secretaries-General of both organisations in this video
On Monday, 9 December, just hours after the announcement of a political agreement between the European Commission and representatives of the Mercosur bloc, Copa-Cogeca and its members launched a mobilisation against an outdated, unfair agreement with unacceptable cumulative effects for European agriculture.
Following our call to mobilise against the EU-Mercosur agreement, Marcos Rochinski, leader of Brazil's Confederation of Family Farm Workers, sent us a video message of support explaining why the agreement is also problematic for them!
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European agriculture and forestry are incredibly diverse. This diversity is our pride and our strength, and we must do everything in our collective power to protect it! This is why all models of agriculture, all types of production and all sizes of farms and cooperatives are represented within Copa and Cogeca.
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