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The European future of farming and a competitive agro-food sector are key components of the continental-wide security and sovereignty. Hence, the EU institutions are “ready to act where needed”, as the Commission confirmed in its recent “Vision for agriculture and food”. And the EU will continue in the longer term to rigorously defend farmers’ interests in the area of food production and security in the member states and world-wide.
Background
The Commission has recognised that agriculture was crucial for European sovereignty, and that the EU agri-food sector has been key to European competitiveness providing millions of jobs and added value. The sector’s participants took stock of the challenges facing farmers and the agro-food sector in their expectations for 2026. Recent discussions focused on concerns arising from heightened volatility and uncertainty in the global markets, as well as on the need to preserve a strong competitive position of European farmers.
The EU is also aware of its responsibility and fully recognises the sense of urgency felt in the sector: hence, vigorous actions of Union’s institutions have been directed towards alleviating pressures and creating new opportunities.
More in: EU’s “Vision for Agriculture and Food”. “Shaping the future of farming and the agri-food sector for future generations in Europe”. In: https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/overview-vision-agriculture-food/vision-agriculture-and-food_en
Strategic approach to agriculture
The new EU-wide “strategic approach” aims to support EU agriculture, forestry and rural areas through research and innovation, as well as contributing to the objectives of the “Vision for Agriculture and Food” and related initiatives.
Some outcomes of the strategy are described below:
= Securing CAP support. The direction is based on a combination of policy and budgetary tools (through the Multi-annual Financial Framework, MFF-post-2027) and will provide farmers and rural communities with “an unprecedented level of support”, including the possibility of preserving the level of income support for farmers.
To fulfill the aims of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) the strategy’s vision includes safeguarding a reasonable living for farmers, essential public support in providing predictable income support, incentives, crisis management and investment capacity for farmers. This aim is duly recognised with the proposal for the EU-wide National and Regional Partnership Plans, NRPP which ensures that farmers and rural communities across the EU will continue to rely on a secured MFF budget. Hence, the National and Regional Partnership Fund will provide a ringfenced allocation of € 293.7 billion while providing the member states with additional resources to agro-secured allocation. The NRPP, as a whole offers potential to achieve substantial agro-progress by visualizing synergies of spending for actions benefitting agriculture and other policy areas, such as water management and energy.
In addition, the Commission has proposed that at least 10% of the resources of each NRPP will have to be dedicated to supporting investments in rural areas: i.e. the member states will allocate their rural target share to measures to be implemented in the agricultural sector at the initial stage of programming, similar to what happens in the current budget cycle, unless they decide for measures dedicated to rural areas. This rural target will amount to € 48,7 billion, which may increase up to € 63,7 billion through the possibility offered by the “Catalyst Europe” loans.
For references and citations: “Outcome document from the meeting on 7 January 2026 of EU agriculture Ministers, on invitation of the Commission and Minister Panayiotou for the CY Presidency. Additional source: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/read_26_50
= Improving fertilizers’ availability and affordability. This direction is aimed, basically, at strengthening domestic production and reducing dependencies: thus, already in December 2025, the Commission proposed the EU-wide actions focused on fertilisers.
However, an exception to the standard calculation rules was introduced, to reduce the impact of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) on fertilisers, making them the only commodity to benefit from such an exception. Additionally, the Commission has just published further key data determining the pricing of CBAM obligations, so as to provide the necessary clarity.
The Commission now proposes an additional measure in the form of tariff reductions: the Commission will temporarily suspend the remaining Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) tariffs on ammonia, urea and, where needed, certain other fertilisers. Safeguards would be put in place to ensure the measures are targeted and that the benefits are passed on to the farmers. This measure -if agreed- could enter into force quickly in 2026 and would be broadly used in the same area of magnitude as the costs arising from CBAM. At the same time, the Commission will continue to work towards lowering fertilisers costs through trade agreements: including Mercosur, the implementation of the EU-US Joint Statement, and ongoing negotiations with gas-rich partners like the United Arab Emirates with a view to securing supply and strengthening European resilience. This short-term measure on conventional tariff duties would be accompanied by guidance on the CBAM mechanism. In its legislative proposal amending the CBAM Regulation adopted in December 2025, the Commission has included a measure that enables monitoring the impact of CBAM on the internal market and allows for temporary suspension of the application of CBAM for specific goods in case of unforeseen circumstances. This provision enables the Commission to assess the situation of fertilisers with a view to triggering a temporary suspension. The Commission’s guidance could clarify furthermore, that such a suspension could also apply retroactively from 1 January 2026.
= Global competitiveness. This direction is aimed at securing for the agro-sector feasible opportunities, level playing field and reciprocity. The EU’s agro-food sector’s global competitiveness is a strong asset for the EU’s prosperity: thus, the European agricultural sector is already representing “an exporting powerhouse”, with agrifood export amounting to € 235 billion in 2024, and a surplus of € 64 billion.
Trade is also vital for EU farming employment, supporting 3 million jobs in the EU member states, i.e. 1 in 4 jobs in the sector. Continuing to keep markets open in third countries through the EU trade agreements agenda is therefore key for the economic success of the sector.
The EU-Mercosur agreement itself is expected to increase EU agro-food exports to the region by 50% while ensuring the protection of hundreds of the EU’s geographical indications, protecting emblematic EU food and drink products from imitation.
At the same time, farmers’ interests are always carefully considered in the EU’s approach to trade negotiations. Each agreement has built-in safeguards with limited market opening, carefully calibrated quotas on sensitive products, phased in gradually through slow/progressive
liberalization and bilateral safeguards. For Mercosur, the Commission acknowledged the farmers’ sensitivities by going beyond the usual approach and proposing an unprecedented safeguard instrument, which defines how the safeguard clause is to be applied by the EU. The safeguard is coupled with a very reliable and strong monitoring process, a “handbrake” mechanism to respond swiftly if an unexpected surge in imports threatens any sector, a semi-automatic trigger of the safeguard investigation if certain changes of volume and prices are observed, and very short procedural timelines to conduct and finalise the investigation.
In addition, the current market emergency reserve (€ 450 million/year) and the future Unity Safey Net (with a more significant budget of € 6.3 billion) can act in case major market disturbances would occur.
Maintaining the sector’s competitiveness also requires ensuring a level playing field, as well as an EU regulatory environment which enables competitiveness, resilience and innovation. This is why the Commission is committed to act on the following initiatives to ensure level playing field and reciprocity.
The Commission is also stepping up its actions in relation to import controls. The number of audits carried out on non-EU countries are increased by 50%, and those carried out on EU Border Control Posts are increased by 33% in 2026-2027. The Commission will update the level of checks of official controls at the borders more frequently and will provide support to the EU member states carrying out most of these additional checks: hence, a dedicated EU Task Force will be launched in late January 2026, pulling expertise and forces from the Commission and the states, to make import controls more efficient throughout the EU.
In addition to these measures, the Commission has already proposed an extension of the country of origin labeling in line with the sectoral specifics and EU Single Market rules, has intensified its promotion policy with higher budget for 2026 and launched an EU-wide “Buy European” campaign.
= Further simplification for the benefit of the farmers. The Commission has proposed several simplification packages to the benefit of the farmers (the “food and feed safety package” marks the 10th omnibus proposal). The European Commission coordinates the effort to streamline food and feed-safety legislation: i.e. thorough evaluations of existing legislation and consultations with the member states have informed the proposed simplifications.
More on the EU “Food and Feed Safety Simplification Package”, December 2025, in:
https://food.ec.europa.eu/horizontal-topics/simplification-legislation_en
Conclusion
Two mentioned CAP packages have been already successfully adopted and are in their implementation phase: besides, recent environmental and food/feed packages proposed by the Commission are now in the EU’s legislative procedures; the Commission expects they will be treated with utmost expedience and urgency allowing farmers to benefit from these proposals as quickly as possible.
Besides, the Commission announced in the environment omnibus that for certain legislation, further assessment and dialogue will be needed, notably on the Water Framework Directive, on the nature protection and nitrates directives. At the same time, there are requests to consider cumulative impact of these rules and, in particular, in their proportionality to the EU’s legal principles. Thus, during the first quarter of 2026, Commission will hold an “implementation dialogue” with the member states’ farming community on all mentioned legal acts, with the participation of two Commissioners in charge of environment and in agro-food sector.
More on “agro-food simplification” in: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_3081