Food Security in a Post-COVID World: Innovation and Farm to Fork Strategy

The ninth webinar in Europe Debates series...

Our brief encounter with food uncertainty in the early days of COVID was stark reminder that even the most advanced, technologically capable nations on Earth can’t take the safety and security of their food supply for granted. What are the lessons learned? What policies could give our vast and complex food supply system the strength and resilience it needs to withstand whatever shocks and dislocations may hit us in the future?

Largely conceived in the pre-COVID era, the EU’s recently announced Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy promises to answer these questions. Billed as the “heart of the European Green Deal” this ambitious program envisions a comprehensive overhaul of European farming that, it believes, will make European food production more resilient and affordable while simultaneously advancing the EU’s broader climate change, biodiversity, and sustainability goals.

In this webinar, we will be getting a trans-Atlantic perspective on food security and F2F’s strategic approach. How significant is the EU-US divide on these issues, and where can we find common ground? How will F2F affect the chances for a US-EU trade agreement, given the already significant tensions over agriculture, and what do the EU’s other trading partners think?

Inside the EU, who will bear the costs involved and how can we assure equity, given the vast regional disparities across the EU? How will F2F impact the global competitiveness of European farmers? And does growing political opposition to the EU’s agreements with Latina America and Canada signal a reassessment of its broader trade strategy?