Barry Cowen MEP: If Europe cannot feed itself sustainably, it is not secure

Europe today is grappling with the most complex set of security challenges in a generation – from Russian aggression in Ukraine to supply chain shocks and an ever-shifting global trade landscape, writes Barry Cowen MEP.

In response, the European Union has rightly committed to strengthening its collective defence. But, there is a glaring omission in this conversation – one that puts our long-term stability at risk. That omission is food security.

As someone who works closely with colleagues from eastern Europe – those on the frontlines of a more volatile continent – I understand the need for growing defence budgets. The EU is preparing for joint borrowing of up to €150 billion to fund collective defence under President Ursula von der Leyen’s ReArm Europe Plan. Combined with national spending, more than €800 billion in military investment is now on the table.

I will not stand in the way of this. But let me be clear: if the EU cannot feed itself sustainably, it is not secure. This is something being too quickly forgotten by some of my colleagues. Food security is not a secondary issue – it is a strategic imperative. Yet agriculture, the sector that feeds us and sustains our rural communities, is increasingly being asked to do more with less.

It should also be remembered that Europe’s food security extends far beyond our own borders. The EU is the world’s largest exporter of agri-food products and a critical donor of humanitarian food aid. It plays a stabilising role in global supply chains, particularly across Africa and the Middle East. But that stability is not immune to shocks. During times when Europe’s food security is threatened – such as when the war in Ukraine exposed the EU’s reliance on Russian gas and fertilisers – the impact can be global.

“If we are to spend hundreds of billions on rearming Europe, we must also invest in our ability to feed it.”

Common Agricultural Policy

In recent times, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), once a cornerstone of European stability, has been allowed to erode. While member states’ contributions to the EU budget have risen to 1.08 per cent of GNI*, CAP allocations fell by 5 per cent in nominal terms and 12 per cent in real terms for the 2021-2027 period. If current trends continue, the CAP’s real value could shrink by more than half by 2034 – a shortfall of €250 billion. That decline will directly impact our ability to maintain a resilient, productive, and sustainable food system in the face of climate volatility, rising costs, and global shocks.

As Renew Europe’s lead negotiator on the European Parliament’s report into the future of European agriculture and the CAP post-2027, I have spent recent months consulting with farmers, experts, and stakeholders across Ireland and Europe. That work was published last month as a detailed position paper and continues as my team and I negotiate the form the Parliament’s final report will take. From the outset, food security has been central to my vision.

In that position paper, I argue that food security must be treated with the same urgency and seriousness as defence. If we are to spend hundreds of billions on rearming Europe, we must also invest in our ability to feed it. That means a stronger, ring-fenced CAP budget that grows in line with defence spending. Strategic autonomy cannot exist on empty shelves.

We also need to modernise how the CAP delivers. I have called for a third environmental pillar – alongside the existing income and rural development strands – to properly reward voluntary environmental ambition. Farmers using technologies like precision agriculture, artificial intelligence, and methane inhibitors must be incentivised. Supporting innovation is not at odds with food production – it is essential to its future.

Generational renewal

Europe is at risk of losing its next generation of farmers and, as such, the future of its food security. Young people face mounting barriers – from land costs to credit access to regulatory complexity. Pillar two of the CAP must be used to create genuine pathways into farming, including targeted supports, tax incentives, land leasing schemes, and training. Women in agriculture must also be actively supported and empowered. Rumours are circulating in Brussels in recent weeks that the European Commission may have plans to consolidate the CAP into a broader, generalised funding mechanism – folding over 500 individual programmes into a single pot – raising serious concerns among farmers and indeed within my own team.

The fact that the CAP and Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) proposals are now expected at the same time – whereas traditionally CAP proposals follow in the months after the MFF – has only heightened fears that CAP’s ring-fenced status could be dismantled. That would remove the strategic certainty farming communities rely on and turn long-term planning into a short-term political calculation. Agriculture cannot be funded at the whim of wider budgetary priorities.

Instead, during this time of growing global instability, Europe needs to reinforce the sectors that make it strong and self-reliant. Food production is one of them. A resilient agricultural sector is not a luxury – it is a necessity. We must reject false choices between defence and food security – both are pillars of a stable, sovereign Europe. By neglecting one in favour of the other, we will be doing nothing more than providing funding to build a fortress on piles of sand.