Good Food, Good Farming: Let’s march to Brussels

A window of opportunity for change of the EU’s agriculture policy opens up only every 7 years, when the Union revises the strategic and financial framework of the CAP. The CAP is a core element of the European Union’s policy, with an annual budget of € 57 billion - more than 40 % of the common EU budget. Negotiations for the reform of the CAP 2014-2020 are underway. For the first time in its 50 year history, the future of the policy will be decided by the European Parliament and the European Council for Agriculture and Fisheries. By September 2012 the Parliament’s Agriculture and Rural Development Committee is expected to detail its demands for the reformed policy. Negotiations are expected to last until November/December 2012. This time span presents an ideal opportunity for civil society to bring their expectations to their MEPs, but also to their respective ministers who represent national objectives in the European Council. (Picture: "Genfrei-Gehen-Marsch" (Non-gmo-march), organized by Rapunzel in 2009)
 

The Good Food March to Brussels aims to raise awareness about the CAP reform and highlight positive and negative examples of farming, food production and other related issues. It also aims to kick-off the campaign to pressure MEPs and ministers for a better policy. ARC2020 and its partners, in particular youth chapters, young farmers, consumers and environment and development activists are organising a march to Brussels starting from and passing through various regions and cities in different Member States of the EU. It will include a diversity of events and actions along the way, with all participants arriving in the outskirts of Brussels on 18 September 2012. On the morning of September 19, participants will march into Brussels and gather for a “Good Food Brunch” in front of the Parliament. In the afternoon they will be received by the President of the Parliament and the Commissioner for Agriculture as part of a conference organised by ARC2020 and Slow Food. 
(Picture: Protest against factory farms in Berlin January 2012)

Participants are invited to join with tractors, wheelbarrows, bicycles and other vehicles, for parts of the march or the entire route. The march will entail a chain of local events along the road to Brussels, taking (also by video) the demands of European citizens to the European Parliament and the Council. There will be town hall meetings, debates and lectures, visits to symbolic places (e.g. animal factories and slaughterhouses, regional governments in support, supermarkets etc.) and meetings with local farmers, enterprises, NGOs and political representatives, including MEPs and Agriculture Ministers. The march will be accompanied by a video-team producing daily web-streaming and footage. It will be possible to support and join the march online at www.goodfoodmarch.eu with personal pictures and statements. (Picture: Right2Know March 2011 in front of the White House)
 

Organisers met in May 2012 to formulate the March’s Call for Action and to set up working groups that will meet at regular intervals in the run-up to the march. The German leg of the march is currently the most advanced in terms of organisation. To kick start the event, Slow Food and Meine Landwirtschaft are organising an event known as “Food not Waste!” on 25 August in Munich. A feast from food that has been destined for waste will be prepared for the march’s participants before they set-off. The route will take participants through South Germany, into Strasbourg and on to Brussels. NGOs organising routes from different countries will need to meet with the German march in Strasbourg on 6 September, Luxembourg on the 11 September, or in Brussels on 18/19 September 2012. The website http://www.goodfoodmarch.eu/ will be launched soon.