More than 300 farmers representing different European Union (EU) member states are set to participate in the Congress of the European Farmers, the 2024 edition, which will take place in Bucharest over October 23-25, 2024.
The event is being organised by COPA-COGECA, the European entity that represents the interests of farmers and cooperatives, every two years, setting the strategy for the European farmers in the EU agro-food sector.
The Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation, including the National Federation PRO AGRO, the League of Associations of Agricultural Producers from Romania - LAPAR, the National Union of Agricultural Cooperatives from the Crop Sector - UNCSV and the Forta Fermierilor Association - AFF, the entity that represents the Romanian farmers in COPA-COGECA, are all involved in the organization of the congress.
"Discussions will focus on the main challenges facing the agricultural sector, such as the EU enlargement, funding and future support policies in agriculture. These discussions, taking place in the context of the European elections and strategic dialogue, will focus on sustainability, the role played by research and innovation in offering solutions that are very necessary in the agricultural field. There will also be discussed the overall impact of the current geopolitical crisis, food inflation, management and legislative matters, as well as the extreme meteorological phenomena affecting the farmers. These effects continue to impact the economic sustainability of farmers and cooperatives and to generate social turmoil. The resilience and competitiveness of the European agriculture and forestry sectors depend on the need of these sectors to cope with problems related to availability, to the accessibility of prices for foodstuffs in general, while also facing the main problems brought by climate change," show the organizers of the European Farmers Congress - htttp://europeanfarmerscongress.eu/ro.
The Congress of European Farmers will take place for three days, with the first two to be dedicated to workshops and plenary sessions, and the third to technical visits to the farms in Romania.
Among the speakers announced at the European Congress of Farmers will be the prime minister of Romania, Marcel Ciolacu, the president of the Senate, Nicolae Ciuca, the minister of agriculture and rural development, Florin-Ionut Barbu, the minister of agriculture of Hungary, Istvan Nagy, and other European representatives from the Agrifish Council and DG AGRI. They will be joined by other speakers representing the national and European authorities in charge with agriculture, as well as representatives of COPA-COGECA from all over the European Union.