EU Farm to Fork

Kosterhavet National Parks (SE) © S.Petrosillo

Within the framework of the Green Deal, the European Commission launched in May 2020 the EU Farm to Fork Strategy that aims to ensure a sustainable food value chain. Sustainable agriculture and sustainable fishery within Protected Areas can be a model to provide safe, nutritious and high quality products. Protected Areas can play an important role to implement the EU Farm to Fork Strategy. 

A new impetus for EU food value chain

© European Commission

As part of the Green Deal, the EU Farm to Fork Strategy seeks to rethink the whole food value chain in order to improve its sustainability

at each step : from production to consumption. The Strategy addresses the Green Deal’s vision on several issue:

Farm to Fork (F2F) came out the same day as the Biodiversity Strategy. These two strategies are interlinked and the complementarity between biodiversity and agriculture is therefore particularly relevant. 

Climate change and biodiversity loss constitute imminent and lasting threats to food security and livelihoods.

Indeed, sustainable agriculture need to take into account nature conservation to ensure a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system. Policy coherence among diverse EU legislation is crucial.

This strategy proposes objectives and targets for the future:

  •  Reduce by 50% the overall use of – and risk from – chemical pesticide by 2030 and reduce by 50% the use of more hazardous pesticide by 2030
  • To bring back at least 10% of agricultural areas under high-diversity landscape features (with buffer strip, rotational or non-rotational fallow land, hedge, non-productive trees, terrace wall and ponds.)
  • 25% of the EU’s agricultural land must be organic farm by 2030

People are also an essential part of the F2F. The Strategy is built on the desire for a partnership between all the actors, improving in particular the status of farmers and fishermen in the food value chain.

Ensuring that the food chain, covering food production, transport, distribution, marketing and consumption, has a neutral or positive environmental impact, preserving and restoring the land, freshwater and sea-based resources on which the food system depends; helping to mitigate climate change and adapting to its impacts; protecting land, soil, water, air, plant and animal health and welfare; and reversing the loss of biodiversity. (p.3)


The ambitions and the implementation of the F2F Strategy definitely concern the European Protected Areas.

EUROPARC strictly believe in the possibility of good and win-win alliance between biodiversity conservation and sustainable agriculture and fishery sectors. Since many years, EUROPARC Federation and its members has been reinforcing the dialogue with farmers in and near National and Regional Parks, as well as with the fishermen in Marine Protected Areas. Favouring those partnerships contributes to improve the status of farmers and fishermen by rewarding their effort to include nature conservation in their practices and by promoting local, nutritious and sustainable products.

Maremma Regional Park (IT) © Photo A. Pastorelli

To learn more of this issue, have a look to our Policy Paper on Agriculture in Protected Areas and our knowledge hub on Marine & Coastal.

The Farm to Fork Strategy recognises the inextricable links between healthy people, healthy societies and a healthy planet. The key mission of the Protected Areas is to guarantee healthy habitats: EUROPARC is committed to promote the key contribution that protected areas provide to the human health, with the campaign of Healthy Parks, Healthy People. 

Want to learn more on Heath and Protected Areas? Have a look to our knowledge hub!

Pilat Regional Park (FR) © photo S. Petrosillo