Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Themes
    • Global cities
    • Strategic autonomy
    • War in Ukraine
    • European digital sphere
    • Recovery and resilience
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Newsletter
  • Membership

Strengthening social and labour rights for farmers and farm workers

Romain Schneider, Anette Kramme, Pedro Marques and Agnes Jongerius 24th June 2021

The opportunity of CAP reform to cultivate fairer and more sustainable agriculture must not be wasted.

CAP reform,agriculture,farmers,farm workers
Romain Schneider

Agriculture has long been the bedrock of our economies. It produces most of the food and raw materials in the European Union and it provides a livelihood for many in rural communities. It has long been a focus for the EU too—the Common Agricultural Policy has been in place for almost 60 years, in one form or another.

As we work to make the EU fit for the future, it is right that we turn our focus to how we can transform agriculture.

CAP reform,agriculture,farmers,farm workers
Anette Kramme

Just transition

Under the leadership of Frans Timmermans, executive vice-president of the European Commission, sustainability has been put at the top of the EU agenda. The objectives of the European Green Deal put the EU on a climate-neutral path. This will require change: farmers and farm workers will have to adapt, make the transition to new jobs and acquire new skills.

For the social-democratic family, the key point is that this green transition must leave no one behind. That is why the Green Deal promotes a just transition, which protects our farmers and farm workers, ensuring that the ecological and social dimensions go hand in hand.


Become part of our Community of Thought Leaders


Get fresh perspectives delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for our newsletter to receive thought-provoking opinion articles and expert analysis on the most pressing political, economic and social issues of our time. Join our community of engaged readers and be a part of the conversation.

Sign up here

CAP reform,agriculture,farmers,farm workers
Pedro Marques

The CAP reform under negotiation by the EU institutions rightly seeks to realign the policy with the Green Deal. The CAP provides extensive financial support to EU farmers and this funding will become increasingly conditional on respecting certain environmental standards.

This is positive. But for socialists and democrats, the drive for more sustainable agriculture must go together with the drive for stronger social rights. That is central to our vision of a just transition.

CAP reform,agriculture,farmers,farm workers
Agnes Jongerius

While farmers and agricultural workers ensure European citizens have food on their table, those working in the agri-food sector often do not benefit from high social standards. Agricultural work is notoriously tough, with long working hours and difficult working conditions. Everyone recognises the harshness and difficulty of farming life but not enough is done to correct this social injustice.

Not just income support

For farmers, the income support the CAP provides is not all they need. They also need good living conditions, health insurance, adequate pensions, childcare and eldercare, the possibility to take days off and an opportunity to build a social life.

More than 70 per cent of EU farmers have not received any agricultural training beyond their own practical experience. Yet adequate skills are a precondition for making the transition to more sustainable farming and access to education and training is just as important in agriculture as in other sectors.

We want to see social protection for farmers strengthened through the CAP, taking into consideration the specific social needs and conditions of farming. We must do this now if we are to ensure agriculture remains a sustainable and attractive sector for generations to come.

Frequent exploitation

We must do more for agricultural workers too. Exploitation is still too frequent. Workers are often employed under short-term contracts which leave them no job security and insufficient (if any) social-security coverage, putting them at risk of in-work poverty and social exclusion. 

The pandemic has exposed them to yet more dangers—inadequate working conditions and accommodation which make social distancing impossible, and lack of protective equipment. Infringements of labour rights, exploitation and forced labour have continued during the pandemic, across the EU.


Support Progressive Ideas: Become a Social Europe Member!


Support independent publishing and progressive ideas by becoming a Social Europe member for less than 5 Euro per month. You can help us create more high-quality articles, podcasts and videos that challenge conventional thinking and foster a more informed and democratic society. Join us in our mission - your support makes all the difference!

Become a Social Europe Member

We should use the opportunity of the new CAP to improve conditions for agricultural workers too, by including a form of social conditionality in the CAP. With the proclamation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, and the publication of an Action Plan for its implementation under the leadership of Nicolas Schmit, commissioner for jobs and social rights, the EU is striving for more social progress. It is time to live up to these ambitions.

Social progress

Making the CAP greener is a positive move to accelerate our path towards climate neutrality—it will protect our environment and the health of our citizens. But for this reform to be truly successful, truly just, it must embrace the social pillar and ensure agriculture contributes to social progress.

Disbursement of CAP funding should be based on respect for both environmental and social standards. If social and labour laws are not sufficiently taken into account, farming households will struggle to reconcile a seven-day working week on the farm and working conditions in agriculture will continue to deteriorate, with low wages, insufficient legal protection and unhealthy working conditions.  

The coronavirus crisis has shown how crucial farmers and agricultural workers are to the basic functioning of our societies. Without them, there would be no agricultural system. When stocks were running low in our supermarkets, they were producing the food to resupply them. They deserve a better deal.

As European socialists and democrats, we believe every worker in the EU is entitled to decent and fair working conditions. Farmers and farm workers are no exception. 

Through the European Green Deal and the social pillar, the EU has set clear commitments and ambitions. It has an opportunity to sow the seeds through a reformed CAP. We must not waste this opportunity to cultivate a socially fair and more sustainable future for all citizens.

CAP reform,agriculture,farmers,farm workers
Romain Schneider

Romain Schneider is minister of agriculture, viticulture and rural development, as well as social security, in Luxembourg. He is chair of the Party of European Socialists' Agri Ministerial Network.

Anette Kramme
Anette Kramme

Anette Kramme is a member of the Bundestag and parliamentary state secretary to the federal minister of labour and social affairs in Germany.

Pedro Marques
Pedro Marques

Pedro Marques is vice-president of the Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament and its co-ordinator with the Party of European Socialists on the implementation of the progressive commission work programme.

Agnes Jongerius
Agnes Jongerius

Agnes Jongerius is co-ordinator for the Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament on the Employment and Social Affairs Committee and chair of the Party of European Socialists' Social Europe Network.

You are here: Home / Economy / Strengthening social and labour rights for farmers and farm workers

Most Popular Posts

Russia,information war Russia is winning the information warAiste Merfeldaite
Nanterre,police Nanterre and the suburbs: the lid comes offJoseph Downing
Russia,nuclear Russia’s dangerous nuclear consensusAna Palacio
Belarus,Lithuania A tale of two countries: Belarus and LithuaniaThorvaldur Gylfason and Eduard Hochreiter
retirement,Finland,ageing,pension,reform Late retirement: possible for many, not for allKati Kuitto

Most Recent Posts

European Health Data Space,EHDS,Big Tech Fostering public research or boosting Big Tech?Philip Freeman and Jan Willem Goudriaan
migrant workers,non-EU Non-EU migrant workers—the ties that bindLilana Keith
ECB,European Central Bank,deposit facility How the ECB’s ‘deposit facility’ subsidises banksDavid Hollanders
migrant,Europe,workers All work and low pay—Europe’s migrant workforceAnkita Anand
art,European,prize The case for a European prize for artNed Hercock

Other Social Europe Publications

strategic autonomy Strategic autonomy
Bildschirmfoto 2023 05 08 um 21.36.25 scaled 1 RE No. 13: Failed Market Approaches to Long-Term Care
front cover Towards a social-democratic century?
Cover e1655225066994 National recovery and resilience plans
Untitled design The transatlantic relationship

ETUI advertisement

The four transitions and the missing one

Europe is at a crossroads, painfully navigating four transitions (green, digital, economic and geopolitical) at once but missing the transformative and ambitious social transition it needs. In other words, if the EU is to withstand the storm, we do not have the luxury of abstaining from reflecting on its social foundations, of which intermittent democratic discontent is only one expression. It is against this background that the ETUI/ETUC publishes its annual flagship publication Benchmarking Working Europe 2023, with the support of more than 70 graphs and a special contribution from two guest editors, Professors Kalypso Nikolaidïs and Albena Azmanova.


DOWNLOAD HERE

Eurofound advertisement

Eurofound Talks: housing

In this episode of the Eurofound Talks podcast, Mary McCaughey speaks with Eurofound’s senior research manager, Hans Dubois, about the issues that feed into housing insecurity in Europe and the actions that need to be taken to address them. Together, they analyse findings from Eurofound’s recent Unaffordable and inadequate housing in Europe report, which presents data from Eurofound’s Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey, European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions and input from the Network of Eurofound Correspondents on various indicators of housing security and living conditions.


LISTEN HERE

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

The summer issue of the Progressive Post magazine by FEPS is out!

The Special Coverage of this new edition is dedicated to the importance of biodiversity, not only as a good in itself but also for the very existence of humankind. We need a paradigm change in the mostly utilitarian relation humans have with nature.

In this issue, we also look at the hazards of unregulated artificial intelligence, explore the shortcomings of the EU's approach to migration and asylum management, and analyse the social downside of the EU's current ethnically-focused Roma policy.


DOWNLOAD HERE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI European Collective Bargaining Report 2022 / 2023

With real wages falling by 4 per cent in 2022, workers in the European Union suffered an unprecedented loss in purchasing power. The reason for this was the rapid increase in consumer prices, behind which nominal wage growth fell significantly. Meanwhile, inflation is no longer driven by energy import prices, but by domestic factors. The increased profit margins of companies are a major reason for persistent inflation. In this difficult environment, trade unions are faced with the challenge of securing real wages—and companies have the responsibility of making their contribution to returning to the path of political stability by reducing excess profits.


DOWNLOAD HERE

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Membership

Advertisements

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Social Europe Archives

Search Social Europe

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Follow us

RSS Feed

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on YouTube