Food chain

Abstract: European agriculture is facing a continued decline in the number of farms and young farmers, with limited access to land identified as a major barrier to generational renewal. These trends have intensified policy concerns, prompting the European Commission to release the strategy for generational renewal, which outlines initiatives to improve land access, including land market assessments and the creation of a European land observatory. This report aims to support these efforts by offering a new perspective on land access dynamics across different phases of the farm succession process. Using a comparative analysis of Belgian (Walloon Region), Irish and Polish Farm Accountancy Data Network data covering 2009–2023, it examines several dimensions of land access, including land utilisation, ownership and rental, considering both the retiring farmer (before transfer) and the new farmer (after transfer). The analysis is structured around a life-cycle framework of farm succession, exploring three mechanisms: the retirement effect, whereby farmers without successors gradually reduce farm activity; the succession effect, where the expectation of farm continuation encourages investment and structural adjustments before transfer; and the successor effect, which captures changes introduced by the new farmer after installation. The report shows that land access dynamics vary across the farm manager’s lifetime, implying distinct needs and challenges at different stages. Identifying a successor prior to farm transfer tends to trigger land expansion and prevents decline. After installation, the new farmer experiences an initial phase of land expansion, which may not occur immediately, probably due to financial constraints. New (non-inherited) farms begin with limited land resources and tend to expand much later than other farms, which significantly restricts their development potential. In some cases, land expansion behaviour, both before and after succession, is more pronounced on larger farms. In addition, new female farmers appear to face greater barriers to land expansion after first installation than new male farmers do. Significant differences between countries in land access dynamics highlight the need for regionally or nationally tailored policies. Because land access varies across phases of the farm manager’s life, policies must target the appropriate phase. New farmers, and particularly new female farmers, may require specific support during the first years after installation, as they face stronger financial constraints and often pay higher land prices, especially in non-inherited farms. In this context, land access and capital access policies could benefit from synergetic design and implementation. Supporting identified successors (and their incumbents) prior to succession could also be considered, as identified successors already exhibit substantial land expansion behaviour.

Abstract: Previous research has shown that identifying a successor prompts significant changes in farm management, a phenomenon commonly referred to as the succession effect. Based on a survey of Polish and Italian farmers and the use of count data regressions, we investigate whether the successor's gender and involvement in farm operations influence the succession effect. We find that the identification of a successor has a significant effect on all types of management practices. The identification of a female successor favours the adoption of innovation and diversification practices. Conversely, identifying a male successor favours integration practices. However, the effect emerges only when the successor is already involved in farm management, indicating that both certainty of succession and the successor's direct engagement are decisive. This evidence helps better outline the succession effect theory. To leverage the succession effect, policymakers could incentivise successors’ early involvement in farm management and make the existing post-installation support for young farmers available prior to succession.

Abstract: This report presents a comprehensive operational framework for stress-testing the European Union's food systems to identify vulnerabilities and enhance crisis preparedness. While the EU has historically maintained a stable food supply, the convergence of climate change, geopolitical instability, and economic volatility has created systemic risks that require a forward-looking assessment. The proposed methodology adopts a multidimensional view of food security, incorporating availability, physical and economic access, nutritional utilization, stability, sustainability, and human agency. By utilizing systems thinking and scenario-based foresight, the framework provides a structured process for mapping complex supply chains, designing plausible disruption scenarios, and evaluating cascading impacts. Central to this approach is the iterative collaboration between experts, who provide analytical rigor, and stakeholders, who offer practical sectoral insights. This methodology aims to empower policymakers and industry operators to transition from reactive crisis management to proactive resilience building, ensuring that the EU food system can withstand and adapt to the unpredictable shocks of the 21st century.

Abstract: We assess whether consumers' attitudes towards sustainability are reflected in their food choices. Using an online survey, we elicit from 20,000 consumers in ten European countries the main motives when purchasing food, front-of-pack elements that signal differences in sustainability and purchase decisions. At the aggregated level, our results show that self-declared purchase motives translate into consumer choices, albeit in a divergent manner for the health and environmental components of sustainability. The findings can help policymakers and businesses to learn about the gap between attitudes and purchase behaviour and help them develop appropriate policies and strategies to promote sustainable food purchases.

Abstract: The digitalisation of the EU agricultural sector is an essential part of the broader EU Digital Agenda and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) aiming to promote competitiveness, sustainability, and resilience in agriculture through digital transformation. This report analyses the current state of digitalisation in EU agriculture, covering the adoption of general IT and software tools and farm-specific technologies, key drivers and barriers, perceived sustainability aspects, and farm-level practices in data collection, management and sharing. The analysis is based on farm survey data from 1 444 respondents in nine EU Member States – Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Lithuania, Hungary and Poland – collected between June and October 2024. The results show that while general IT and software tools are widely used, more expensive technologies specific to crop or livestock production have been less widely adopted. Adoption rates are higher among larger farms, those with better internet connectivity and those with specialised training. Key drivers of adoption include efficiency gains, cost savings, regulatory pressures and improved quality of life, while high costs and limited skills remain notable barriers. Farmers expect digital technologies to have positive economic, environmental and social impacts. Farm-level data collection is still largely manual or based on basic digital tools, which increases the administrative burden on farmers. Farmers appear to take a selective approach to data sharing, mainly due to concerns about privacy, security and data control. Promoting transparent data policies, ensuring farmers benefit from sharing and adopting a targeted policy approach for advanced technologies can help build trust and support wider digital adoption.

Abstract: Marketing food products with slightly different compositions as identical across countries is a common practice in the food industry. While food companies argue that different versions reflect taste preferences, some Central and Eastern European consumers allege that multinational companies sell lower quality products using the same brand name and packaging as in Western European countries. The political attention gathered by this practice, exemplified by the dual food quality (DFQ) debate in the European Union (EU), has largely neglected how the presence of DFQ affects consumers’ purchase decisions. This study aims to help fill this gap. Additionally, it examines the impact of a policy intervention consisting of a ‘made for’ claim and the role of the brand name on consumer choices. Through online discrete-choice experiments and laboratory tasting and rating experiments in six EU countries, no systematic support is found for either the industry’s or the consumers’ arguments. Results also indicate that a policy requiring consumers to be informed about the destination market of different versions would increase consumers’ valuation of domestic products, while at the same time improving transparency and avoiding misleading consumers.

Abstract: The objective of this paper is to analyse the changes in the occurrence of the Differences in Composition of Seemingly Identical, branded food Products (DC-SIP) – also known as “dual food quality” – in the EU and the role of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD) in affecting the food industry’s packaging and recipe formulation choices of branded food products. The occurrence of DC-SIP has decreased from 31 % in 2018/2019 to 24 % in 2021. Our regression results show that companies are more likely to alter the front packaging rather than the composition of the products to address DC-SIP issues. The likelihood that changes in recipe reformulations and front packaging are introduced simultaneously is statistically significant but not all recipe reformulations are introduced jointly with changes in front packaging. Our results provide evidence that the UCPD regulation plays a role in companies reformulating recipes or/and changing the product packaging, but it is not a main driver. Companies often justify the composition differences in DC-SIP by differences in market conditions across Member States. The DC SIP provisions in the UCPD give companies several options for addressing DC-SIP. For this reason, it is not a significant factor in impacting the companies’ choices to reformulate or change the packaging of products.

Abstract: Livestock production is responsible for most of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from European agriculture. To achieve the climate targets in the European Union, reducing emissions from the food chain, and within that from livestock production, is imperative. Along with structural changes, management and technological improvements on farms have an important role in reducing GHG emissions. However, our understanding of the uptake of low-GHG practices is limited, with uneven evidence across countries and practices. This report adds to the evidence base on the uptake of mitigation practices by presenting the results of two surveys, one done with dairy farmers in Poland about the use of breeding indices, and the other with pig producers in France about multi-phase feeding. The results provide evidence of the importance of farm size and specialisation in practice uptake, while also pointing to the role of the processors in the case of milk production. The most common barriers are high cost, low return on investment and a perception that the farm is too small to implement such practices. Adopters mentioned the benefits of improved milk yield and genetics and also better knowledge of the herd in the case of the breeding index, and reduced feed costs and nitrogen excretion with multi-phase feeding. Simulations of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the adopters’ and non-adopters’ farming systems showed a potential reduction of GHG emission intensity in both cases, namely 9% for milk production with using the breeding index in the herd and 3% for pig meat production with multi-phase feeding.

Abstract: In the context of the policy debate and initiatives to address misleading practices that suggest to consumers that products marketed under the same brand and in the same or similar packaging have the same composition or characteristics across different Member States when this is not the case (often referred to as ‘dual quality’ (DQ)), the European Parliament has emphasised the importance of establishing a permanent monitoring system to track products sold on the single market. This feasibility study aims to explore the effectiveness of a crowdsourcing mobile app (Food-Checker) as a tool to monitor the occurrence of DQ. The app uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology and was tested using an awareness campaign and incentives to motivate users to submit product images. The app was piloted in five Member States (Germany, France, Italy, Poland and Romania) between September 2022 and March 2023. The study results demonstrate that Food-Checker can effectively utilise AI technology for monitoring DQ, particularly for capturing and extracting information from product packaging. Although there was a substantial awareness campaign, users’ engagement with the app was limited. In this regard, monetary rewards were found to be more effective than behavioural interventions. As a result of low user engagement and a small sample size, AI could not be fully trained in certain functions relevant to identifying DQ − such as identifying the same or similar branded products, distinguishing different product versions within a Member State and detecting DQ practices. The app could be a viable solution for monitoring DQ if the AI behind the app is further trained to enhance its performance and effective engagement tools are developed.

Abstract: The European Green Deal and its farm-to-fork strategy have made food system sustainability an EU policy priority, with the aim of making the EU’s current food system fairer, healthier and more environmentally friendly. Notably, the farm-to-fork strategy highlights action areas for food supply chain operators, which give rise to both opportunities and challenges. Innovation in sustainability-enhancing products and practices is playing an increasingly important role in this transition to a sustainable food system; such innovation creates value for both companies and society and gives companies a competitive advantage. However, there is limited information on operator-level sustainability initiatives across the food supply chain. Importantly, to understand how regulations can effectively support this transition, policymakers must understand the drivers of and barriers to innovative sustainability initiatives. They must also be aware of how these initiatives work in practice and the expected implications and trade-offs in terms of the economic, social and environmental sustainability dimensions. This report attempts to bring together evidence on and provide a comparative assessment of sustainability innovation and innovative initiatives adopted by private operators in the EU food supply chain. The report’s analyses are based on microdata collected through an online survey of 426 representatives of EU food chain operators, industry associations and other related organisations. The results show that most of the operators surveyed had put in place a range of sustainability initiatives of different natures, such as process innovations, product innovations, technological/digital innovations, organisational innovations, marketing innovations and logistic process innovations. Impacts in the environmental dimension were the main sustainability improvement expected by respondents, followed by impacts in the social and economic dimensions. Market-related factors (demand and supply requirements) were found to be the main drivers of sustainability initiatives, followed by meeting regulatory requirements. The barriers to developing and implementing sustainability innovations most commonly indicated by respondents were a lack of economic resources, qualified human capital, technical resources, knowledge, a sustainability culture, public policy support, clarity in regulations and recognition by consumers or the market. The majority of the sustainability initiatives introduced relied on internal research and development and vertical collaboration with other actors in the food chain. Many respondents used indicators to measure the performance of sustainability innovations, but the coverage of the sustainability dimensions was heterogeneous. In terms of the performance of the sustainability initiatives adopted, the results indicate that the initiatives generated net-positive sustainability gains. At the same time, there were trade-offs between the sustainability dimensions. While the sustainability initiatives implemented generally had different sustainability impacts, they did not all result in net gains in all sustainability dimensions. Overall, respondents’ most common perception about the transition of the current food system towards sustainability was that this process was just beginning but progressing well.