The European Commission officially sets up today the European Board on Agriculture and Food (EBAF), thus taking up on one of the recommendations of the final report of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture.

Chaired by Commissioner for Food and Agriculture, Christophe Hansen, the European Board on Agriculture and Food aims at sustaining a new culture of dialogue, trust and multistakeholder participation, among the actors of the food supply chain and civil society, as well as with the Commission.

President von der Leyen said: “Agriculture is at the heart of our Europe’s future. Today, we carry forward the energy of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture to build trust and bring people together. The European Board on Agri-food is to tackle the full complexity of the agri-food value chain, supporting our farmers and a driving a more resilient, competitive, and sustainable agri-food system.”

This consultative body is expected to provide high-level advice to the Commission on the follow-up of the report of the Strategic Dialogue on the future of EU agriculture and will contribute to the work on the Vision for agriculture and food, to be presented within the first 100 days of the mandate.

Members will be encouraged to foster understanding and exchange of experience among them and pay particular attention to the coherence and synergy of Union policies and their consistency with private sector initiatives.

The Board is set up for five years and is expected to meet in principle between two and six times a year. Commissioner Hansen may convene the group for additional meetings when urgent advice is needed.

A call for applications is published today to form the Board’s membership. It will be composed of maximum 30 member organisations representing three categories of stakeholders: the farming community, other actors of the food supply chain, and civil society including in areas such as environment and climate, animal welfare or consumer issues. There should be a balanced representation of these three categories of stakeholders in this group. The organisations who apply for membership should demonstrate the broadest relevant competence and expertise in areas relevant to agriculture and food at Union level and display the widest geographical representativeness across Member States. They should also be registered in the Transparency Register.

The deadline for submitting applications to the EBAF will be on 8 January 2025. The Commission will evaluate all applications and aims to finalise the Board’s membership at the beginning of 2025. The Board’s first meeting will be convened immediately after.

Background

In September 2023, President von der Leyen announced in her State of the Union address the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture which was launched in January 2024 and brought together major stakeholders from the European agri-food sectors, civil society, rural communities and academia to reach a common understanding and vision for the future of Union farming and food systems.

The European Board on Agriculture and Food’s advice and opinions will complement the specific and sectorial expertise already available, including from the Civil Dialogue Groups.