The European agricultural lobby, Copa-Cogeca, opposes reforms on pesticides, intensive farming and animal welfare

… The same method was used to defend public funding for the promotion of red and processed meat. When the Commission considered excluding these products from programmes in line with the European plan against cancer, Copa-Cogeca engaged with certain Commissioners, the wine and spirits organisations, and national associations. The restrictions were first watered down and then dropped altogether. The comment in the internal documents is succinct: “The lobbying has paid off.”

Quick Take — Chemical companies (Bayer) and the agricultural lobby (Copa Cogeca) have succeeded in watering down EU regulations on pesticides

Chemical companies are managing to water down EU pesticide regulations.

According to documents seen by the Financial Times, the EU is seeking to relax pesticide regulations after chemical companies and agricultural groups successfully lobbied Brussels, arguing that the regulatory burden was excessive…

Under current rules, active substances already approved for use in pesticides must be re-evaluated every 15 years. The Commission has proposed scrapping these periodic checks as part of the so-called omnibus law on food and feed safety, which aims to reduce “unnecessary costs and administrative burdens for agri-food producers”. The minutes of the meetings reveal that the proposed amendment was introduced after the German chemicals group Bayer and the agricultural lobby Copa-Cogeca (*) had called for ‘unlimited’ approval of pesticides…

(*) The Copa-Cogeca organisation has previously lobbied in favour of foie gras, fur, the use of pesticides (including glyphosate and neonicotinoids) and the culling of wildlife (e.g. wolves).

It has done everything in its power to prevent measures that would raise standards to curb emissions from livestock farms – by exempting cattle farmers – and the phasing out of the use of cages for hens and other animals.

The same approach has been used to defend public funding for the promotion of red and processed meat…

Drafted on 9 October, updated on 10 October 2026

Quick Take — Orgoglio Olivicolo calls for action: we will not be stopped

The Olive Growing Pride Committee urgently calls for:

  1. That the Government recognise the crisis in the olive sector and across the entire agricultural sector, so that the necessary measures can be implemented immediately.
  2. The introduction, with immediate effect, of the electronic transport document, as has long been required for the wine sector – a measure that was promised but has not yet been implemented.
  3. An extraordinary plan for genuine and verifiable anti-fraud checks on a national scale;
  4. Ad hoc measures for the withdrawal and storage of new olive oil to support producer prices, as provided for under EU legislation, and financial support for olive oil mills.

Quick Take — The Italian organic label is launched

greater value for supply chains and ‘Made in Italy’ products. It will appear alongside the European Union’s organic production logo.

… “In 2025, the positive trend in domestic consumption will strengthen, rising by over 9 per cent compared with the previous year. The value of organic product consumption in Italy will reach 4.4 billion euros (a 9.2 per cent increase on 2024), the highest ever recorded, accounting for 4 per cent of the total value of national agri-food expenditure. Eight regions, together with the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, have already exceeded the European target of 25 per cent of utilised agricultural area under organic farming, which in 2025 accounts for 19.4 per cent of the total national area (2,377,749 hectares). There are, meanwhile, 95,389 organic producers, of whom 85,443 are farms.”

The sector faces many problems: are we putting obstacles in the way of organic farming, whilst encouraging the use of pesticides, and promoting wine, the excessive consumption of which is carcinogenic?

Furthermore, large-scale retailers have trivialised private-label products, stripping them of their value.

The result is that the area converted to organic farming in Italy fell (-5.4 per cent) in 2025, as highlighted by Giuseppe Coletti on LinkedIn.

Labels and advertising – I’m thinking of the pasta adverts – are of no use whatsoever if the sector is, in fact, penalised by a decree that undermines its very survival.