Letter of support to Polish farmers

Letter of support to Polish farmers
We, the European Coordination Via Campesina, wish to express our solidarity in your ongoing struggle to defend the basic rights of Polish farmers to work and make a living from farming.

Your claims – a GMO free environment, the right to process and sell food to consumers, and the right to keep farmland for production and not speculation are legitimate and basic demands necessary for farmers’ anywhere to fulfil their central goal – to produce fresh and good quality food for citizens without damaging the environment.
The same struggle for food sovereignty is taking place across Europe and indeed all over the World. In a context of climate and global crises, positive steps must be taken by every European government, including Poland, to give a sustainable future to agriculture and food production. Where governments refuse to defend these principles, farmers must unite and stand up for them together.
The United Nation’s ‚International Year of Family Farming’ in 2014 has highlighted the central role that small and medium scale farmers play in ensuring our food security. The international community has started to take action in this direction and the new European agricultural policy has included some measures to ensure better future for family farms – Unfortunately most measures are not mandatory and farmers need much stronger stronger measures of support.
orests in theIn 2012 at the FAO, all governments, including those from Europe, signed the ‚Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and F Context of National Food Security’. This is a fundamental text to ensure sustainable tenure of land for farmers, it should be implemented now.
The European Coordination Via Campesina is a European organisation that represents 27 national or regional farmers’, agricultural workers’ and rural organizations based in 18 European countries.
Our principal objective is the promotion of diverse and sustainable family and peasants farming based on the principles of the Food Sovereignty. The European Coordination Via Campesina is recognized by the European Institutions and International Organisations as a stakeholder. We take part in advisory groups of the European Commission, are invited by the European Parliament to participate in public hearings, and are a member of the Civil Society Mechanism in the Committee on World Food Security of the United Nations.
Rue de la Sablonnière 18 – 1000 Bruxelles – tel +32 2 217 31 12- info@eurovia.org
http://www.eurovia.org
Let us know if there is anything we can do to support your protests.

In solidarity,
The European Co-ordination of La Via Campesina
Spokespersons:
Geneviève Savigny: +33625551687 FR EN
Hanny van Geel : +31613903434 NL EN
Andrea Ferrante: +393480189221 IT EN FR