EU Farmers' Negotiating Position in Food Supply Chain Strengthened

EU Council Sanctions Press Releases

Published March 5th, 2026

Detected March 6th, 2026

Summary

The EU Council and Parliament have reached a provisional agreement to amend regulations governing agricultural products and the common agricultural policy. This aims to strengthen farmers' negotiating position in the food supply chain through measures like mandatory written contracts and enhanced producer organizations.

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What changed

The EU Council and Parliament have provisionally agreed on amendments to the Common Market Organisation (CMO) regulation and Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) regulations. Key changes include making written contracts between farmers and buyers a general requirement, reinforcing producer organizations, and providing additional financial support to them. The agreement also clarifies marketing terms like 'fair' and 'equitable' and protects specific meat product denominations from being used for non-meat products, such as cell-cultured alternatives.

This provisional agreement requires formal endorsement by the Council and Parliament. Once adopted, it will introduce new obligations for buyers of agricultural products to use written contracts and will enhance the role and support for producer organizations. Farmers and producer organizations should prepare for these changes to leverage the strengthened negotiating power and income stability measures. The specific timeline for formal adoption and entry into force is not yet detailed, but the proposal was initially put forward by the Commission on December 10, 2024.

What to do next

Review proposed amendments to CMO and CAP regulations.
Prepare for mandatory written contracts with buyers of agricultural products.
Assess opportunities to strengthen or join producer organizations.

Source document (simplified)

Council of the EU
Press release
5 March 2026 18:25

Council and Parliament reach provisional agreement to give farmers a stronger negotiating position in the food supply chain

The Council reached a provisional agreement with the European Parliament on a targeted amendment of the regulation on the common market organisation of agricultural products (CMO) as well as on the regulations governing the common agricultural policy (CAP). The agreement will give farmers a stronger negotiating position in the agrifood value chain. The updated framework supports more balanced and resilient supply chains, including making written contracts a general rule, reinforces producer organisations and contributes to greater income stability for farmers and fairer livelihoods in agriculture. The proposal also protects the denominations of meat and certain meat products to ensure consumer transparency and fair competition.

This agreement represents a meaningful step towards fairer and more resilient agricultural markets. By improving support for farmers and enhancing the role of producer organisations, we are giving farmers additional tools to secure a more predictable and sustainable future.

Maria Panayiotou, Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment of the Republic of Cyprus

Main elements of the agreement

The amendments to the CMO regulation focus on several key areas to strengthen farmers’ role in the supply chain:

making written contracts between farmers and buyers a general requirement, with strengthened provisions, including a revision clause, to ensure that long-term contracts take account of market developments, cost fluctuations and economic conditions
simplifying the rules for the legal recognition of producer organisations
enabling member states to provide additional financial support to producer organisations and their associations under CAP sectoral interventions
encouraging young and new farmers to join recognised producer organisations
defining the conditions for using optional marketing terms such as ' fair', ' equitable' and ' short supply chain' to ensure clarity for both producers and consumers
establishing rules on the protection of ‘meat’ term and the following meat-related names: beef, veal, pork, poultry, chicken, turkey, duck, goose, lamb, mutton, ovine, goat, drumstick, tenderloin, sirloin, flank, loin, steak, ribs, shoulder, shank, chop, wing, breast, liver, thigh, brisket, ribeye, T-bone, rump and bacon to enhance transparency in the internal market and enable well-informed consumer choices. These terms shall be reserved for meat products only, therefore they cannot be used for products that do not contain meat such as for instance cell-cultured

Next steps

The provisional agreement will now need to be endorsed by the Council and the Parliament, before being formally adopted and entering into force.

Background

The CAP already provides for certain measures that aim to improve the position of farmers in the food supply chain. However, the pressure on agricultural incomes is expected to continue as farmers face increasing risks, rising input costs and more stringent production requirements.

On 10 December 2024, the Commission put forward its proposed amendments to the current legal framework set in the regulation establishing a common market organisation of agricultural products. At the same time it proposed a regulation to facilitate cross-border enforcement of the directive on unfair trading practices, on which the Council and the European Parliament reached agreement last month.

The agreement directly reflects several recommendations of the strategic dialogue on the future of EU agriculture and responds to some of the most pressing challenges that the agricultural sector is facing, including Russia's ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine, rising input costs and increasing production requirements.