Farmers at the Core: Driving Resilience in European Agri-Food Systems

European agriculture faces growing challenges – from extreme weather events to geopolitical tensions. To ensure long-term food security, a reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is needed, making resilience its central objective. How to strengthen Europe's agrifood system? By focusing on innovation, profitability, ecosystems’ protection and farmer support.

At the 2025 edition of the Think2030 conference on 28 March 2025, the Green Economy Institute hosted speakers to discuss " Resilient Agriculture in Poland and the EU: Navigating Challenges and Opportunities in 2025”. This policy brief presents the key takeaways from the discussion, highlighting the challenges and opportunities in building resilience in the Polish and EU agriculture in 2025.

While stable food production and supply depend on healthy biophysical, social, and economic conditions, European agriculture is increasingly threatened by extreme weather events, biodiversity loss, and geopolitical tensions. These disruptions are not only already impacting the sector – they are also expected to grow in scale, frequency, and unpredictability. In response to these mounting pressures, a resilient and future-proof agrifood system must demonstrate the capacity to remain robust, adapt to change, and, when necessary, undergo transformation.

Current policy instruments, such as those under the Common Agricultural Policy, tend to emphasize robustness and often focus on maintaining the status quo. So far, little attention has been paid to fostering adaptability, and even less on enabling transformation. This narrow approach is no longer sufficient. Only a holistic understanding and implementation of resilience (encompassing robustness, adaptability, and transformation) can ensure the EU’s long-term food production capacity, and with it, Europe’s food security.

Notably absent from the EU’s recent political outputs is a coherent environmental policy framework that supports long-term agricultural sustainability. This lack of alignment stands in contrast to the recommendations of the Commission’s own Strategic Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture, which stressed the need to move beyond short-term robustness toward deeper adaptation and transformation.

To ensure long-term productivity in European farming under environmental, social, and geopolitical stress, resilience must become the central objective of future CAP reform. At the same time it must be kept in mind that the goal of resilience cannot be achieved without putting farmers at the centre of the resilience agenda. Resilient agriculture must not only mean diverse, robust, adaptable and transformable, but also a profitable agricultural system. 

Looking through a value chain lens makes it clear that the necessary changes require investments not only at the farm level but also in upstream and downstream sectors. This has direct budgetary implications and demands a stronger alignment between the CAP and other EU funding instruments to support the entire agri-food system in its transition.

The upcoming MFF negotiations offer a unique window to reframe agricultural policy around resilience, profitability, and strategic autonomy. Farmers must be placed at the centre of this transformation, supported not only with fewer administrative burdens, but with the tools, financing, and recognition necessary to lead the change. To succeed, Europe must align its agricultural, environmental, and food policies toward a common goal: a sustainable and secure food system that works for people, nature, and future generations. The choices made now will determine whether this vision becomes a reality or just a missed opportunity.

Key recommendations:

• Make resilience the central objective of the next CAP reform:future CAP must move beyond maintaining the status quo. It should explicitly support not only robustness, but also adaptation and transformation capacities in farming, ensuring long-term productivity under environmental, social, and geopolitical stress.

• Use the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) to unlock investment across the agri-food value chain: connect CAP with other EU instruments to finance transformation efforts not just on farms, but also among processors, distributors, and innovators.

• Accelerate access to targeted financing for farmers and ensure better direction of funds: streamline and simplify funding application processes to ensure that farmers receive support in a timely and accessible manner. Prioritise financing that drives innovation, resilience, and environmental performance.

• Establish a clear 2040 and 2050 EU vision for agriculture and food systems: develop a long-term strategic framework outlining what a sustainable, resilient, and competitive agri-food sector should look like in 2040 and 2050. Use this vision to guide investment decisions, align value chain actors, and provide farmers and businesses with predictability and confidence for transition.