Opinion on Strengthening competitiveness, resilience and fairness in EU agriculture

Ms Vrecionová

Chair

Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

BRUSSELS

Subject: Opinion on Strengthening competitiveness, resilience and fairness in EU agriculture (2026/2011(INI))

Dear Madam Chair,

Under the procedure referred to above, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs has been asked to submit an opinion to your committee and decided to send the opinion in the form of a letter.

The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs considered the matter and, at its meeting of 10 September 2026, it decided to submit the opinion set out below to the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, as the committee responsible.

Yours sincerely,

Li Andersson

A. Whereas the agricultural sector’s share of the EU’s workforce has decreased from 5.2% in 2013 to 3.9% in 2023;

B. Whereas, according to 2020 data, the Union’s agricultural sector is characterised by a highly diverse farm structure, with 63.8% of farms being smaller than five hectares, while only 3.6% of holdings are larger than 100 hectares yet cultivate 52.5% of the EU’s agricultural land; whereas this diversity gives rise to a variety of working arrangements, including self-employment, family farming and wage employment;

C. Whereas in 2020 almost a third of farm managers across the EU were aged 65 or over; typically working on small or semi-subsistence farms;

D. Whereas in 2024, 53.7% of the agricultural workforce were self-employed;

E. Whereas the long-term viability, competitiveness and resilience of the European agricultural sector are intrinsically linked to the availability of a skilled, healthy and fairly remunerated workforce in rural areas which can be achieved only by securing a quality employment, for example through safe and fair working conditions, adequate social protection and the effective exercise of collective bargaining rights; whereas ensuring Europe's strategic autonomy in food production requires economically viable farms and resilient rural communities throughout the Union;

F. Whereas social sustainability must be considered on an equal footing with economic and environmental sustainability;

G. Whereas European food security depends to a great extent on successful generational renewal in agriculture; whereas low and unpredictable incomes, health and safety issues and precarious working conditions are significant obstacles to making the agriculture sector attractive to young workers, thereby jeopardising the transfer between generations in the sector and the future of European agriculture;

H. Whereas agriculture remains one of the most dangerous sectors in the Union in terms of occupational accidents and fatalities, and whereas climate change is adding new occupational safety and health risks, including heat stress, pesticide exposure under higher temperatures, and zoonotic risks, which require updated prevention frameworks;

I. Whereas according to EU-OSHA, exposure to hazardous pesticides is associated with increased risks of cancer, neurological disorders, reproductive health problems and respiratory diseases among agricultural workers; whereas farm workers, seasonal workers and third country national workers are disproportionately exposed to such risks;

J. Whereas third-country national and seasonal workers represent a substantial share of the agricultural workforce in several Member States, and whereas evidence from the European Labour Authority, the Fundamental Rights Agency and civil society organisations continues to reveal cases of labour exploitation, forced labour, debt bondage and substandard housing conditions in agriculture;

K. Whereas farmers continue to face increasing production costs, including for energy and fertilisers; Whereas the agri-food supply chain is characterised by a structural imbalance of bargaining power between farmers and workers on the one hand and processors, retailers and large distributors on the other, and whereas this imbalance is a root cause of both low farm incomes and low agricultural wages; whereas, therefore, the Unfair Trading Practices Directive should be reinforced and adequately implemented across the EU;

L. Whereas nearly 95 million people in the European Union were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2024, and access to affordable, healthy and sustainable food remains a challenge for many households; whereas ensuring fair incomes for farmers and affordable food prices for consumers are complementary objectives;

M. Whereas the Commission’s proposals for the post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy and the National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPP) Regulation may require further consideration to ensure the continued effectiveness, visibility and accountability of the social conditionality framework introduced in 2023 and of social and employment objectives within merged funding streams.

Therefore, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs calls on the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, as the committee responsible, to integrate the following suggestions in its motion for a resolution:

1.Highlights that labour shortages persist in agriculture and in other labour-intensive sectors, and that these are exacerbated by demographic decline, ageing rural populations, low wages and difficult working conditions; calls for targeted measures to improve the attractiveness of agricultural jobs, especially for young and new farmers through, inter alia, redistributive payments;

2.Highlights the growing role of digitalisation, precision farming, artificial intelligence, robotics and other innovative technologies in modern agriculture; stresses that farming is increasingly a knowledge- and technology-driven profession rather than solely physically demanding work; calls for adequate support, including through EU funding, for training and information programmes that help farmers acquire the skills needed to benefit from these technologies, thereby enhancing the sector’s productivity, sustainability and attractiveness to younger generations;

3.Underlines the need to recognise the important role of farmers and strengthen the prestige of the farming profession, as well as to highlight its essential role in ensuring the production of high-quality, safe and sustainable food;

4.Stresses the importance of awareness-raising and educational initiatives from an early age, including in schools, in order to ensure that children understand and appreciate the importance of healthy, sustainable and high-quality food of known origin, the efforts required for its production, and the fundamental role of agriculture in food security and society;

5.Is concerned about the physical and mental wellbeing of farmers who are commonly faced with multiple risk factors including physically demanding and repetitive labour, exposure to hazardous machinery and chemicals, and difficult and often extreme weather conditions; as well as by significant psychological pressures linked to income instability, market volatility, long and irregular working hours, cultural isolation and limited access to support services, all of which contribute to increased stress levels and mental health issues; highlights the particular challenges in the sector posed by difficulty accessing healthcare and stigma surrounding mental illness; calls therefore for stronger enforcement of existing EU and national labour standards in agriculture, including rules on working time, occupational safety and health, and the Seasonal Workers Directive; calls on all Member States that have not yet done so to ratify ILO Convention184 (safety and health in agriculture); calls for CAP support to be prioritised towards farmers and farms that create quality employment, respect collective agreements, invest in training and contribute to environmental sustainability;

6.Emphasises the need to combat undeclared work, bogus self-employment, abusive subcontracting chains and exploitative practices affecting in particular seasonal, posted and third country national workers; calls for adequately resourced national labour inspectorates and for the necessary competences of European Labour Authority;

7.Recognises the economic, social and environmental value generated by farmers through their essential contribution to food security, rural vitality and the provision of public goods, and stresses that this value should be adequately reflected in their income and remuneration; stresses that farmers should receive prices that cover production costs and allow for a decent standard of living; calls for stronger measures to address unfair trading practices and excessive concentration in the food supply chain, so as to strengthen farmers’ bargaining power and ensure a fair distribution of added value throughout the value chain;

8.Stresses the important role of the social conditionality mechanism introduced in the 2023 CAP reform; stresses that attempts at simplification of the process for beneficiaries must not undermine the social conditionality mechanism; calls for direct CAP payments to be conditional on respect for applicable labour and social law;

9.Underlines the role of social dialogue and collective bargaining in improving working conditions, wages and productivity in agriculture; calls on Member States and the Commission to actively support sectoral social dialogue structures at national, regional and Union level;

10.Underlines the importance of providing present and potential workers in the agriculture sector, in particular young people, inclusive access to counselling on career development, quality apprenticeships, vocational education and training (VET), and lifelong learning, including on health and safety in the workplace, digitalisation, sustainability, animal-welfare and climate-adaptation;

11.Underlines the role of the marketing and management education and training, enabling young people to adapt to new market trends and opportunities such as organic food, short supply chains, specialised tourism, as well as the sale and promotion of local products by using new technologies;

12.Stresses the need for a strong, stand-alone and separate ESF with a dedicated financial envelope and dedicated earmarkings for priorities and that the rural development components of the CAP and the NRPPs must remain identifiable, ring-fenced and complementary in order to ensure that the measures funded are directed towards the intended objectives.

13.Recognises the important role of the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) in supporting the revitalisation of rural areas through the provision of training, upskilling and employment opportunities for people excluded from the labour market, tailored to individual and local needs, including the specific labour and skills needs of rural economies and sectors such as agriculture;

14.Encourages further combined financial support from EU funding sources for training courses, counselling, internships and vocational education;

15.Underlines that the agriculture must be socially just and inclusive; calls for anticipatory plans, negotiated with social partners, for agricultural sub-sectors most exposed to structural change, including reskilling; warns against a transition model that externalises social costs onto workers and small farmers;

16.Calls on the Commission and Member States to establish minimum preventive measures against extreme weather events in agriculture, including heat action plans, access to drinking water, shaded rest areas, adapted working schedules and early warning systems.

17.Calls for continuous work towards further improvement of the working and living conditions of all agricultural workers, including seasonal, third country national and posted workers; strongly condemns all forms of labour exploitation, forced labour, human trafficking and debt bondage in agriculture; and calls on Member States to ensure compliance with applicable labour law and ILO conventions, including through adequately resourced labour authorities and national inspection practices, provide effective access to justice and take appropriate measures against abusive practices; stresses the importance of cross-border cooperation between labour inspectorates and the operational role of the European Labour Authority;

18.Calls for minimum Union standards for employer-provided accommodation for seasonal agricultural workers in accordance with national law and existing Union legislation;

19.Recognises the essential contribution of third country national workers to EU agriculture; calls for fair, transparent and cost-free recruitment in line with EU and Member State legislations; calls on the Member States to ensure full respect for labour legislation and to make every effort to exclude operators using recruitment agencies that breach applicable law from CAP support to close loopholes exploited by abusive practices in the agri-food sector; welcomes in this context the European Commission’s EU Talent Pool initiative aimed at facilitating legal employment opportunities for third-country nationals in the European Union; calls furthermore for regular monitoring of recruitment practices and accommodation conditions of seasonal and third country national workers in agriculture, including by means of existing inspection practices.

20.Recognises the emerging new health-related challenges and risks affecting farmers across the Union, covering in particular heat stress, pesticide exposure, musculoskeletal disorders, zoonotic risks and mental health; calls on the European Commission and the Member States, in line with a balanced and forward-looking approach, to address these developments in a coordinated manner; and to ensure that CAP-supported modernisation of farms includes OSH requirements as eligibility criteria; calls for further efforts to reduce workers’ exposure to hazardous pesticides, including through improved training, mandatory use of adequate personal protective equipment, strengthened monitoring and the promotion of safer and sustainable alternatives in line with the Union's environmental and health objectives;

21.Stresses that access to affordable, healthy and sustainable food is a fundamental social objective; calls on the Commission and Member States to ensure that agricultural and social policies contribute both to fair remuneration for farmers and to food affordability for vulnerable households, including through targeted food assistance schemes and support for local food systems;

22.Stresses the essential and diversified roles of women in the agricultural sector across the European Union, in particular within family farming; highlights women’s significant involvement in value-added activities, including processing, direct sales, short supply chains and agri-tourism, which are key drivers of farm diversification and rural development; and underlines the increasing contribution of women to innovation, entrepreneurship and community-based initiatives in rural areas, thereby enhancing the resilience, sustainability and overall development of the agricultural sector in the Union; stresses at the same time that women remain under-represented as heads of holdings; calls for full social security coverage for assisting spouses, adequate infrastructure for childcare, accessible social care services and targeted measures to prevent gender-based violence and harassment in agricultural workplaces in line with ILO Convention 190;

23.Recalls that generational renewal requires more than youth-targeted top-ups; highlights that the attractiveness challenge of the sector is compounded by issues prevalent in all rural areas such as lack of access to quality training and education, social services, infrastructure and healthcare; stresses the importance of creating favourable conditions for timely farm transfer and ensuring a smooth transition between generations;

24.Emphasises the importance of comparable, gender-disaggregated data on wages, working time, accidents at work, informal and undeclared work, and living conditions of seasonal and third country national workers in agriculture; calls on Eurostat, EU-OSHA and Eurofound to be resourced accordingly and on the Commission to publish a regular reports on social indicators in the agricultural sector linked to CAP performance reporting;

25.Calls on Eurostat, EU-OSHA and the European Labour Authority to improve data collection, including linked to pesticide exposure, labour exploitation, forced labour and trafficking in agriculture, including disaggregated data concerning seasonal and third country national workers;

26.Recalls that competitiveness cannot be built on a downward alignment of social standards; insists that Union trade agreements with agri-food dimensions must include enforceable labour and social clauses, promote higher labour and social standards in partner countries, and that no free-trade concession should undermine the Union social acquis in rural areas;

27.Highlights the role of community-supported agriculture, cooperatives and other farmer-led collective initiatives in strengthening the competitiveness, resilience and long-term viability of the agricultural sector; stresses that solidarity-based cooperation between farmers and local communities can enhance market opportunities, support local economies, improve risk-sharing and contribute to more resilient rural areas;

28.Calls on the Commission and Member States to ensure full policy coherence between agricultural, employment, social, health, housing, migration and regional policies, in order to build a genuinely competitive, resilient and fair agricultural sector in the Union.

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