What drives farmer’s revolt against a sustainable EU food system? Insights from the contestation over the EU Nature Protection Law

The European Union (EU) published its Farm to Fork strategy in 2020 with the aim of achieving a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system. The strategy, which is part of the EU Green Deal, is ought to be implemented by respective legislation in the coming years to reach the goals set out in the strategy and achieve a just and sustainable transition of food systems. Connected to this and the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the European Commission (EC) has put forth at Nature Restoration Law, which foresees restoring 30% of drained peatlands under agricultural use by 2030, and 50% by 2050, enhance the carbon stock in mineral soils, and increase high-diversity landscape features on agricultural land. The proposal has been heavily disputed and passed the European Parliament in an amended version in July 2023 by a knife-edge vote only. The agreed text is still subject to a final vote in the European Parliament and the Council expected in spring 2024. The proposal in general and the envisaged targets in relation to the restoration of agricultural ecosystems in particular have produced polarized reactions. Proponents of the proposal regard it as a necessary step to ensure that ecosystems deliver vital services such as the absorption of carbon dioxide and supplying nutritious food as well as to protect and increase biodiversity. These include civil society and environmental groups as well as large multi-national companies. Opponents have argued that nature restoration will endanger food systems and result in less variety in food products and greater inequality in food systems. Particularly, the European People Party has mobilized against the proposal. It has claimed to represent the interests of farmers as well as the concerns of EU citizens about food security and rising food prices due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and inflation. In this paper, we study the political process underlying the Nature Restoration Law with an explicit focus on the EU food system. Our main research aim is to reveal the major lines of conflict that characterize the transformation of the EU food system. To achieve this, we investigate actor coalitions supporting and opposing the proposal. In doing so, we study how different governance actors, including different national government and political parties, position themselves on the proposal and reveal shared or conflicting interests. We employ discourse network analysis to uncover actors’ positioning and actor coalition formation based on public statements made in parliament and in the media. Overall, our results will contribute to a better understanding of the major sources of controversy for transforming the EU food system.