European Law Blog: The SAMs report "Towards a Sustainable Food System" Bites the Hand That Feeds Us!

The Commission’s recently launched its new “farm to fork” strategy. An important input to the formulation of such kind of strategies are the reports of the scientific advisors. One of such preparatory reports for the “farm to fork” strategy is the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors’ report “Towards a sustainable food system”. We carefully evaluate its underlying assumptions, potential impact on the food system and its possibility for implementation. Unfortunately, we argue, the report falls short on each of these aspects. We will first summarize what we consider to be the content and main take-away from the report. We will then assess the report’s proposals. Finally, we will argue for a more nuanced approach to the existing governance of food systems, as the proposals from the SAM’s report metaphorically and literally risk to bite the hand that feed us.