Jonathan D G Jones

📄 Copa-Cogeca has sent a letter to the ambassadors of COREPER I ahead of today's Energy Council, calling for European agriculture and agri-food cooperatives to be recognised as a strategic sector in the EU's response to energy supply constraints and rising fuel prices. Our letter calls for decisive European action on six priorities: 1️⃣ Protect essential agricultural production and agri-food processing. Energy-saving measures and emergency allocations must take account of seasonal production cycles and food safety requirements. 2️⃣ Address rising energy and diesel costs through coordinated EU action. Measures must be targeted, temporary and proportionate, avoiding fragmented national responses that could distort the Single Market. 3️⃣ Unlock the potential of European biofuels. Provide regulatory flexibility for sustainable EU-produced biofuels, strengthen the Union Database to prevent fraud, and establish workable criteria for intercrops and degraded land. 4️⃣ Modernise rural electricity grids. Rural areas cannot drive the energy transition while facing inadequate grid capacity and unnecessary permitting barriers. 5️⃣ Develop a European strategy for renewable energy on farms. Support biogas, biomethane, small-scale anaerobic digestion and energy storage, while recognising digestate as a valuable resource rather than a regulatory burden. 6️⃣ Support combined heat and power systems on farms, in cooperatives and across agri-food processing facilities. ⚡️Farmers and agricultural cooperatives are not just energy consumers. They are also producers of renewable electricity, biogas, biomethane and biofuels. Recognising agriculture as both a pillar of food security and a driver of Europe's energy transition is essential to safeguarding the sector's competitiveness and resilience.