Petition Against the Financing of Agricultural Overproduction: Stopping Subsidized Global Health and Environmental Crises

To the Committee on Petitions,

As the undersigned petitioner, I firmly demand that the European Parliament drastically restrict financial subsidies for food production and processing. The current subsidy system is unsustainable, fuels a global health crisis, and inflicts severe damage on the environment. My arguments are as follows:

• A Rational Case Against Irrational Overproduction: While the global population is approximately 8 billion, the global food industry currently produces enough food to feed 13.5 billion people. This staggering surplus does not eliminate hunger; instead, it fuels waste and overconsumption. According to UN data, more than 1 billion tons of food end up as waste annually, accounting for roughly one-third of all food produced.
• A Grave Public Health Emergency: This artificially generated overproduction is the engine of the global obesity crisis. The World Obesity Federation projects that by 2026, nearly 3 billion people will be affected by overweight or obesity. Complications arising from obesity—such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases—cause approximately 5 million premature deaths worldwide every year.
• Environmental Disaster in the Shadow of Subsidies: Food waste is responsible for 8–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Direct payments made under the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) often incentivize intensive, polluting farming practices that lead to biodiversity loss and soil degradation. Agriculture funded by billions in taxpayer money accounts for 70% of global freshwater use, even as a significant portion of the harvest is never consumed.

I demand the following from policymakers:

1. A radical cut to CAP direct payments and production-coupled subsidies.
2. The abolition of market interventions and processing industry subsidies that maintain this harmful cycle of overproduction.
3. The reallocation of liberated funds exclusively toward small-scale ecological farming that supports nature conservation and public health.

The European Union's current agricultural policy makes it indirectly complicit in the deaths of millions and the destruction of our planet's habitability. This must end.

Respectfully, Zoltán Bíró

Supporters can sign the petition after it has been officially accepted by the European Parliament's Committee on Petitions.

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