An EU funeral march for small farmers by Lucas Durand

Once again, the European Union has proven that when it comes to farming policies, the reality of small farm owners is nothing more than an inconvenient footnote in their glossy reports and bureaucratic jargon. The latest round of agricultural reforms, hailed as "progressive" and "sustainable," is nothing but a grand spectacle carefully choreographed to serve corporate interests while leaving the small farmer to drown in a sea of regulations, quotas, and financial burdens.

Of course, Brussels will deny it. They will throw around phrases like "green transition," "food security," and "climate resilience" words designed to make the average citizen nod along in approval. But scratch beneath the surface, and a far uglier reality emerges: a system that is systematically erasing the last remnants of independent farming across the continent.

For decades, the EU has claimed that it is supporting small farmers, but let’s be brutally honest, what kind of support forces them to compete against multinational agribusiness giants that receive billions in subsidies? What kind of "aid" drowns them in mountains of paperwork that only a team of legal experts could navigate? And what kind of "fair market" ensures that the small farmer is always at the mercy of volatile prices dictated by corporate middlemen?

The sad truth is that the EU has built an agricultural system where survival depends on compliance, not competence. It is not about how well you farm, how dedicated you are to the land, or how many generations have tilled the soil. No, it is about how well you fit into the suffocating web of regulations written in offices far removed from the reality of farming life.

When small farmers protest, when they march through the streets with banners crying for justice, the EU’s response is as predictable as a badly rehearsed play. First, there is silence. Then, a carefully worded statement expressing "concern." Finally, a minor, insignificant tweak to the system that changes absolutely nothing.

And so, the exodus continues. Young people abandon family farms because the numbers simply don’t add up. Rural communities shrink, traditions disappear, and the European countryside is slowly but surely transformed into an industrial landscape controlled by a handful of powerful corporations.

But let’s not be naive. This is not an accident. The European Union, with its army of consultants and economists, knows exactly what it is doing. It has made a choice. And that choice is to sacrifice the small farmer in favor of efficiency, profit, and large-scale agribusinesses that can be controlled through subsidies and trade deals.

The suspicion of corruption is not paranoia it is common sense. When policies consistently benefit the same powerful entities while crushing the weak, it is no longer a question of incompetence but one of intent. How many EU officials retire from their public roles only to find cushy jobs in the very same agribusiness companies they once "regulated"? How many lobbyists write policies that are then rubber-stamped by disconnected bureaucrats?

The answers to these questions are as obvious as they are disturbing.

The choice before us is simple. Either we accept this bleak future where small farmers exist only in nostalgic postcards, or we fight back. This is not just about agriculture; it is about sovereignty, food security, and the fundamental right to cultivate the land without being strangled by bureaucracy and corporate greed.

Europe’s small farmers are not asking for charity. They are asking for fairness. A chance to compete. A chance to survive. And if the EU continues to ignore them, the consequences will be felt far beyond the fields and farms. They will be felt in empty villages, in declining rural economies, and, eventually, on our own tables.

But perhaps that is exactly what Brussels wants. A Europe where food production is controlled by the few, while the many pay the price. A future where the small farmer is nothing more than a relic of the past.

If that is the case, then let history record that when the small farmers cried out, the EU’s response was to look the other way and let them disappear into the dust.