[mikaeluman]

The main issue as I see it is that we need food security in the EU. Especially high quality nutrious dense food like beef.

And EU farmers are subject to a ridiculous number of regulations and costs. The thing is, these may very well be good for environmental reasons, but it doesn't work if we just start importing from countries that do the opposite.

[enaaem]

Mercusor nations only get lower tariffs up to a certain amount. For meat that's roughly 1.5% of EU production. That is no threat to Europe's strategic capacity.

https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/eu-trade-relationships-cou...

[dataviz1000]

I'm currently in Brazil. Buenos Aries has NYC, Miami food prices. One of the things that strikes me the most is price of food here and Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. By shipping the food to Europe and United States, it makes it extremely expensive here. After decades of authoritarian control, the food production here has been concentrated into a few extraordinary families.

The EU farmers are not the only people getting the short stick.

[gaigalas]

> it makes it extremely expensive here

That is relative. It makes it expensive compared to our people's purchasing power. Most people here don't earn much.

In more absolute terms (costs, etc), food in Brazil is incredibly cheap. Also abundant and varied (we have all climates within our borders, can plant/grow anything) to levels that people in the US and EU cannot understand.

I can prepare $50 USD meals for $30 BRL (which is about $6 USD). Not only premium beef, but premium fish, fruit, chocolate, wine, cheese (that's why wine and cheese are protected in the deal).

People told me this, and I only really believed when I visited the US and saw their food offerings in the market. I was shocked, and thankful for living here.

[NoboruWataya]

Do you mean the prices are as high as NYC relative to local income? Because if farmers can get NYC prices in their own country I don't see why they would ship their produce all the way to the EU, where they won't even be able to get that (NYC is more expensive than the large majority of Europe).

[kledru]

your comment gives impression as if Buenos Aries were in Brazil, so not sure what to make of it...

[geocar]

> The thing is, these may very well be good for environmental reasons, but it doesn't work if we just start importing from countries that do the opposite.

Everything I have read suggests the EU has controls to "temporarily suspend tariff preferences on agricultural imports from Mercosur if these imports harm EU producers"

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/eu-mercosur-agre...

and they intend to "uphold EU animal welfare rules" specifically so consumers aren't harmed either.

https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2025/09/04/eu-mercosur...

> The main issue as I see it...

Who are you? If you're an expert, can you share a couple links with some analysis of which part of this agreement will harm the environment, so I know exactly what you're talking about? And not in a vague hand-wavey way with all these weasel-words about "may very well", but an actual thing, because I live here and can vote, but I think this is a good deal, and am genuinely confused why anyone would think it isn't, so if I can get educated here, I don't want to pass up the chance!

[port11]

Well, who are you? As a voter, I’m already disappointed in Belgium’s lack of a gold standard for the welfare of chicken-laying eggs and male chick grinding. So we’re stuck buying the more expensive organic eggs. Okay, so the partners promise to uphold animal welfare standards. How are we checking? How often?

Are their emissions lower than ours? Do they pollute their waterways? What do they feed their livestock? Was it grown using pesticides we’ve banned, but feed was conveniently laundered through a 3rd-party importer?

I think it’s good to strike deals with new partners, but Mercosur was consistently criticised for not addressing corruption, not helping the already suicidal EU farmers, etc. It went full steam ahead, without any regard for the voters and their opinions.

Source? Dunno, I went to the protests and maybe I’m very biased.

[thrance]

If you want food security, beef is one of the worst options. It is extremely land-inefficient (not to mention very polluting as well).

[giacomoforte]

Beef was literally never a staple food in the EU. There's only a few regions were there is enough pasture land for a local operation but even then it was always too expensive to be a staple. Pork has always been the staple meat and we grow enough of that.

[pousada]

What hurts EU farmers the most are the huge supermarket chains which control prices. The rules&regulations thing is an often cited meme but the price war is much more impactful.

In fact we could produce for example in Germany milk in a sustainable and very environmentally friendly way if it would just cost a couple cents more, like 10 cents or even less. But consumers will basically riot if you raise the prices there so the supermarket chains don’t do it and instead put more pressure on the farmers to produce cheaply.

If you read the MERCOSUR agreement then you’ll see there are a ton of protections included against the thing you are afraid of.

[afpx]

Don’t you guys have farmer’s markets? I buy a lot of my stuff direct from the farmer.

[eigenspace]

Most of the sensitive food imports from Mercosur (including beef) are subject to quotas specifically to protect the domestic EU food production chain.

It's true that EU farmers are subject to a lot of burdens and costs, but I also think people are seriously underestimating just how effective a lot of the European agricultural sector is. In fact, this deal is probably going to result in a lot more export of high value, prestigious food items like cheeses and cured meats to South America, which could even have the surprising effect of increasing the amount of farm animals raised in Europe.

[layer8]

Mercosur imports are subject to the same food safety standards as non-imports: https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/eu-trade-relationships-cou...

[exceptione]

Food security is the last concern for Europe. How do you get that idea?

  > And EU farmers are subject to a ridiculous number of regulations and costs. 

Almost the whole EU budget is for agriculture subsidies. Countries outside EU have to comply with the same standards. The US could for instance export in bulk to the EU, if they would manage to bring food up to basic standards. It doesn't happen, but is not because the market isn't open.

[NoboruWataya]

> Food security is the last concern for Europe. How do you get that idea?

Food security is the first concern for every society, because without food we will all die. The reason almost the whole EU budget (hyperbole, but indeed it is a lot of the EU budget) is spent on agricultural subsidies is precisely to protect our food security.

[Bewelge]

>Food security is the last concern for Europe. How do you get that idea?

On the contrary, it is one of the main concerns of the EU. And has been since the beginning. The CAP still makes up 40% of the budget.

And frankly, for the first time I fully appreciate it. With the current state of the world it's nice that the EU isn't dependent on third parties for their food supply.

[TiredOfLife]

EU is pork land. US is the beef one