AgLaw Research Group

23/04/2026

New Upcoming AgLaw Seminar!

As the ecological crisis intensifies, EU policymakers are increasingly turning to technological solutions to strengthen the implementation of environmental legislation. Among these, Earth Observation (EO) technologies are emerging as a key tool.

These technologies can provide continuous and spatially explicit data on environmental change, helping to monitor progress, detect deterioration, and make legal obligations more transparent and reviewable.

But how far can these technologies really go? And what are their inherent limitations?

To explore both the potential and the challenges of relying on EO in environmental governance, our AgLaw researchers Enrico Mezzacapo and Roberto Talenti have developed a new article examining the potential and limitations of Earth Observation, using the Nature Restoration Regulation as a case study. The draft will be presented during the seminar.

📅 Date: May 5
🕔 Time: 17:00
📍 Format: Hybrid | Sant’Anna University HQ, Room 5 & Online

Join us online or in person by registering at [email protected]

We look forward to seeing you there.

17/04/2026

🆕📢 New Publication Alert!

We are proud to share a new publication from our research group! Our colleagues Mariagrazia Alabrese and Francesca Coli have just published a new article in World Trade Review (Cambridge University Press).

The article is titled "Regulatory Alignment or Divergence? Food Security Provisions in the Agreement on Agriculture and in Preferential Trade Agreements".

As global food systems face compounding crises, the legal architecture governing agricultural trade is more important than ever.

In this new paper, Alabrese and Coli, together with other authors, tackle a vital question: Are these regional Preferential Trade Agreements aligning with the multilateral WTO rules on food security, or are they diverging to create their own distinct regulatory pathways?

Understanding this dynamic is crucial for policymakers, legal scholars, and anyone invested in how international law impacts global food access and agricultural resilience. The article adopts an interdisciplinary methodology that combines legal and economic analysis.

This research adds an important layer of legal analysis to our ongoing conversations about trade, sustainability, and human rights.

📖 Read the full open-access article here:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/world-trade-review/article/regulatory-alignment-or-divergence-food-security-provisions-in-the-agreement-on-agriculture-and-in-preferential-trade-agreements/F7483E94916EFE95FF4F6A6C672BA1E1

Regulatory Alignment or Divergence? Food Security Provisions in the Agreement on Agriculture and in Preferential Trade Agreements

14/04/2026

🇮🇹 L’accordo UE-Mercosud sotto la lente a Pisa

L'accordo commerciale tra l'Unione Europea e il Mercosud rappresenta una delle sfide più complesse e dibattute del panorama globale attuale. Quali sono le reali opportunità e le criticità nascoste dietro questo trattato di "nuova generazione"?

Il prossimo 17 aprile 2026, il Centro di Eccellenza Jean Monnet "EU4GlobalOrder" dell'Università di Pisa insieme al nostro Centro di Eccellenza “SUSTAIN” della Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna ospiterà una giornata di studio multidisciplinare per analizzare l'accordo da molteplici prospettive.

Dettagli dell’Evento
🗓️ Data: 17 aprile 2026, ore 9:00
📍 Luogo: Aula Magna Storica, Palazzo della Sapienza, Pisa
🤝 👩‍💻 Modalità: in presenza e online (Microsoft Teams)
🌐 Lingua: Italiano

🔍 Temi Principali
🔶 Geopolitica e Diritto: Il punto di vista del Parlamento Europeo e degli Stati del Mercosud.
🔶 Sostenibilità e Ambiente: Gli impegni climatici e l'impatto sulle regole di produzione.
🔶 Agricoltura e Cibo: Un focus sulle filiere agroalimentari globali e la PAC.
🔶 Diritti e Società: Uguaglianza di genere, democrazia e partecipazione della società civile.

🎓 Crediti Formativi (CFP)
L'evento è accreditato per i professionisti:

🔶 Consiglio Nazionale Forense: 4 crediti
🔶 ODCEC Pisa: 7 crediti
🔶 Ordine dei Dottori Agronomi e Forestali

📧 Iscrizioni: Inviare una mail a [email protected] o [email protected] indicando la modalità di partecipazione.

08/04/2026

🛑 The Quiet Demise of the SFS: What Happens to "Farm to Fork" Now?

It is now official: the European Commission has abandoned the Sustainable Food Systems (SFS) Framework.

Originally pitched as the crown jewel, the foundational lex generalis, of the Farm to Fork Strategy, the SFS was supposed to establish common definitions, general principles, and a clear regulatory pathway for sustainable food systems across the EU. Instead, it has been quietly shelved.

Why does this matter from a legal and policy perspective?

Fragmentation vs. Cohesion: Without the SFS, the EU lacks an overarching legal architecture for food sustainability. We are left with a fragmented landscape of specific directives (like the delayed EUDR, the revised "Breakfast Directives", or the never-delivered pesticide framework) but no unifying, systemic framework.

This confirms a definitive shift in Brussels. Following months of agricultural protests and changing geopolitical priorities, the policy pendulum has swung from environmental ambition to competitiveness and simplification.

Without mandatory EU-wide standards on sustainability labeling and public procurement (which the SFS was expected to introduce), the burden will likely fall back onto private standards and fragmented Member State initiatives.

As researchers in agricultural and environmental law, we view this as a critical turning point. The abandonment of the SFS raises a profound question: Can we truly transform our food systems relying only on piecemeal regulations and market-driven incentives, rather than a cohesive legal mandate?

The transition to sustainability has not been canceled, but its primary legal vehicle has just been parked indefinitely.

What are your thoughts on this policy shift? Is this a necessary pragmatic pause, or a missed historical opportunity for EU food law?

🔗 Find the initiative here: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/13174-Sustainable-EU-food-system-new-initiative_en

01/04/2026

💧 "The River Won": A Victory for Environmental Defenders in the Amazon.
When we talk about food systems and sustainability, we cannot ignore the logistics and infrastructure that drive global trade and the local communities on the front lines.

In an incredible story of resilience, local campaigners and Indigenous groups in the Brazilian Amazon have successfully halted the privatization of a major waterway. The project, intended to speed up the export of soy and other agricultural commodities, threatened the local ecosystem and the livelihoods of those depending on the river.

This is a powerful reminder that environmental protection and human rights are deeply intertwined. True sustainability cannot come at the expense of local communities.

Read the full story: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/27/the-river-won-how-campaigners-in-brazilian-amazon-stopped-privatisation-of-waterway

Photograph: Adriano Machado/Reuters - Activists in Santarém took on Cargill, one of the US powerhouses of world trade.

27/03/2026

🌍 Food Security is Not Just About Food: The Ripple Effects of Conflict.

The FAO’s latest report, Agri-food Implications of the 2026 Middle East Conflict, serves as a stark and timely reminder: what is unfolding right now is not a classic food supply crisis.

Global food production remains relatively stable. However, the systems that make food production possible. Energy, fertilizers, and transport chains are under immense strain. And that matters just as much.

These disruptions are the result of an escalating conflict affecting key trade routes and regional stability. The knock-on effects are travelling quickly:

Rising energy prices are making it more expensive to grow, move, and process food. Disruptions in fertilizer trade are already altering how farmers plan their next season. These are not abstract pressures. They shape real decisions in fields and markets today, and their effects will likely be felt months from now in the form of tighter supplies and higher prices.

As the FAO report makes clear, these effects are not evenly felt. Import-dependent developing countries, particularly across Africa, Asia, and parts of the Middle East, are left most vulnerable. Higher fertilizer prices reduce input use among smallholder farmers. Rising transport costs push up food import bills. Declining remittances further weaken household purchasing power. In short, the crisis is hitting hardest where food insecurity is already a severe concern. It is not just a question of availability, but of affordability and access.

Food systems are deeply tied to energy systems and geopolitical stability.

This raises some difficult but essential questions for researchers and policymakers:

🤔 How should we think about food security when the problem lies as much in inputs as in outputs?
🤔 What does resilience look like in a system that depends on a few critical trade routes and suppliers?
🤔 How should policy, across agriculture, trade, and sustainability, respond not only to risk, but to uneven vulnerability?

It's crucial to frame food security less as a question of supply, and more as a question of how resilient and equitable the entire system really is. Resilience is not built only through better inputs or smarter policies; it depends on the stability of the networks themselves.

This crisis is a quiet but impossible-to-ignore reminder: peace is not external to food security. It is part of its bedrock.

📚 Explore the analysis in greater depth:

Read the full FAO Report: Agri-food Implications of the 2026 Middle East conflict https://openknowledge.fao.org/items/67a1fe95-98f2-4f23-8be7-99491bfd8343

Contextual Updates via UN News: Latest Briefing on the Regional Impact https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/03/1167205

18/03/2026

⚖️ Participatory Democracy on Trial: The "End the Cage Age" Hearing.

Is the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) a genuine tool for democratic change, or just a symbolic gesture? This question is currently playing out in the EU courts.

Following the historic success of 1.4 million validated signatures collected for the "End the Cage Age" ECI, the European Commission formally committed to present a legislative proposal to phase out cages for the animal categories covered by the initiative, originally indicating the end of 2023 as the target timeline.

However, the legislation has stalled. Now, the Citizens' Committee has taken the Commission to the Court of Justice of the EU, arguing that ignoring a successful ECI undermines the very concept of EU participatory democracy. The Court examined the Commission’s failure to follow through, while judges reportedly pressed the institution on the absence of a clear delivery timetable.

This case is about more than animal welfare; It tests the normative force of citizen participation in the Union’s legal order and may clarify whether institutional commitments made in response to an ECI generate meaningful accountability.

Read more here:

https://thegoodlobby.eu/court-hearing-puts-eu-participatory-democracy-on-trial-in-end-the-cage-age-case/

End the Cage Age case: Court hearing puts EU participatory democracy on trial. The Court’s ruling is expected in the coming months.

10/02/2026

🍯 The End of "Blend of EU/Non-EU Honey": 6 Months to Go.

While the headlines focus on Mercosur and Deforestation, a quiet revolution is happening on our breakfast tables.

We are entering the final sprint for the application of the revised "Breakfast Directives"(Directive (EU) 2024/1438) . By June 14, 2026, new transparency rules will become mandatory across the EU.

The most visible change? Honey Labeling. For years, the vague label "Blend of EU and non-EU honeys" has been a loophole, often masking the origin of adulterated or low-quality syrups.

From June: Labels must list all countries of origin in descending order of weight, including the exact percentage for each country.

The Impact: This is a direct strike against food fraud (honey is consistently in the top 3 most adulterated products globally) and a win for honest producers.

Other changes arriving in June:

🍊 Fruit Juices: A new category for "reduced-sugar fruit juice" is introduced, and the claim "fruit juices contain only naturally occurring sugars" becomes permissible to clarify consumer confusion between juices and nectars.

🍓 Jams: The minimum fruit content is increasing. "Extra Jam" must now contain at least 450g of fruit per kg (up from 350g), pushing the market toward higher quality.

For Agri-Food Businesses: If you have not updated your packaging designs yet, the clock is ticking. The transition period ends in June.

See more here: https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/farming/animal-products/honey_en

hashtag hashtag hashtag hashtag hashtag hashtag

03/02/2026

🚀 The wait is over—applications for our summer school are open!

🌱The 2026 Summer School on Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems in the EU: Legal and Policy Perspectives is officially out. 🌱

📍 Pisa—Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies
📅 8–12 June 2026
📌 The detailed program will be available soon—stay tuned!

Our program is co-organized with the colleagues of the Law Group of Wageningen University (WUR). This year, we welcome the participation of lecturers from academia and international organizations such as the FAO to offer, once again, an advanced interdisciplinary program dedicated to the legal and governance dimensions of sustainable farming and food systems.

The school explores how EU law and governance frameworks are evolving in response to climate change, biodiversity loss, and food system transformation and, crucially, where they may be falling short.

Throughout the week, we will engage with a set of core questions:

🔶 Where does the transition promoted by the European Green Deal, and in particular, by the Farm to Fork Strategy, stand today?
🔶 Are we witnessing a process of deregulation of its original objectives, or rather a reconfiguration of priorities and policy instruments?
🔶 How can the sustainability of agri-food production be governed in light of the Commission’s renewed focus on competitiveness during its second mandate?
🔶 How can complex socio-ecological systems be regulated against the backdrop of today’s geopolitical challenges?

🚀 Participation in this year's edition is free of charge. Thanks to funding from the “Merita—La rete per il talento” and the funds by the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence SUSTAIN—“EU Actions for Sustainable Farming and Food Systems,” the costs of accommodation, meals, and teaching materials will be fully covered by Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna.

🚨 The program is open to a maximum of 20 participants, who will be selected through a competitive selection and ranking procedure. The Seasonal School is primarily addressed to Ph.D. candidates. Master’s students, post-doctoral researchers, and professionals may be admitted on a secondary basis, subject to the availability of places.

🔗 More information & applications:
https://www.santannapisa.it/en/formazione/seasonal-school/sustain

28/01/2026

Yesterday in Florence, at the "Space It Up! Days," some results of SIU Spoke 7 on the legal evaluation of Earth Observation services for sustainable policies were presented. Our Mariagrazia Alabrese and Enrico Mezzacapo are part of the team composed by Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Universitario di Studi Superiori, Pavia, and - Gran Sasso Science Institute GSSI Social Sciences.

The team's contribution focused on the legal and governance implications of using space-based and Earth-observation data in the context of agri-food systems, food security, agricultural policies, and extreme weather events.

The event provided a valuable opportunity to engage with an interdisciplinary community working on these critical issues and to further strengthen synergies within the Space It Up! network.

Looking forward to the next steps. 🚀