Agriculture

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4.8 • 13 Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2019

⏱️ 5 minutes

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Summary

Repeated Eurobarometer surveys have provided evidence on how important agriculture and rural areas are to EU citizens. They have recorded high levels of awareness of the common agricultural policy and a recognition of the role it plays in the provision of high quality healthy food.
Significant legislative achievements have been made during the European Parliament's eighth term in respect of animal health (including an animal medicines package), plant health, official controls, organic production and labelling. In exercising Parliament's scrutiny role, its Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development has addressed a wide range of policy topics which have a bearing not only on how the CAP is currently delivered but also on future policy considerations for the post 2020 period. The latter has been a subject of intense debate. In support of the Committee's work, Parliament's Policy Department has commissioned and published forty studies in relation to agriculture and rural development policies. Looking to the future, the remainder of this term is likely to see the adoption of legislation concerning unfair trading practices in the food supply chain.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2019)635524

Source: © European Union - EP

Transcript

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0:00.0	Want to know what Europe does for you?
0:04.0	Welcome to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcast on agriculture.
0:09.8	The Common Agricultural Policy is one of the oldest EU policies.
0:13.4	Its main aim is to support farmers and ensure Europe's food security, but it does much more than that.
0:18.7	Stay with us and we'll walk you through the ins and outs of one of
0:21.4	Europe's most controversial yet popular policies. Launched in the early 1960s at a time when
0:30.0	Europe was struggling to feed its own population, cultural policy or cap, was designed to encourage
0:35.0	farmers to produce enough food by guaranteeing internal prices and
0:38.2	incomes. Those difficult times are long gone, but the cap remains one of the EU's most important
0:43.5	policies as it ensures that farmers can make a reasonable living while producing enough food
0:48.0	at affordable prices. It helps tackle climate change and the sustainable management of natural
0:53.0	resources, and it helps to keep
0:54.7	the rural economy alive. The truth is that farming is unlike any other business, so it requires
0:59.6	special attention. Despite the importance of food production, it's highly dependent on the weather,
1:04.2	and in general, farmers still earn less than people working in other sectors. This is why the cap
1:09.1	provides income support in the form of direct payments to
1:12.1	remunerate farmers working in a sustainable way and taking care of the countryside.
1:16.5	And it can also take measures to deal with difficult market situations, such as a sudden drop
1:21.5	on prices and to address the specific needs and challenges facing rural areas.
1:26.7	But all this costs money, to be precise just over 58 billion euros in 2018.
1:31.8	That's almost 40% of the total EU budget.
1:34.7	It is definitely a big slice, but compared to the 73% it represented in 1985, it is clearly
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