Proposal for a fair EU agricultural policy after 2020
Align EU agricultural policy with quality
Europe's Common Agricultural Policy faces the great challenge of reconciling society and agriculture
for the benefit of all. For decades, agricultural policy has mainly focused on pushing the international
competitiveness of the food industry. The goal of world market leadership pushed aside societal
concerns for a transparent quality-production, which is fair to environment, climate and animals and
pushed hundreds of thousands of farms in economic exits.
EU subsidies such as the flat-rate payments per hectare, which are granted indefinitely per farm by
Member States such as Germany and which do not take into account the quality of production,
favour large farms and those with the lowest environmental, animal welfare and rural diversity
benefits.
Market rules and trade agreements tailored to the interests of the export-oriented dairy and meat
industry prevent farmers from actively responding to supply and demand and consumers from
choosing the origin and quality of products. Europe can do it better. For that the AbL occurs.