The agricultural policy of the European Community [antikvár]

The provision of adequate food supplies for production is the main aim of agricultural policy in every country in the world. It implies the existence of an efficient, flexible agricultural industry within the country and balanced trade in foodstuffs with foreign countries.For centuries, the Member States of the present European Community tried to carry out this task for themselves. They began with widely differing natural, economic, historical and political situations, and this led in time to highly divergent agricultural policies and, in particular, very different agricultural structures in the various countries.The establishment of the European Communities created, for the first time, the necessary conditions for ensuring the supply of foodstuffs for consumers within a common agricultural policy.The agricultural policy which the Community of Six, and subsequently Nine, was to implement had to be such as to permit the transition from the various national agricultural policies to a common agricultural policy and, in particular, to take account of the special features of agricultural production and the problems involved in adapting agriculture to the process of economic growth which is taking place in all Western industrialized countries.1. Why an agricultural policy?The most striking difference between agricultural production and industrial production is the dependence of the former on the natural phenomena which determine the growth of plants and animals. The greater part of agricultural production depends directly on natural conditions such as the type of soil, the weather and the climate: diseases and pests are also involved and these may further increase the risk of substantial variations in yield. Security of supply depends, therefore, on the formation of buffer stocks to help make up production shortfalls and overcome supply bottlenecks. Apart from being in the Community's own interest, this security of supply also makes possible international food aid in case of unexpected shortage.But production shortfalls and surpluses can give rise to enormous price fluctuations which in turn lead to substantial variations in income for farmers.Another characteristic of agriculture is the difficulty it has in adapting rapidly to the changing economic conditions caused by growth. The share of agriculture in gross national product (GNP)