ASSESSMENTS

Europe's Agriculture Sector Faces More Competition in the Future

Aug 28, 2018 | 09:30 GMT

A farmer drives a tractor as he sows his field in a field near Bouloire north-western France on Aug. 21, 2018.

A farmer drives a tractor as he sows his field in a field near Bouloire, France on Aug. 21, 2018. Europe's agriculture lobbies have a history of being well-organized and extremely politically and economically influential.

(JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • Agricultural lobbies have historically been very active in Europe, often able to influence policy at the national and supranational level.
  • Yet the impact of European agricultural lobbies is dwindling, in no small part because of declining rural populations and the agricultural sector's declining contribution to the European Union's economy. 
  • In the coming years, Europe is likely to continue reducing farm subsidies and to become more open to including agriculture in free trade negotiations.
  • This will force farmers to adapt to a more competitive environment.

The protection of the agricultural sector has been a crucial policy for Europe's trade bloc since the 1960s. Agricultural lobbies are a formidable political force in the European Union, with the political leeway to influence policy-making both at the national and supranational level. However, their influence has declined in recent decades and will continue to do so in the future, due to structural factors including a decline in rural populations, the agriculture sector's smaller contributions to the European Union's economy and reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy. As a result, the European Union will become more and more willing to include agriculture in free trade agreements, which will force European farmers to find ways to adapt to a more competitive market....

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