Home Search Sitemap Contact Bookmark

Free Dissertations - Economics Dissertations

Irrespective Of These Comments, It Is Important To Remember That The ...


Irrespective of these comments, it is important to remember that the European Union as a whole commits in excess of forty-five billion dollars each year in support of farmers throughout the member states. Therefore it is fair to state, as Cardwell (2004, p.8) does that Agriculture enjoys numerous advantages in the operation of the EU legislative process and bureaucracy. Whilst it may be true that the major part of these funds are utilised in the purchasing and storage of surplus products such as beef, wheat, milk and butter, before selling it to other nations, usually within the developing and third world (Gardner 1996, p.3), this still represents a significant level of state aid.
The Common Agricultural Policy seeks to achieve fairness of competition within the EU, whilst at the same time providing aid. The potential drawbacks of this policy is that it still leaves farmers vulnerable to policy changes and increases in costs that are not fully reflected within the subsidies. For example in Wales, which benefits from CAP, the increases in prosperity that it has brought to the hill farmers in the area could disappear if policies change and the EU or local authorities felt that this was providing the area with an unfair advantage, or changed the conditions in relation to eligibility (Jones 1999, p.320 and Cardwell 2004, p.227). In terms of cost increases, during the reform of the CAP system it has already been noted that these increases had an adverse effect upon the UK arable industry as a whole (Gardner 1996, p.148). Thus it would be true to say that such policies only remain appropriate should all other factors remain the same.
In the UK in 2002, the government commissioned a report on the future of farming and food (Curry 2002) in an attempt to define a strategy, which would led to a more sustainable for the future of agriculture and those who work within the industry. One of the main conclusions of this report (Curry 2002, p.109) was that farming had become detached from the rest of the economy and the environment. The report also suggests that this position has been reached partly as a result of the substantial subsidies, which its authors believed should be ended (Curry 2002, p.110). To address this position the report suggests that new research bodies, comprising of representatives from all the industry stakeholders, including the consumer, should be set, which will include within its remit, the setting up of demonstration farms to be used as models of economic success in farming. One comment within this area of the report that is particularly pertinent to the research of this paper is the comment that at the moment some [food] chains are too long (Curry 2002, p.113), suggesting that a food chain centre be set up to ensure the communication activities within the food chain are improved. Together with this Curry (2002, p.


Thanks