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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