European Agricultural Policy: A Federalist Solution

Abstract

The pre-occupations of the mid 1970s in relation to Agricultural Policy are different from those which prevailed during the 1960s. Then the emphasis was on the problems of adjustment. Debate focussed on how best to deal with low farm incomes, ‘burdensome surpluses’ and of the problems posed for domestic markets by depressed world prices for agricultural goods. Today, there is much greater concern for the consumer, the level of food prices, and the adequacy of future food supplies. In part this change in emphasis is a reflection of large price increases in world markets since 1972, but it also derives from more deep-seated anxieties.