From an Agrarian to an Environmental, Food, and Natural Resource Base for Agricultural Policy: Some Reflections on the Case of the EC

Abstract

Abstract The agriculture of the European Community (EC) has experienced significant changes in the last decade. From a situation of deficiency in agricultural and food production, the twelve‐nation community has shifted to a situation of food overproduction. This change has also been characterized by a rapid decrease in the agricultural labor force and a decrease of its importance in the employment structure which has manifested itself in fewer, more efficient farms. This alteration of structural conditions has led to the emergence of a new set of agricultural issues. This article discusses these changes by underscoring the decline of agrarian‐based issues and the emergence of environmental, food, and natural resource‐based issues. It is maintained that EC agricultural policies have been instrumental in both the resolution of agrarian‐based issues and in the creation of new problems embodied in the environmental, food, and natural resource‐based policies. The combination of the demise of agrarian‐based policies and the emergence of environmental, food, and natural resource‐based policies is also employed as a theoretical perspective from which the evolution of the agricultural sector in the EC can be interpreted.