The CAP, yesterday, today and tomorow 2015/2016 SBSEM and European Commission

1. Why an agricultural policy? Tomas Garcia Azcarate

Product characteristics

• Often perishable

• Produced during a short period of the year and consumed all year round

• Closely related to nature and biology, therefore unpredictable

Rigid supply

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+ rigid demand: Law of King

Law of decreasing yield or Law of Turgot

Cobweb cycle and production lags

Decreasing real prices…

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…and low public investment for decades

Recent changes… OUF!

Political issues

• Food security, historical concerns

• Even today, political instability: Arab spring; food refugees all round the word

• How to feed 9 billion mouths in 2050?

• Changes in food habits. Engel’s Law.

• Food safety - new important issue

• Understandable citizen anxiety

Unbalanced food chain

Rural and territorial issues

• Agriculture manages 50% of Europe’s territory, 75% with forest

• Our landscapes have been transformed over the centuries

• Desertification, erosion and fires are real risks related to land abandonment

• Overuse of underground water and pesticides are also real concerns

If you want to know more …

• DG AGRI webpage:

http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/index_en.htm

• My webpage:

http://tomasgarciaazcarate.com

• Twitter: Tgarciaazcarate

• Linkedin: Tomas Garcia Azcarate

• Facebook: Tomas Garcia Azcarate