Common Agricultural Policy

Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)

 Is the scheme by which agricultural production within the European Union (EU)  is organised. It was set up by the Treaty of Rome as a way of helping small-scale and relatively inefficient European farmers to survive.
In 2006 EU support for farmers (under the CAP) accounted for 45 per cent of its £75 billion budget.

PROS:
•    it stabilises farm incomes
•    it enables marginal producers to stay in business, e.g. sheep farmers on Welsh hills
•    it has helped to make Europe self-sufficient in food production 

CONS:
•    it is expensive to operate
•    it is open to corruption
•    it raises food prices above world levels; this hurts consumers, and it hurts poor consumers more than rich ones