Food and Farming: Time to Choose!

The document critiques the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), stating that it subsidizes industrial farming, pollution, and the destruction of biodiversity. It highlights the inefficiency of intensive meat production, the prevalence of pesticide residues in produce, and the environmental damage caused by tobacco and olive intensification. The authors propose a shift toward eco-conditionality for payments, the abolition of export subsidies, and the prioritization of small-scale organic farming and local markets.

• The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) disproportionately benefits large-scale agribusiness, with 70% of subsidies going to only 20% of farmers, and it promotes industrialization and pollution through an annual spend of 40 billion Euro.
• Intensive livestock production is described as inefficient and environmentally damaging, requiring 5kg of high protein feed for every kilo of beef and contributing to global warming, acid rain, and ozone depletion.
• EU agricultural policies and regulations have led to the loss of crop diversity and the waste of produce; for example, a 1990 regulation prohibiting the sale of apples smaller than 55 mm resulted in the destruction of tons of fruit.
• Tobacco farming receives the highest CAP subsidy per hectare, nearly 7,000 Euro, despite causing deforestation, desertification, and erosion.
• The document proposes several reforms to the CAP, including making payments conditional on environmental performance, abolishing export subsidies to prioritize local trade, and shifting funding toward organic farming and small-scale producers.

APA

Friends of the Earth International (n.d.). Food and Farming: Time to Choose! https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/DEF-english.pdf

Chicago

Friends of the Earth International. Food and Farming: Time to Choose! n.d. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/DEF-english.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Friends of the Earth International |title=Food and Farming: Time to Choose! |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/DEF-english.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{friendsoftheearthinternationalndfood, author = {{Friends of the Earth International}}, title = {{Food and Farming: Time to Choose!}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/DEF-english.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }