Food and Farming: Time to Choose!

This fact sheet by Friends of the Earth argues that the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) promotes industrial farming, environmental pollution, and corporate dominance over sustainable, healthy food production. It calls for a shift toward organic farming, local trade, and the prioritization of small-scale farms.

• The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union is criticized for promoting industrialization and pollution rather than quality food. Of the 40 billion Euro spent annually on the CAP, 70% of subsidies are allocated to only 20% of farmers, primarily benefiting large-scale agri-business.
• Intensive meat and poultry production is described as unsustainable and inefficient. For every kilo of beef produced, 5kg of high protein feedstuff is required. To support this, Europe imports 55 million tons of feedstuffs annually from Southern countries, including Brazil and Thailand, which displaces food production for human consumption in those regions.
• EU policies in the fruit and vegetable sector are criticized for favoring standardization over local diversity and health. A 1990 EU Regulation banned the sale of apples with a diameter smaller than 55 mm, leading to the destruction of tons of fruit and increased use of pesticides and fertilizers to meet these standards.
• Tobacco receives the highest CAP subsidy per hectare of any crop, nearly 7,000 Euro, despite the crop's lack of nutritional value and associated environmental costs such as deforestation, erosion, and desertification.
• Friends of the Earth proposes several reforms to the CAP and food system, including making payments conditional on environmental performance (Eco-Conditionality), abolishing export subsidies to prioritize local and regional trade, and implementing a green tax reform to tax chemical inputs and transport.

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} }