Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- Part I The economics of the European Union
- 1 Old Europe, new Europe: the role of the European Union
- 2 A dispute over origins: the European view versus the American perspective
- 3 The customs union and the diversion of trade
- 4 The Common Agricultural Policy and reforms: feeding Europe and then some
- 5 The euro: the ultimate currency reform?
- 6 The European Central Bank in action
- 7 The single market: from eliminating non-tariff barriers to enforcing competition
- 8 The single market in labor: from refugees to Schengen
- 9 The single market in capital: from Bretton Woods to Maastricht
- 10 The EU inside and out: regional policy and development aid
- 11 The EU: the other economic superpower?
- Part II The economies of Europe
- Suggestions for further reading
- Index
4 - The Common Agricultural Policy and reforms: feeding Europe and then some
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- Part I The economics of the European Union
- 1 Old Europe, new Europe: the role of the European Union
- 2 A dispute over origins: the European view versus the American perspective
- 3 The customs union and the diversion of trade
- 4 The Common Agricultural Policy and reforms: feeding Europe and then some
- 5 The euro: the ultimate currency reform?
- 6 The European Central Bank in action
- 7 The single market: from eliminating non-tariff barriers to enforcing competition
- 8 The single market in labor: from refugees to Schengen
- 9 The single market in capital: from Bretton Woods to Maastricht
- 10 The EU inside and out: regional policy and development aid
- 11 The EU: the other economic superpower?
- Part II The economies of Europe
- Suggestions for further reading
- Index
Summary
At the outset of the customs union, in 1958, agriculture was heavily protected. Recalling that the average tariff on all imports was intended to be 7.4%, it is striking that the average tariff on foodstuffs alone was 14.2%. The high level was not the result of a common consensus that foodstuffs should be protected as much as industrial goods; rather, it was a necessary outcome of considerable divergence in agricultural problems and policies among the member countries. First of all, the relative importance of agriculture ranged from 23% of GDP in Italy to 8.4% in Belgium, where the average farmer earned three times as much as in Italy. The range of prices for basic foodstuffs varied widely. Wheat, for example, was much cheaper in France than in either Italy or Germany. The size of farms varied, although most were too small to make mechanization profitable. Holdings between 0.5 and 5 hectares (1 hectare = 2.471 acres) accounted for 85% of all farms in Italy, 55% of the farms in Germany, and nearly 35% of the farms in France. For the United States, less than 10% of farms were under 5 hectares. Agricultural productivity varied widely as well, with the Dutch using three times as much fertilizer per acre as the French and five times as much as Italian farmers.
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- The Economics of Europe and the European Union , pp. 64 - 93Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007