Can you elaborate if possible on the comment made about the EU Common Agricultural Policy's effects of promoting large scale intensive agriculture. Specifically what policy attributes support it.
Principally the direct payments. Farmers in the EU get a certain amount of money for every hectare of land they farm. This accounts for 40% of all CAP payments, and disproportionately benefits large farms, as they not only get much more money but also benefit from economies of scale.
Adding to that, compulsory environmental regulations are quite lax, while voluntary environmental measures are often poorly recompensed, and are thus economically not viable.
The objectives of the CAP are very much industrial and monetary in their orientation, seeing agriculture as a resource extraction activity and definitely not as any kind of land or biodiversity management. First goal is particularly crispy in this regard (number must go up, machine good, human labor bad).
> 1. increase productivity, by promoting technical progress and ensuring the optimum use of the factors of production, in particular labor;
> 2. ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural Community;
> 3. stabilize markets;
> 4. secure availability of supplies;
> 5. provide consumers with food at reasonable prices.
