View Research Topics | View Complete Article List | Visit the Library
The New Marketplace in European Agriculture
2007-11-04
Farmers and ranchers around the world are struggling with the balance between profitability and production of commodities. They are also struggling with the growing disconnection between the farmer and the consumer. In addition, there is growing concern in the general public about the environmental consequences of larger-scale agriculture practices. Because of these concerns, American and European producers have begun exploring a variety of strategies to improve profitability, establish a stronger link with the consumer—especially those living in urban areas—and strengthen the link between agriculture practices and environmental sensitivity.
In Europe these discussions are moving in the direction of rethinking the role of the farmer in society. Many organizations and policy makers are now suggesting that the role of the farmer is more than a producer of commodities—in effect a gardener. The emerging role of the farmer is a provider of food, a protector of the environment and a creator of employment. This multi-functional perspective on the role of the farmer has led to the establishment of several producer and rural development pilot programs and proposals for new agriculture policies within the European Union.
Since the pressures on European producers—a decade of food safety scares, well organized Green and consumer movements revolving around food—have been greater than pressures on American producers, European agriculture has moved more aggressively to institutionalize changes than in America. To assess the opportunities and threats these changes pose to regional agriculture, in July 2003 Northern Great Plains Inc. sponsored “Rethinking the Role of the Producer in Society,” a week-long study program of leading edge agricultural developments in France, Belgium and Holland. State agriculture officials, farmers, representatives of non-governmental organizations, NGP board members and staff participated.
The study program’s goals were to gain an understanding of the European view of the role of the producer in preserving the environment and how European farmers are responding to concerns about the environment and food safety; to understand the role of the consumer in determining European agriculture practices; to learn how the processing and retail food sectors are responding to consumer concerns about environmentally sensitive farming practices; and to learn what impact European Union policies have on the production practices of producers.
