7.1. Agriculture and the EC
Agricultural matters are in general strictly regulated by the EC. However, the objective has not been protection of the environment. In the 1950s, Europe produced too little foodstuff to be self sufficient, and the original objective was therefore to increase agricultural production by providing subsidies that encouraged the production of agricultural products. For some products this policy was all too successful, and overproduction has been a problem for a number of years. In 1992, agricultural policy was revised considerably: All large farms are now forced to set aside part of their land, namely 15% if land is set aside on a rotating basis, or, as a more recent possibility, 18% if land is set aside on a non-rotating basis, i.e. permanent set-aside. The main objective of the 1992 reform was sociopolitical: To ensure an existence in the countryside for the many EC farmers with small farms, it being feared that further migration to urban areas would increase unemployment. EC subsidies are therefore most favourable for small farms.
EC agricultural policy is drawn up without any coordination with EC environmental policy. In this respect the EC therefore resembles its Member States.
To all intents and purposes, environmental policy is isolated from
agricultural policy. However, isolated requirements to agriculture has been stipulated in
EC environmental policy. The most important is the nitrate Directive, 91/676. This
requires Member States to identify vulnerable zones, to draw up action plans for reducing
nitrate pollution, and to establish monitoring programmes. The Directive recommends that
by 1999 the amount of animal manure applied to land should not exceed 170 kg N per ha per
year (corresponding to 1.7 livestock units (LU) per ha - for an explanation of LU, see
Section 7.2.2). In addition, Member States have to draw up a code of good farming
practice. The Directive on sewage sludge, 86/278, stipulates limit levels for the content
of sewage sludge intended for use as agricultural fertilizer (see Section 6.4).