Editing Common Agricultural Policy (section)

===Objectives===
The objectives, set out in Article 39 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, are as follows:
# to increase productivity, by promoting technical progress and ensuring the optimum use of the factors of production, in particular labor;
# to ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural Community;
# to stabilize markets;
# to secure availability of supplies;
# to provide consumers with food at reasonable prices.

The CAP recognized the need to take account of the social structure of agriculture and of the structural and natural disparities between the various agricultural regions and to effect the appropriate adjustments by degrees.

CAP is an integrated system of measures that works by maintaining commodity price levels within the EU and by subsidizing production. There are a number of mechanisms:
*Import levies are applied to specified goods imported into the EU. These are set at a level to raise the World market price up to the EU target price. The target price is chosen as the maximum desirable price for those goods within the EU.
*Import quotas are used as a means of restricting the amount of food being imported into the EU. Some non-member countries have negotiated quotas allowing them to sell particular goods within the EU without tariffs. This notably applies to countries that had a traditional trade link with a member country.
*An internal [[Intervention storage|intervention price]] is set. If the internal market price falls below the intervention level then the EU will buy up goods to raise the price to the intervention level. The intervention price is set lower than the target price. The internal market price can only vary in the range between the intervention price and target price.
*Direct subsidies are paid to farmers. This was originally intended to encourage farmers to choose to grow those crops attracting subsidies and maintain home-grown supplies. Subsidies were generally paid on the area of land growing a particular crop, rather than on the total amount of crop produced. Reforms implemented from 2005 are phasing out specific subsidies in favour of flat-rate payments based only on the area of land in cultivation, and for adopting environmentally beneficial farming methods. The change is intended to give farmers more freedom to choose for themselves those crops most in demand and reduce the economic incentive to overproduce.
*[[Production quota]]s and '[[set-aside]]' payments were introduced in an effort to prevent overproduction of some foods (for example, milk, grain, wine) that attracted subsidies well in excess of market prices. The need to store and dispose of excess produce was wasteful of resources and brought the CAP into disrepute. A secondary market evolved, especially in the sale of [[milk quota]]s, while some farmers made imaginative use of 'set-aside', for example, setting aside land that was difficult to farm. Currently set-aside has been suspended, subject to further decision about its future, following rising prices for some commodities and increasing interest in growing [[Biofuel|bio-fuels]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1564327/Set-aside-subsidy-halted-to-cut-grain-prices.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1564327/Set-aside-subsidy-halted-to-cut-grain-prices.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live | work=The Daily Telegraph| location=London | title=Set-aside subsidy halted to cut grain prices | first=Bruno | last=Waterfield | date=27 September 2007 | access-date=30 April 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

The change in subsidies was intended to be completed by 2011, but individual governments had some freedom to decide how the new scheme would be introduced. The UK government decided to run a dual system of subsidies in England, each year transferring a larger proportion of the total payment to the new scheme. Payments under the old scheme were frozen at their levels averaged over 2002–2003 and reduced each subsequent year. This allowed farmers in England a period where their income was maintained, but which they could use to change farm practices in accord with the new regime. Other governments chose to wait, and change the system in one go at the latest possible time. Governments also had limited discretion to continue to direct a small proportion of the total subsidy to support specific crops. Alterations to the qualifying rules meant that many small landowners became eligible to apply for grants and the [[Rural Payments Agency]] in England received double the previous number of applications (110,000).

The CAP also aims to promote legislative harmonization within the Community. Differing laws in member countries can create problems for anyone seeking to trade between countries. Examples are regulations on permitted [[preservative]]s or [[food colouring|Food coloring]], labelling regulations, use of [[hormone]]s or other drugs in livestock intended for human consumption and disease control, animal welfare regulations. The process of removing all hidden legislative barriers to trade is still incomplete.
[[File:CAPspendingbysector.png|upright=1.35|thumb|CAP farm spending by sector]]