European agriculture subsidies

The European Union budget for the next 7 years (2014-2020) has been voted this Friday, 908 billion euros, or 1.2 trillion dollars, $173B per year. The agriculture budget has been decreased by 13%, but it still represents 38% of the whole EU budget, or $66B per year, while farming represents less than 2% of the EU GDP and employs less than 6% of its workforce.
The budget still needs to pass the EU Parliament, so it's not definitive yet.

Compared to the previous farm subsidies, the next subsidies will reduce the disparity between the highest and lowest subsidies. Multiply the euros/hectare amounts below by 0.54 to get the dollars/acre amounts. €200/ha is $108/a, €300/ha is $162/a, €400/ha is $216/a.



The budget did not pass easily, the farming lobbies were the first to protest its reduction, especially Spain, but Sweden also fought it. Ireland got what it wanted, and so did France, which surprisingly did not fight the ag budget reduction even though they are its biggest beneficiaries: In 2011, France alone got nearly 17% of the agriculture budget and nearly 20% of the farm subsidies.

Some of the proposed reforms, like excluding large non-farming landowners such as airports or the remnants of the aristocratic domains apparently did not pass.

Chimel.