Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2023, 69(10):394-403 | DOI: 10.17221/115/2023-AGRICECON

The importance of agriculture and rural areas for the future in the European Union: An exploration of public opinionOriginal Paper

Mercedes Rodríguez ORCID...1, José Antonio Camacho ORCID...1
1 Institute of Regional Development, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

The last years have seen a momentous transformation in Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The focus of interventions has shifted from production toward rural development but recognising the role of farmers. Although the attitudes of farmers to CAP have long been previously studied, little attention has been focused on the views of citizens. Using data from the ‘Special Eurobarometer 520: Europeans, Agriculture and the CAP’, we sought to provide a clearer understanding of citizens’ opinions about the future of agriculture and rural areas in the European Union. In particular, we assessed rural-urban differences and examined disparities across countries, paying attention to the importance of rural development in the planned expenditure under CAP 2023–2027. The results showed that the perceived importance is higher for respondents living in rural areas and that there are disparities across countries. From a policy perspective, targeted efforts should be made in each country to address the specific challenges each country faces.

Keywords: citizens; Common Agricultural Policy; development; primary sector; survey

Received: March 31, 2023; Revised: September 22, 2023; Accepted: October 2, 2023; Prepublished online: October 19, 2023; Published: October 30, 2023  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Rodríguez M, Camacho JA. The importance of agriculture and rural areas for the future in the European Union: An exploration of public opinion. Agric. Econ. - Czech. 2023;69(10):394-403. doi: 10.17221/115/2023-AGRICECON.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Alfaro-Navarro J.L., Andrés-Martínez M.E. (2021): A longitudinal and cross-sectional analysis of the distribution of Common Agricultural Policy aids in European countries. Agricultural Economics - Czech, 67: 351-362. Go to original source...
    2. Bartkowski B., Schüßler C., Müller B. (2022): Typologies of European farmers: Approaches, methods and research gaps. Regional Environmental Change, 22: 413. Go to original source...
    3. Bonfiglio A., Camaioni B., Coderoni S., Esposti R., Pagliacci F., Sotte F. (2016): Where does EU money eventually go? The distribution of CAP expenditure across the European space. Empirica, 43: 693-727. Go to original source...
    4. Bonfiglio A., Camaioni B., Coderoni S., Esposti R., Pagliacci F., Sotte F. (2017): Are rural regions prioritizing knowledge transfer and innovation? Evidence from Rural Development Policy expenditure across the EU space. Journal of Rural Studies, 53: 78-87. Go to original source...
    5. Brown C., Kovács E., Herzon I., Villamayor-Tomas S., Albizua A., Galanaki A., Grammatikopoulou I., McCracken D., Olsson J.A., Zinngrebe Y. (2021): Simplistic understandings of farmer motivations could undermine the environmental potential of the common agricultural policy. Land Use Policy, 101: 105136. Go to original source...
    6. Camaioni B., Esposti R., Lobianco A., Pagliacci F., Sotte F. (2013): How rural is the EU RDP? An analysis through spatial fund allocation. Bio-Based and Applied Economics, 2: 277-300.
    7. Camaioni B., Esposti R., Pagliacci F., Sotte F. (2016): How does space affect the allocation of the EU Rural Development Policy expenditure? A spatial econometric assessment. European Review of Agricultural Economics, 43: 433-473. Go to original source...
    8. Camaioni B., Coderoni S., Esposti R., Pagliacci F. (2019): Drivers and indicators of the EU rural development expenditure mix across space: Do neighbourhoods matter? Ecological Indicators, 106: 105505. Go to original source...
    9. Clifton J., Díaz-Fuentes D. (2010): Evaluating EU policies on public services: A citizens' perspective. Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, 81: 281-311. Go to original source...
    10. Czyzewski B., Smedzik-Ambrozy K. (2017): The regional structure of the CAP subsidies and the factor productivity in agriculture in the EU 28. Agricultural Economics - Czech, 63: 149-163. Go to original source...
    11. Dessart F.J., Barreiro-Hurlé J., Van Bavel R. (2019): Behavioural factors affecting the adoption of sustainable farming practices: a policy-oriented review. European Review of Agricultural Economics, 46: 417-471. Go to original source...
    12. Erjavec E., Lovec M. (2017): Research of European Union's Common Agricultural Policy: Disciplinary boundaries and beyond. European Review of Agricultural Economics, 44: 732-754. Go to original source...
    13. European Commission (2021): A long-term vision for the EU's rural areas - Towards stronger, connected, resilient and prosperous rural areas by 2040. Available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52021DC0345 (accessed Feb 10, 2023)
    14. European Commission (2022): Special Eurobarometer 520. Europeans, Agriculture and the CAP. Available at https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/2665 (accessed Feb 10, 2023)
    15. European Commission (2023a): At a glance: Austria's CAP strategic plan. Available at https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-08/csp-at-a-glance-austria_en_0.pdf (accessed June 22, 2023)
    16. European Commission (2023b): At a glance: Croatia's CAP strategic plan. Available at https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-04/csp-at-a-glance-croatia_en.pdf (accessed June 22, 2023)
    17. European Commission (2023c): At a glance: Poland's CAP Strategic Plan. Available at https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-09/csp-at-a-glance-poland_en.pdf (accessed June 22, 2023)
    18. European Commission (2023d): At a glance: Romania's CAP strategic plan. Available at https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-04/csp-at-a-glance-romania_en.pdf (accessed June 22, 2023)
    19. Eurostat (2022): Key figures on the European food chain - 2022 edition. Available at https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-key-figures/w/ks-fk-22-001 (accessed June 22, 2023)
    20. Eurostat (2023): Rural Europe - Statistics explained. Available at https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Rural_Europe (accessed Feb 10, 2023)
    21. Galluzzo N. (2021): A quantitative analysis on Romanian rural areas, agritourism and the impacts of European Union's financial subsidies. Journal of Rural Studies, 82: 458-467. Go to original source...
    22. Gambella F., Bianchini L., Cecchini M., Egidi G., Ferrara A., Salvati L., Colantoni A., Morea D. (2021): Moving toward the north? The spatial shift of olive groves in Italy. Agricultural Economics - Czech, 67: 129-135. Go to original source...
    23. Graskemper V., Yu X., Feil J.H. (2021): Farmer typology and implications for policy design - An unsupervised machine learning approach. Land Use Policy, 103: 105328. Go to original source...
    24. Haverland M., de Ruiter M., Van de Walle S. (2018): Agenda-setting by the European Commission. Seeking public opinion? Journal of European Public Policy, 25: 327-345. Go to original source...
    25. Kelly P.M., Adger W.N. (2000): Theory and practice in assessing vulnerability to climate change and facilitating adaptation. Climatic Change, 47: 325-352. Go to original source...
    26. Kiryluk-Dryjska E., Beba P., Poczta W. (2020): Local determinants of the Common Agricultural Policy rural development funds' distribution in Poland and their spatial implications. Journal of Rural Studies, 74: 201-209. Go to original source...
    27. Lillemets J., Fertõ I., Viira A.H. (2022): The socioeconomic impacts of the CAP: Systematic literature review. Land Use Policy, 114: 105968. Go to original source...
    28. Morris W., Henley A., Dowell D. (2017): Farm diversification, entrepreneurship and technology adoption: Analysis of upland farmers in Wales. Journal of Rural Studies, 53: 132-143. Go to original source...
    29. Tomao A., Quaranta G., Salvia R., Vinci S., Salvati L. (2021): Revisiting the 'southern mood'? Post-crisis Mediterranean urbanities between economic downturns and land-use change. Land Use Policy, 111: 105740. Go to original source...
    30. Weltin M., Zasada I., Franke C., Piorr A., Raggi M., Viaggi D. (2017): Analysing behavioural differences of farm households: An example of income diversification strategies based on European farm survey data. Land Use Policy, 62: 172-184. Go to original source...
    31. Wesseler J. (2022): The EU's farm-to-fork strategy: An assessment from the perspective of agricultural economics. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 44: 1826-1843. Go to original source...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content