"Agricultural policy for the environment or environmental policy for agriculture?" On myths and (stylized) reality

Alfons Balmann (), Franziska Appel, Florian Heinrich and Christine Pitson

No 289689, 172nd EAAE Seminar, May 28-29, 2019, Brussels, Belgium from European Association of Agricultural Economists

Abstract: This paper argues that the question whether there is rather a need for an agricultural policy for the environment or an environmental policy for agriculture requires to reflect on the question how to address trade-offs and synergies between agricultural and environmental objectives. In particular, the question is raised to which extend current agricultural policy presumptions are based on myths rather than facts. Scepticism about these presumptions are substantiated by reference to issues related to the ignorance of the heterogeneity of the agricultural sector, of the potential of overcoming unexploited returns to size and structural changes, as well as implications of sunk costs, ruinous competition and a subsidy trap which lead to a misunderstanding of the role and meaning of resilience in order to overcome path dependences of the sector as well as the policy formations.

Keywords: Agricultural; and; Food; Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-05-29
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-env and nep-hme
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:eaa172:289689

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.289689

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