ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the application of the 1988 set-aside regulation in the various European Community (E.C.) member countries and give a summary description of the 1992 set-aside program and of its potential impact. It considers long-term set-aside program and provides a summary of an European Economic Community (EEC) study to analyze causes of slippage and to investigate the relationships between rotational and non-rotational set-aside. The idea of a set-aside program gained increasing acceptance in EEC circles in the mid-eighties, under the pressure of a mounting crisis of the Common Agricultural Policy, which had been unable to reduce or even contain production surpluses and budget deficits. The EEC set-aside regulation provided for voluntary participation by grain producers and also left it to some regions to decide whether to participate at all. The degree of farmers’ participation in the set-aside programs has varied greatly among member countries.
