ABSTRACT
Perhaps the most striking feature about agriculture in postwar Europe is its relative decline. The diminishing share of GDP and employment in most European countries since 1945 is readily apparent (e.g. Table 2.2, page 39; Table 2.7, page 59), and is well-documented in standard texts on the European economy (e.g. Williams, 1987; Tsoukalis, 1993). As a key recent EC survey on rural society noted, only 10 of the EC’s 166 regions now has a farming sector that accounts for more than 30% of employment (CEC, 1988), with the average for the EC12 standing at just 5.4% in 1991. However, this process of decline has been accompanied by contradictory trends. As noted in Chapter 4, the years immediately after the Second World War were hardly auspicious for agriculture. Postwar food shortages were common and these helped persuade most European governments that strong intervention in the production and/or marketing of agricultural produce was needed, with policy priorities clearly emphasizing the adequacy of food supplies (Tracy, 1989; Milward, 1992). Within five years, production levels had risen above pre-war levels (Williams, 1987), and output in most coun tries subsequently rose rapidly. But fears about balance of payments problems remained, and the impetus favouring production increases was kept up, with particularly dramatic growth occurring in some nations. Indicative of the trend, cereal yields rose by an average of 30% between 1948/50 and 1958/60 in the 16 countries of western Europe, with increases nearer 50% in Austria, France and Greece; although Greece was starting from a rather low base (FAO, annual). Indeed, in comparison with growth in other economic sectors, the performance of agriculture in the early postwar years was outstanding, with all of the EC9 countries except the Republic of Ireland
registering higher growth in output per worker in agriculture than in all other sectors combined (Tracy, 1989).
