ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the development of the Community’s structural policy for agricultural production and marketing. For the Community, the differing circumstances of member countries made it difficult to devise a common aim for structural policies. Information and guidance is intended to deal with matters relating to agriculture and with more general aspects concerning the economic and social conditions of the farming community. The directive affects some 12–14 per cent of the agricultural population of the Community who farm about 20 per cent of the total cultivated area. The operation of the price policy, which favours ‘northern’ products, and the prospective enlargement of the Community to include Greece, Spain and Portugal caused concern about certain areas around the Mediterranean. As well as broadening to encompass social considerations, structural policy has become concerned with rectifying the divergence of regional agricultural income levels within the Community.
