ABSTRACT

In Europe, where the population is well fed and the share of income spent on food is declining (constituting between 7 and 15 per cent of household expenditures), benefits from agricultural productivity increases through innovation seem irrelevant. As a consequence, the public narrative on agriculture is not about producing food anymore but about cultural and environmental benefits (Aerni, 2011). Productive agriculture nevertheless matters in the European Union (EU) because it generates various benefits for the rural economy and society as a whole (Noleppa et al., 2013). The EU agricultural production and food consumption levels also have an impact on global food security and climate change. The current EU agricultural policy focuses on promoting low-input ‘sustainable’ farming and the ban on genetically modified crops is not conducive to further productivity gains in European agriculture. The EU has already started to increase its dependence on food and feed imports. Moreover, a shift to low-input agriculture also has consequences for farm incomes. It is estimated that in Germany a full conversion to low-input agriculture would reduce farm incomes by a third (Noleppa et al., 2013).