The efficiency myth

Summary

The evolution of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in EEC/EU and the evolution of the Danish agricultural policy in the last four decades can be seen as complementary. That is the case because the European community as a whole could not originally supply itself with foods while Danish agriculture could supply a market around four times the size of its domestic one. Simultaneously agricultural policies in EEC and Denmark from the late 1950s were based on the same measurement, that is efficiency, and the same means, that is industrialisation of agricultural production. This common but complementary origin is the basis for the following analysis where the aim is to reflect present double-bindings related to the CAP by means of a brief historical sketch of the evolution of Danish agriculture and agricultural policy in the 20th century.