Increasingly more Europeans believe that farmers should be paid more for their food products. This percentage has risen over the past three years from 26 to 39 percent. Almost all respondents (95 percent) consider agriculture and rural areas important for “our future” in the European Union.
Regarding financial support, 56 percent of citizens think that farmers' incomes should increase in the next ten years. This is significantly higher than in previous surveys in 2017 and 2007.
This emerges from a survey conducted by the European Union in recent months across all EU countries, involving more than 27,200 respondents. The initial results were published last weekend, coinciding with the Green Week in Brussels, ahead of crucial debates on the modernization of the Common Agricultural Policy.
The survey also showed that more than half (52 percent) believe that environmental protection and tackling climate change should be among the main objectives, along with ensuring a fair standard of living for farmers (51 percent).
Nearly three out of four Europeans are familiar with the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and believe that all citizens benefit from it. Moreover, more EU citizens now believe that the CAP benefits all citizens, not just farmers (76 percent today, 15 percentage points more than in 2017). In all member states, a majority of citizens share this view, except in Malta.
The majority still believe that providing safe, healthy, high-quality food should be the primary objective, representing the opinion of 62 percent of respondents, the same as in 2017. This view is also reflected at the national level, where citizens believe this should be the top priority of the CAP.
Although a growing proportion of citizens believe that agriculture is one of the main causes of climate change (from 29 percent in 2010 to 42 percent in 2020), the majority believe that agriculture has already made a significant contribution in the fight against climate change (55 percent compared to 46 percent in 2010).