The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Community : Germany

With the creation of the common agricultural market in the 1960s, important areas of agricultural policy were transferred to the European Community. This applied in particular to market and price policy, foreign trade policy and, to an increasing extent, structural policy.

The Community’s objective at the time of its founding was to increase agricultural productivity and thus farmers’ incomes, stabilize markets and supply consumers with high-quality foodstuffs at reasonable prices. Much of this was achieved in the subsequent decades. In particular, it was possible to significantly increase agricultural production within a very brief period of time.