This paper provides an historical context to policy reform and agricultural adjustment within the EU, primarily through examining the development of policy concerns and issues in the UK. It suggests that, notwithstanding the emergence of a common policy for European agriculture there is still...

Structural policy in the EU is ambiguous in its aims and contains conflicting elements. Interventions to ease change are combined with defensive measures that support income and discourage some aspects of adjustment. Structural change is a complex process and the number of farms is an incomplete...