How the EU Prioritizes Animal Farming Over Plant Cultivation: A Funding Analysis

by bernt & torsten

According to a recent study published in Nature Food, the European Union's spending on farming heavily favours animal products over plant-based ones despite the environmental risks posed by livestock farming.

The report claims that 80% of the funding allocated to farmers through the EU's standard agriculture policy (CAP) in 2013 was directed towards animal products, with animal feed practically doubling the subsidies encountered in a kilogram of beef.

Critics argue that these subsidies skew the true cost of meat, making plant-based diets appear more expensive than they are in comparison. Such findings jeopardize the EU's ambitions to be the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, spending almost a third of its budget on CAP subsidies. The research also found that 12% of subsidies were in products exported outside the EU, mainly to high-income countries such as China and the US.