Abstract
The second lecture will examine how the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), launched in Europe in the late 1950s, embodied from the outset a productivist model focused on increasing yields to ensure food security for the European continent. This push toward the intensification of agricultural production came at the cost of several negative consequences, including soil degradation, a reliance of agricultural production on fossil fuels for access to inputs (pesticides and nitrogen fertilizers), the gradual disappearance of small farms that were less competitive in broader markets; a diet increasingly reliant on processed foods that are harmful to health and responsible for a dramatic rise in noncommunicable diseases; and, finally, exports to countries in the Global South that threaten the viability of local production.
Criticism of the productivist model embodied by the CAP gained traction in the 1990s, leading to a gradual “greening” of the CAP, though this did not result in a fundamental reevaluation of the system. Indeed, just as scientists and civil society organizations are making their voices heard on this issue, food systems in the European Union (EU) already appear largely locked in: economic, technological, cultural, and political components have coevolved over the years, explaining the system’s strong inertia as well as the path dependence affecting the reforms undertaken.
This conference will provide an opportunity to demonstrate the relevance of transition theory in analyzing the failures of successive CAP reforms.
