If Europe’s Small Farms Can’t Survive, Let Them Die
Fighting consolidation won’t improve agriculture or the environment. Instead, help people adjust.
Not sustainable.
Photographer: Andrei Pungovschi/BloombergIf the European Union offers a better Green Deal for farmers, both Paule Lucht and Jonas Wappler have the potential to flourish. Lucht’s small organic farm could collect generous incentive payments for its eco-friendly practices, while dominating its local market with everything from yoga courses to home delivery. Wappler’s scale and efficiency — he manages 1,800 hectares and hundreds of milking cows with just 25 employees — would allow him to profit while making a large contribution toward the EU’s environmental goals.
Not every farm, however, can occupy a niche like Lucht’s, or achieve the size of Wappler’s. On the contrary, many in Europe can’t survive without old-fashioned public subsidies. How the EU deals with them will have far-reaching consequences for its finances, politics and the green transition.