More than half of EU citizens believe that agriculture has already made a significant contribution to climate action – but the majority believe that farmers need to change, and are prepared to pay more for this, based on the results of a new EU survey.
The survey in question is the most recent Eurobarometer study based on the subject of EU citizens, agriculture and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The most recent survey was carried out between August and September 2020, taking in over 27,200 responses from citizens across all EU countries.
Under the heading of “EU agriculture and the environment”, a number of interesting statistics gave an insight into the views of EU citizens in general.
Over half of respondents believed that protecting the environment and tackling climate change (52%) should be the CAP’s main priority.
The Eurobarometer shows a growing awareness amongst consumers of the interaction between agriculture and the environment.
While 42% of citizens believe that agriculture is one of the major causes of climate change (increasing from 29% in 2010), the majority of citizens (55%) believe that agriculture has already made a significant contribution to the fight against global warming.
Most citizens (69%) agree that farmers in the EU need to change the way they work in order to fight climate change – even if this means that EU agriculture will be less competitive, the Eurobarometer survey noted.
Roughly seven in 10 Europeans believe that the CAP is contributing to the sustainable management of natural resources (70%) and the fight against climate change (69%).
A large majority of respondents (92%) were in favour of the EU continuing to provide subsidy payments to farmers who carry out agricultural practices beneficial to the climate and the environment, the survey said.