The common agriculture policy (CAP) of the European Union is the most visible EU policy. In 2004 and 2005 half of the EU budget of 50 billion euro was allocated to the agricultural sector. Recently Alterra presented the geographic and sectoral consequences of these payments in the Netherlands. A database from the Dutch ministry of agriculture, nature and food quality provided the addresses of direct payment recipients as well as the amounts they received under each EU regulation. The study maps the distribution of subsidies paid out in 2004, the expected situation in 2006 based on the historic entitlement allocation model and the expected situation if the flat rate model were adopted. The calculations also include a number of variations in which non trade concerns are included, such as landscape quality and sustainable production. Alternative allocation models could have enormous geographic and sectoral consequences. Not only in the Netherlands, but all over Europe.
Alterra-report 1385, 'Geographic distribution of CAP subsidies in the Netherlands' by Tia Hermans, Han Naeff & Ida Terluin.
Download Alterra-report 1385 
(60 MB, save on your desktop before opening)