Europeans, Agriculture and the CAP: report, summaries and country factsheets now available!

According to the Eurobarometer, 95% of citizens believe that agriculture and rural areas are important for our future; over half of those surveyed (56%) believe they are highly important.

EU citizens have become increasingly aware of the CAP: 73% knew of the policy in 2020, compared to 67% in 2017. Over three quarters of Europeans believe that the CAP benefits all citizens, not only farmers (76% today, compared to 61% in 2017).

More Europeans think that the EU is fulfilling its role regarding the key priorities of the CAP. Compared with 2017, the perception of the CAP's performance in all areas – including food security, food safety and quality, and sustainability- has improved by at least 5 percentage points.

Food security, safety, and quality

According to the Eurobarometer survey, 92% of EU citizens believe that securing a stable supply of food for the EU is an important priority; 62% of survey participnts believed that ensuring the production of safe, healthy food of high quality should be the CAP's main objective.

When it comes to purchasing food, the survey revealed:

• EU citizens value short supply chains – 87% of those surveyed regarded this as important factor when it came to purchasing their food. Citizens also consider it important that their food is produced in a manner that respects local tradition and ‘know-how' (87%), and comes from a geographical area that they know (81%).
• Although 81% consider it important that their food bears a label that guarantees quality, awareness of EU quality labels have remained relatively low, at between 14-20%. The Commission continues to promote its quality schemes, e.g., through the inspired by GIs recipe campaign.
• More citizens are now aware of the EU's organic farming logo, with 56% of respondents recognising the logo, an increase of 29% compared to 2017. Citizens believe that organic products are more likely to comply with specific rules on pesticides, fertilisers, and antibiotics (82% agreed), are more environmentally friendly (81%), and are produced with higher respect for animal welfare (80%).

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Read more about the Eurobarometer survey on the CAP via the link below.