Over one-quarter of Europeans have never heard of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), results of a European Commission survey of over 27,200 people has found.

While nearly three-quarters of Europeans have heard of the CAP, less than one in 10 (9%) “know the details” of the CAP and nearly two-thirds (64%) “don’t really know the details”.

The survey - Europeans, Agriculture and the CAP - found that a longer trend analysis reveals that awareness of the CAP has reached its highest level since 2013.

Stable supply

Eight in 10 Europeans believe the CAP is fulfilling its role in “securing a stable supply of food in the EU”.

The survey shows that 47% of Europeans consider the EU financial support to farmers, which helps them stabilise their incomes, is about right, while 39% think that the support is “too low”.

Less than 8% said that support for farmers was “too high”. The share of those who said support was “too low” increased significantly, up from 26% in 2013 to 39% in 2020.

Nearly six in 10 respondents said they would like to see an increase in the EU financial support to farmers over the next 10 years.

Climate change

Seven in 10 Europeans (69%) agreed with the statement that “EU farmers need to change the way they work in order to fight climate change, even if that means that EU agriculture will be less competitive”.

Some 66% said that they are prepared to pay 10% more for agricultural products that are produced in a way that limits their carbon footprint.

More than half of respondents (55%) agreed that “agriculture has already made a major contribution in fighting climate change”, while 42% agreed that “agriculture is one of the major causes of climate change”.