Against the Grain: Agri-Environmental Reform In the United States and European Union

Agricultural policy has long been regarded as a driving force for rural environmental change in industrial countries. While the causes of recent habitat loss, landscape degradation, soil erosion and water pollution in the EU and US are undoubtedly complex, the most convincing explanations are still ones that are strongly policy driven. By the mid-1980s, environmentalists had come to the conclusion that a major change to farm support in favor of the environment was required if the environmental p…