50 years ago, the focus of EU farm policy was on providing enough food for a Europe emerging from a decade of war-induced shortages. This included subsidising production and supporting prices for farmers by buying up surpluses. But these methods are now a thing of the past.
Today, EU policy aims to enable producers of all forms of food – whether cereals, meat, dairy, fruit, vegetables or wine – to:

• produce sufficient quantities of safe, high-quality food for European consumers
• make a full contribution to diversified economic development in rural areas
• meet very high standards of environmental care and animal welfare.

With consumers becoming ever more quality-conscious about food, voluntary EU quality marks now help them make educated choices. These labels – indicating geographic origin, use of traditional ingredients or methods, including organic – also help make EU farm products competitive on world markets.
The various reforms of EU farm policy have also promoted innovation in farming and food processing – aided by EU research projects that have increased productivity and reduced environmental impacts, e.g. by using crop by-products and waste products to produce energy.

Spending the money where it is most needed

Financial safety nets to support farmers are still in place, but are used much more selectively.
For example, they can be used to provide relief from one-off emergencies like natural disasters, outbreaks of animal disease (e.g. foot-and-mouth) or major market imbalances that could endanger whole sectors of the rural economy.
The EU does supplement farmers' income with direct support to help them make a decent living – but in return they must meet standards on farm hygiene/food safety, animal health and welfare, biodiversity and landscape protection.