Christopher Woolgar

European Union Dairy Policy: and the Least Developed Countries Christopher Woolgar

Agricultural policy within the European Union (EU) is but one of the founding pillars upon which unification was developed. Negotiated out of a post- war Europe, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) emphasized the protection of the domestic production market, through government subsidies and payment programmes, artificially raising the price of domestic products while restricting access for the foreign agricultural producers. The objective of this paper is to explore the link between the agricultural decisions made by the EU and the effects on citizens in the Least Developed Countries (LDC). To develop a comprehensive understanding of the issue at hand a review of the existing literature will be necessary, as well as an analysis of the available quantitative data. The findings revealed that the CAP is but one factor that inhibits the further development of agriculture in LDC's, while many other factors, such as international and bi-lateral trade agreements, government institutions, and political lobbying also negatively influence the sector.