FARMERS OPINIONS ON ALTERNATIVE POLICIES TO REDUCE CEREAL SURPLUS

Information on farmers' opinions may help politicians in implementing necessary reforms of agricultural policy. In farm surveys 1987 and 1990 farmers were asked about their opinions on different ways of reducing cereal surplusses in the EC. The results showed among others: Most farmers refused a reduction of farm product prices combined with income compensations for special hardships and higher prices for pesticides and fertiliser combined with acreage-bound compensation payments as well. The proportions of farmers rejecting these policies were higher in Northern Germany than in the South, on arable farms higher than on grassland and/or intensive livestock farms, in larger holdings higher than in smaller ones and with full-time-farmers higher than with part-time-farmers. The proportion of farmers rejecting a compulsory set-aside program of land combined with size-dependent compensation payments was higher than the proportion of farmers endorsing this policy. In contrast to this more farmers agreed to policies to reduce cereal surplusses by production quotas combined with higher farm prices as well as to subsidizing the production of renewable resources or the re-training of farmers. The distributions of farmers' answers differed depending on characteristics of farms or of farm-households discussed above. The small proportion of farmers refusing public aid to farmers' re-training raise hopes that this policy combined with programs to set-aside farm land or extensify agricultural production as parts of a more marketoriented policy might be