Time to end corporate welfare in agriculture

By Alex Singleton | 23 March 2005

Yesterday the British government revealed, under the Freedom of Information Act, details of who are benefiting from the Common Agricultural Policy. The Queen and Prince Charles are among the beneficiaries of subsidies, but the largest winner of the system is Tate & Lyle which received £233m in export subsidies.

The Common Agricultural Policy is corporate welfare at its worst. Not only does it 'protect' Europeans from low-price food, it pays companies like Tate & Lyle to dump agricultural products on world markets. It causes developing country farmers who would otherwise be exporting to rich countries to be undercut and excluded. If Prince Charles and Tate & Lyle need money, they should put out collection boxes like charities do. That they should be receiving money from government to hinder developing countries is nothing short of scandalous.