Good agricultural and environmental conditions in the EU and their implications for international trade in cereals

This chapter addresses the impact of compliance and costs of compliance with environmental standards on the competitiveness of farms producing cereals. First, an insight is provided into the cereal market in the EU and main production regions around the world. It is then shown that the requirements related to Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAECs) in the EU have a bigger impact on cereal production than do compliance with other environmental standards. It is concluded that production costs of cereals increase by some 1% as a result of compliance with regulations, resulting in changes in international trade of cereals of less than 2%