Introduction

Abstract

The management of agriculture has long played a key role in efforts to remake European borders, landscapes and identities. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been a centerpiece of European collaboration and debate since the first steps were taken to establish the European Community after the Second World War. Launched by the Treaty of Rome in 1957, it was first designed to regulate the agricultural market and protect food security across the original six member states of France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. With successive European enlargements and ongoing transformations in the world agricultural markets, the CAP has been in continual negotiation.