Mansholt Plan

Summary of Mansholt Plan

A series of programs, originally articulated by European Economic Community Commissioner Sicco Mansholt in 1968, for the development and harmonization of European agriculture. The objects of the programs were to ensure farmers' levels of income comparable to their counterparts in industry, as required by the Treaty of Rome; to halt the migration of agricultural labor to the cities; to reallocate farmlands from small family farms to larger, more efficient tracts; and to provide occupational skills to farmers to enhance productivity. Mansholt's proposals were adopted by the EEC Council of Ministries in several directives: 72/159/ EEC, farm modernization; 72/160/EEC, land real-location; 72/161/EEC, skills training; 75/268/EEC, subsidies to enhance the continuation of farming in mountainous and other unfavorable areas; and 77/ 355/EEC, streamlining the processing and marketing of agricultural products.

In addition, special pronouncements were adopted to accommodate conditions peculiar to certain regions, such as the Mediterranean.

(Main Author: William J. Miller)