02305naa a2200193 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001910000180006024500590007826000090013752018100014665000160195665000160197265000160198865000180200470000160202270000170203877300560205520594352016-12-28       1987    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d1 aWIT, C. T. de  aAgriculture and its environmentbAre there other ways?  c1987  aAbstract: Although the Common Agricultural Policy has served its original purposes very well, the problems with overproduction, the environment and the EC budget are, by now, so profound that the need for a major overhaul is widely recognised. The aim of the present paper is to contribute to the discussion of this technical and political problem. For this purpose some fundamental aspects of the agricultural production process are treated first. Within the European Community, there appear to be considerable possibilities for a simultaneous increase of production per surface unit and of its efficiency, so that in all situations where agriculture is practised as an economic enterprise the yield per surface unit will continue to increase. This increase in production has to be kept in line with the stagnating demand for use of land for other purposes. This is necessary, irrespective of whether prices are adjusted downward or production quotas are introduced. Against this background two opposing perspectives of development are presented, in such a way that the dilemmas the European Community is faced with are clarified. These perspectives of separation and integration of functions were originally developed by the Dutch Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR, 1983). They differ especially in their view of agriculture and its relation to nature and the environment and in the way that the problem of overproduction is coped with. The discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of these opposite perspectives paves the way for a broad outline of another common agricultural policy that is characterised by both market orientation and solidarity and may lead to a competitive and sustainable agriculture and a fair reconciliation of conflicting agricultural and environmental goals.  aAgriculture  aEnvironment  aAgricultura  aMeio ambiente1 aHUISMAN, H.1 aRABBINGE, R.  tAgricultural Systemsgv. 23 n. 3, p. 211-236, 1987.