Between 2004 and 2006, the Federation of Swedish Farmers (LRF), the Church of Sweden and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) met to discuss how the agricultural policy of the European Union — the Common Agricultural Policy, or “CAP” — might be developed so that it both benefits Swedish agriculture and renders the food supply in developing countries more secure.

The focus of this trialogue was limited to exploring the relationships between food security in developing countries and agricultural policy, with a view to defining common ground, a set of ideas that unite the three organisations and to draft joint proposals relating to agricultural policy and trade policies for food.

In short the report states that:

• To favour food security, resources must be directed to promoting agriculture in developing countries, including local markets.
• Poor countries in chronic need of food imports must be able to finance their imports.
• Trade in food is different than other trade due to, for example, the constraints of the biological production system. Therefore the market alone cannot control where food production takes place.
• Farming needs public support, but it should be limited to payments for public goods and reimbursement for the additional costs associated with the fulfillment of societal goals.
• If public support has trade distorting effects, the poorest countries must have the possibility to compensate for any negative effects.

Please read the full report for more details: LRF, SSNC and Church of Sweden (2006) Agricultural Policy and International Solidarity English.pdf