EU Subsidies For Beef & Lamb Are 580X Greater Than Those For Legumes; For Pork, +/- 240X More

Beef and lamb receive 580 times more in EU subsidies than legumes, a report has found, despite scientists urging people to get more of their protein from less harmful sources.

Analysis by the charity Foodrise found the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP) provides “unfair” levels of support to meat-heavy diets that doctors consider unhealthy and climate scientists consider environmentally destructive. It found beef and lamb were subsidised 580 times more than legumes in 2020, while pork was subsidised nearly 240 times more. Dairy, meanwhile, received 554 times more in subsidies than nuts and seeds.

The EU spends almost a third of its budget supporting farmers, with the bulk of CAP funds allocated on the basis of farm size, rather than strategic considerations. Meat and dairy – which use land to grow crops to feed animals – take a larger share than plants, particularly once the subsidies in feed have been counted.

Martin Bowman, a campaigner at Foodrise and author of the report, said the analysis showed livestock benefited from disproportionate support even before counting hidden societal costs, such as pollution. “It’s scandalous that billions of euros of EU taxpayer money is being used to prop up such a high-emissions industry at a time when scientists are telling us that we need – on health and environmental grounds – to shift to lower-meat diets,” he said.

EDIT

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/19/beef-lamb-legumes-eu-subsidies-study