UN says healthy food is expensive in part due to EU support for agriculture

Although inflation, caused by the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and probably the more recent crisis in the Middle East, has raised prices in all sectors, politicians are also to blame because they are subsidizing mainly starchy crops, which has made the cultivation of vegetables, fruits and legumes disproportionately more expensive, the FAO said.

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Illustration, Photo: Shutterstock
Illustration, Photo: Shutterstock
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

EU agricultural subsidies have contributed to rising fruit and vegetable prices and are making it increasingly difficult for people to eat healthily, a new report by a UN agency has shown.

Between 2021 and 2025, the price of healthy food in Europe increased by 36 percent, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)'s annual "State of Food Security and Nutrition" report published today.

Although inflation, caused by the Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine and probably the more recent crisis in the Middle East, has raised prices in all sectors, politicians are also to blame because they mainly subsidize starchy crops, which has made the cultivation of vegetables, fruits and legumes disproportionately more expensive, the FAO said.

As FAO's Director of Agricultural Economics, David Laborde, said, it amounts to "indirect taxation," Politico reported.

This is partly to blame for the EU's direct agricultural subsidies from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which is one of the EU's largest funding programs.

However, insufficient investment in research to reduce the costs of fruit and vegetable production, which is a labor-intensive production, has had an even greater impact on the availability of healthy food in Europe, Labord told Politico.

According to the report, the daily cost of purchasing a meal that meets the minimum requirements of a healthy diet (having the right balance of nutrients, calories, and variety) for the average European citizen increased by one dollar between 2021 and 2025, to $3,97.

The UN agency also stated that European price growth is higher than the global average of 25 percent.

In any healthy meal, vegetables, fruits, and legumes account for nearly 60 percent of the total cost, and starchy crops like wheat account for 13 percent. Yet the bulk of agricultural subsidies end up in grains, sugar, dairy, beef, and oilseeds for animal feed.

The UN agency's report also made recommendations to lower fruit and vegetable prices, including reducing food waste, supporting inputs such as fertilizer, and increasing price transparency.

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