UN Assess That Healthy Food Is Partly Expensive Due to EU Agricultural Support

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

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

Although inflation, caused by the COVID pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and a likely impending crisis in the Middle East, has driven up prices in all sectors, politicians are also to blame because subsidies are mainly directed at starchy crops, making the cultivation of vegetables, fruits, and legumes disproportionately more expensive, the FAO stated.

As David Laborde, Director for Agricultural Economics at FAO, said, this amounts to „indirect taxation,“ Politico reported.

Part of the blame is placed on direct EU 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 production costs of fruits and vegetables, which is a labor-intensive production, has had an even greater impact on the availability of healthy food in Europe, Laborde told Politico. 

According to the report, the daily cost of purchasing a meal that meets the minimum requirements for a healthy diet (with the right balance of nutrients, calories, and variety) for the average European citizen increased by one dollar between 2021 and 2025, reaching $3.97. 

The UN agency also stated that Europe’s price growth exceeds the global average of 25 percent.

In every healthy meal, vegetables, fruits, and legumes make up nearly 60 percent of the total cost, while starchy crops, such as wheat, account for 13 percent. Nevertheless, the majority of agricultural subsidies end up in cereals, sugar, dairy products, beef, and oilseeds for animal feed.

The UN agency’s report also provides recommendations for lowering the prices of fruits and vegetables, including reducing food waste, supporting inputs such as fertilizers, and increasing price transparency.