to increase agricultural productivity by promoting technical progress and by ensuring the rational development of agricultural production and the optimum utilisation of the factors of production, in particular labour;

thus to ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural community, in particular by increasing the individual earnings of persons engaged in agriculture;

to stabilise markets;

to assure the availability of supplies;

to ensure that supplies reach consumers at reasonable prices.

the particular nature of agricultural activity, which results from the social structure of agriculture and from structural and natural disparities between the various agricultural regions;

the need to effect the appropriate adjustments by degrees;

the fact that in the Member States agriculture constitutes a sector closely linked with the economy as a whole.