1.The objectives of the common agricultural policy shall be:
(a)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;
(b)thus to ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural community, in particular by increasing the individual earnings of persons engaged in agriculture;
(c)to stabilise markets;
(d)to assure the availability of supplies;
(e)to ensure that supplies reach consumers at reasonable prices.
2.In working out the common agricultural policy and the special methods for its application, account shall be taken of:
(a)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;
(b)the need to effect the appropriate adjustments by degrees;
(c)the fact that in the Member States agriculture constitutes a sector closely linked with the economy as a whole.