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.