Until about 1970, Western Europe was regarded as the great food-importing region of the world. This study, originally published in 1985, analyses the expansionary policies of individual nations, as well as those of the Community itself.

François Duchêne was the former Director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, London and of the European Research Centre at Sussex University. Edward Szczepanik was Professor at the Polish University i London. Wilfrid Legg was a research fellow at Sussex University, contributing to a study on the future of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy. From 1981 to 2011 he worked on agricultural and agri-environmental policies in the OECD in Paris, from 1992 as Head of the Agricultural Policies and Environment Division. Currently, he is a consultant and advisor on agri-environmental policy issues and sustainable agriculture for the OECD and International Meat Secretariat and was Project Team Leader for the report of the High-Level Panel of Experts of the UN Committee on World Food Security on sustainable livestock for food security and nutrition, which was published in 2016. He was President of the Agricultural Economics Society in 2003-2004 and has been its Secretary since 2006. He is a co-editor of EuroChoices, the outreach journal of the AES and the European Association of Agricultural Economists.