New Media Awards 2007 Atos Origin

Farm Subsidy

http://www.farmsubsidy.org

Nominated in Contribution to civic society award category.

Farmsubsidy.org is a young and growing network of European activists, NGOs, journalists and think tanks using freedom of information to obtain data relating to payments and recipients of farm subsidies in the European Union. They then compile the data into an online database for the benefit of European citizens, policy-makers and the media. The publication and analysis of this data is driving a new and high-profile public and political debate about European farm policy, focusing attention on a wide range of issues: the unequal distribution, unexpected recipients, high cost to taxpayers and impacts on trading partners, particularly in the developing world

1 nomination from readers

  • Subsidies paid to farmers under the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy amount to approximately €55 billion a year, around 45% of European Union’s entire annual budget, or around €115 for each EU citizen. The shared aim of the farmsubsidy.org network is to obtain - through freedom of information (FOI) requests – comprehensive data about where this money goes and present it in a way that is useful to European citizens, policy-makers and the media.

    Together with partner organizations and individuals, farmsubsidy.org is building a pan-European network of organizations and individuals working to obtain, analyze and publish data on farm subsidies. Farmsubsidy.org was co-founded and is led by Jack Thurston, Executive Director of EU Transparency, a non-profit organization based in the UK. The other core network members are Brigitte Alfter, a German-born journalist based in Brussels, who also writes for the Danish broadsheet ‘Information’ and Nils Mulvad, based in Denmark and one of the leading European innovators of computer assisted reporting, voted European Journalist of the Year 2006 for his sleuthing of farm subsidy recipients in Denmark.

    Transparency is an important principle underpinning the accountability and legitimacy of government to an active and well-informed civil society. The farm subsidy database has recorded almost 2 million user searches since it was launched in December 2005 and the data has made headlines across the European Union. The work of farmsubsidy.org has also led to a far-reaching change in EU policy on transparency which was agreed in December 2006. From 2007 onwards, all EU spending will be subject to full transparency as to the end recipients. Farmsubsidy.org was described by the WorldChanging blog as an example of 'geek activism done right'.

    Nominated by Rob Blackhurst, 03 May 2007