The growing concern over sustainable development is one of the most important phenomena of the last century. During this period not only did the world community start to explore new paths for future growth, but there has been a fair amount of consensus also over issues of environmental sustainability, which contrasts with the disparate view on the nature and composition of economic growth.

Nevertheless as the search for a new economic order, through the Rio Summit on Environment and Development proceeded, it clearly brought out a divide between the industrialized economies in the North and the primarily agrarian economies in the South. Arguably, sustainable development meant different challenges as well as developmental outcomes in the two sets of economies.

This study aims to compare patterns of agricultural production, input-use, and major environmental impact thereof in the light of natural resource endowments in India and the EU, examine the policies for promoting agricultural production, especially in the wake of the new challenges from trade liberalization and draw policy implications for trade negotiations in a North-South context. The analysis is based mainly on the existing literature and secondary data.

The analysis brought out the following important features of agricultural growth and policy perspectives in India and Europe:

·      Indian agriculture is still at the initial stage of the trajectory.

·      There is enormous productivity differences are enormous.

·      Enhancing water access and shift in cropping pattern in favour of lesser water use as well as nutrient intensive crops like oilseeds etc may be an important strategy for moving in this direction.

The paper concludes that livelihood/lifestyle concerns have to come to the centre stage. Trade may, at best, play a facilitating role rather than an objective by itself. In a nutshell, livelihood/lifestyle concerns must form an integral part of the present discourse on trade and environment.