Protection of the agricultural sector has been a crucial policy for Europe's trade bloc since the 1960s. Agricultural lobbies are traditionally a formidable political force in the European Union, with the political leeway to influence policy-making both at the national and supranational level. However, their influence has waned in recent decades and will continue to do so in the future, due to structural factors including a decline in rural populations, the agriculture sector's smaller contributions to the European Union's economy and reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy. As a result, the European Union will become more and more willing to include agriculture in free trade agreements, which will force European farmers to find ways to adapt to a more competitive market.