Rural development encompasses not only the modernization of agricultural structures but also a multidimensional process aimed at enhancing social welfare, ensuring environmental sustainability, and reducing regional disparities. The European Union’s rural development strategies seek to foster the economic growth of rural areas, improve living standards, and promote the sustainable use of local resources. Examining the effects of rural development policies on agricultural value added in the context of Turkey and the European Union has emerged as a significant field of research for improving the quality of rural life. While the EU’s rural development strategies encourage structural transformation in rural regions through financial incentives and the participation of local stakeholders, in Turkey, these policies lay the foundation of the adaptation process designed to enhance the quality of life in rural areas.

The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of agricultural policies and climatic factors on agricultural value added for Turkey and 15 selected European Union member states, based on data availability, over the period 2001–2023. In this framework, agricultural value added is considered as the dependent variable, while agricultural subsidies, labor, land size, as well as temperature and precipitation are examined as explanatory factors. The findings indicate that agricultural subsidies have a negative and statistically significant effect on agricultural value added, whereas labor and land size exert positive effects. By contrast, the impacts of climatic variables on agricultural value added are found to be statistically insignificant.