Long Term Trends in Agricultural Policy Impacts

Agricultural policies have undergone reforms in most OECD countries, each choosing a different path to replace policies historically based on market price support with other forms of support deemed superior in achieving differing policy objectives. This report looks at the results of this reform in six OECD regions and concludes that while every region has seen progress, results have been uneven. The key to reform that delivers effective results is keeping the focus on reducing market price support. Reforms moving from one form of land-based payment to another offer relatively little scope for improving the impact of the overall policy set. Recent reductions in market price support are at risk of reversal if the current trend towards higher commodity prices does not continue, as much of recent progress reflects market developments and not underlying policy change.