Low incomes and high unemployment in rural areas are issues of concern to policy makers in all countries. With the ongoing structural adjustment in primary agriculture employment opportunities are diminishing, while off-farm employment in rural areas is growing, albeit gradually

The 21st century could see the switch from the fossil fuel to the biological based economy. Agriculture could be rejuvenated as a source of bioenergy and biomaterials, as well as providing food and fibres. The relative costs of fossil fuels and agricultural biomass will clearly play a key role

Improving the environmental performance of agriculture is a high priority in OECD and many non-OECD countries. This will be of increasing concern in the future given the pressure to feed a growing world population with scarce land and water resources. Policy has an important role to play where...

These conference proceedings present a series of evaluations of agri-environmental policies in OECD countries. They examine how effective the policies have been in achieving objectives and what policy makers have learned about the design and implementation of their policies. These proceedings...