Public policies that distort markets, curb innovation and harm the environment. Experts from the OECD, the international economic development organization, make a severe diagnosis of agricultural aid in a recent report. For Ken Ash, director of the agricultural division, they are "useless, even damaging". These support policies reviewed in 54 countries - all OECD and European Union countries, plus 12 large emerging economies - totaled € 542 billion in annual net transfers over the 2017-2019 period. The weight of emerging countries means that this aid has been increasing for twenty years. In China, total support for agriculture represented 1.7% of GDP over the 2017-2019 period, compared to 0.6% in the European Union (it was 1.1% in early 2000).
About three-quarters - or € 469 billion - were paid to farmers in the form of direct support. Many of these measures create distortions
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