The world’s rich countries boosted government support for agriculture in 2009, according to a report that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released last week. The report, “Agricultural Policies in OECD Countries: At a Glance 2010,” is part of the OECD’s annual effort to quantify and assess the support that its 31 developed country members provide to their agricultural producers.
The OECD found that the Producer Support Estimate (PSE) rose to US$252 billion dollars in 2009, which was the equivalent of 22 percent of total farm receipts in that year. In 2008, the share of farm receipts attributable to agricultural support was 21 percent.
The Producer Support Estimate measures the annual monetary value of gross transfers from consumers and taxpayers to agricultural producers, relative to a situation without those policy measures in place. It is one of the many indicators designed and used by the OECD for monitoring and evaluating the composition of government support for agriculture.
The support increase among OECD countries was primarily due to dips in agricultural commodity prices, which had been exceptionally high during the previous two years. Many of these subsidies are tied to prices, and tend to increase when prices drop. The global economic crisis also played a role in the up-tick in state support, as governments sought to shield their producers from the drop in global demand, especially for “higher value-added products,” such as meat and dairy. To read more click here.
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