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OECD farm subsidies continue to grow
15 Jun 2004
Australia is losing the battle to get market-distorting agricultural subsidies cut in the world's richest countries, according to a new OECD report. The study found that subsidies to farmers in OECD member countries increased in 2003 from 31 to 32 per cent of farm receipts, totalling $US257 billion ($A370 billion) in assistance.
Australia and New Zealand were the only countries in which subsidies were worth less than 5 per cent of receipts. In the US they were worth 18 per cent, 37 per cent in the EU and 74 per cent in Switzerland - the OECD's highest.
A separate OECD report claims that any EU reforms at the upcoming World Trade Organisation meeting will have almost no effect on overall levels of assistance and production. They will instead only cause a shift from crop land to pastures, an initial fall in beef production and a small lift in world crop prices. The OECD says that, on the whole, EU farm subsidies will remain linked to farm size.
Australian Financial Review, 15/6/04.
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