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Good morning,
Welcome to this launch of the 2025 OECD Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation Report – our 38th edition.
This Report provides the latest OECD insights on agricultural policies across 54 countries, representing 75% of global agricultural value added: the 38 OECD Members, 5 non-OECD European Union Member States, and 11 emerging economies.1
Our analysis in this year’s edition shows that governments provided USD 842 billion per year in subsidies and other forms of support to agricultural producers and consumers on average between 2022 and 2024.
This is 20% higher than the subsidies and other support provided on average between 2015-2019 in nominal terms [which was USD 704 billion per year].2
As a proportion of the sector’s total production value, agricultural subsidies and other forms of support have declined significantly, reaching 18% of production value on average between 2022 and 2024, down from 29% between 2000 and 2002.
The subsidies with the strongest potential to distort markets, including price support for producers, payments based on output, and subsidies for inputs such fertilizers or fossil fuels, declined in parallel, from 15% of the sector’s production value on average between 2000 and 2002, to 9% in 2022 to 2024.3
However, these subsidies still represent about half of total agricultural support provided today – USD 410 billion out of USD 842 billion in 2024.
Phasing out market-distorting subsidies, and replacing them with better targeted support, can unlock higher agricultural productivity, boost innovation and foster more sustainable, resilient and efficient food systems.
Redirecting support towards research and innovation is a key priority.
This includes support for innovation to boost sector productivity.
Over the past decade, the total factor productivity growth of agriculture across the world has slowed to 0.8% per year between 2013 and 2022, down from 1.7% annually between 1991 and 2000.4
Greater support for research and innovation into new crop varieties and production techniques, for example, can help reverse this trend and enhance affordability for consumers as well as producer incomes.
However, government support for research and innovation has declined from 0.92% of the agriculture sector’s production value in 2000-2002 to 0.54% in 2022-2024.
Governments can also better target their agricultural support towards environmental sustainability goals.
For example, payments to farmers can be targeted to encourage practices that contribute to broader environmental preservation goals, such as regenerative agriculture to restore soil and capture carbon.
These practices can ultimately protect long-term sector productivity and resilience to shocks such as flooding and soil erosion.
Currently, only about 5% of support to farmers is linked to these types of voluntary actions, compared to 66% that is potentially harmful to the local environment, depending on the context, including affecting water quality or increasing air pollution.
Trade agreements can also be a valuable tool to encourage the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices.
For example, in the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability signed in 2024, Costa Rica, Iceland, New Zealand, and Switzerland, committed to liberalise research and experimental development services related to the sustainable use and reduced risks of pesticides and fertilisers.
Harmonisation of agriculture sustainability clauses across trade agreements would facilitate their implementation and monitoring, reduce compliance costs for businesses, and help ensure a level playing field for sustainable practices.
In closing,
This Report highlights opportunities for the more effective and targeted use of limited government resources, to enhance food affordability and security, support climate adaptation and mitigation, and sustain the livelihoods of the millions of households that depend on agriculture directly or indirectly around the world.
The OECD will continue to provide our evidence base in support of well-functioning agricultural markets, a global level playing field and a rules-based trading system in good working order.
I’ll now turn the floor over to Marion to present the detailed findings of the Report.
Thank you.
1 Non-OECD EU Member states are Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Malta and Romania. The 11 emerging economies are Argentina, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, South Africa, Ukraine and Viet Nam.
2 Positive support to agriculture averaged USD 704 billion per year in 2015-2019, the five years preceding COVID.
3 These potentially most distortive types of support represented 15% of the sectors value of production in 2000-2002 (Exact figures: 15.4% in 2000-2002 and 8.8% in 2022-2024).
4 Source: USDA Economic Research Service, Agricultural Productivity database. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/international-agricultural-productivity.
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