To help governments track how much support is provided to agriculture and in what form, the OECD has developed a set of standardised, transparent and comparable indicators that enable consistent measurement across time and countries.
- The Producer Support Estimate (PSE) captures the annual monetary value of gross transfers from consumers and taxpayers to farmers, measured at the farm-gate level, regardless of the policy’s nature, objective, or impact.
- The Consumer Support Estimate (CSE) reflects gross transfers to consumers of agricultural products, also measured at the farm-gate level, stemming from policy measures that support agriculture, again irrespective of their objectives or impacts.
- The General Services Support Estimate (GSSE) quantifies transfers for sector-wide services like R&D, infrastructure, or biosecurity. These do not include direct payments to producers and do not affect individual farm receipts or costs directly.
- The Total Support Estimate (TSE) aggregates all gross transfers from consumers and taxpayers to the agricultural sector, net of any budgetary receipts, offering a comprehensive picture of total support across policies.
These indicators are fully detailed in the OECD’s PSE Manual, which guides policymakers in interpreting and applying them.