Agricultural policies in OECD countries : at a glance

This is the third edition of Agricultural Policies in OECD Countries: At a Glance, which is published in alternate years, with longer version of Agricultural Policies in OECD Countries: Monitoring and Evaluation, first published in 1988. These two publications examine agricultural policies in OECD countries in response to the request by OECD Ministers o monitor and evaluate the implementation of the principles for agricultural policy reform.

The Secretariat uses a comprehensive system for measuring and classifying support to agriculture in order to provide insight into the increasingly complex nature of agricultural policy Ongoing changes in agricultural policies require that the methods used to calculate and present the Producer and Consumer Support Estimates (PSES and CSES) and related indicators be reviewed periodically. In 2006, OECD member countries agreed to a new classification of policy measures within the PSE and to a new calculation of commodity-specific support. This new PSE classification was implemented for the first time in the 2007 report and is presented in this 2008 report.

This year's report emphasises the recent developments in agricultural markets and discusses future challenges for agricultural policy reform in the context of rising world agricultural prices

Chapter 1 provides an overview of developments in agricultural support in OECD countries, evaluates the estimated support to agriculture, and draws some conclusions about the progress in agricultural reform being made in OECD countries, with suggestions for future directions. Chapter 2 summarises trends in policy developments for each OECD country and Chapter 3 contains detailed background tables.

The Executive Summary and Chapter 1 are published under the responsability of OECD Committee for Agriculture. The rest of this work is published under the responsability of the Secretary-General of the OECD.