8 - Addressing Twenty-First-Century Policy Priorities

Summary

This chapter reviews agricultural policy priorities of increased recent profile and the classification of and constraints on associated support within the Agreement on Agriculture. Many of the evolving priorities are environmental, concerning productivity growth (with implications for sustainability and other priorities), biosecurity, biodiversity, water management and climate change mitigation. The green box offers opportunity to address these priorities through unlimited support for general services and direct payments to producers. Several conceptual and definitional issues arise, including whether limiting payments in certain categories to the amount of losses, costs or income forgone is too restrictive to achieve socially-desired non-trade objectives. If considered too constraining additional provisions could be crafted in the green box. With climate change a predominant priority, making measures exemptible on a mitigation basis alone without requiring that they have at most minimal trade-distorting effects or effects on production might be seen as a way forward.