Ag subsidies revealed!!!
We know that a sticking point in the WTO negotiations is the resistance by the developed world to reduce their agricultural subsidies. Within that simple statement, however, the nature of ag subsidies is incredibly opaque. If you read Arvind Panagariya’s Foreign Affairs essay, you discover that there are different “boxes” of subsidies. You also discover ...
We know that a sticking point in the WTO negotiations is the resistance by the developed world to reduce their agricultural subsidies. Within that simple statement, however, the nature of ag subsidies is incredibly opaque. If you read Arvind Panagariya's Foreign Affairs essay, you discover that there are different "boxes" of subsidies. You also discover -- according to Cato's Daniel A.Sumner -- that many of these subsidies could soon be ruled as in violation of existing U.S. commitments to the WTO. For now, however, these subsidies are here -- but who, exactly, gets them? For that answer, I encourage you to check out the Environmental Working Group's Farm Subsidy Database. Through many, many FOIA requests, they have produced. an interactive website chock full of interesting facts. For example: Half of all subsidies go to only 5% of Congressional districts. Four commodities?corn, wheat, rice and cotton?account for 78 percent of all ag subsidies. EWG also has an interesting proposal to reallocate the ag money away from subsidies but towards rural areas where farmers actually generate high value-added goods already. [Yes, we know U.S. subsidies are bad. What about EU ag subsidies?--ed.] Until recently, the EU's Common Agricultural Policy was way more opaque in terms of its allocation of funds. However, there's a new website called FarmSubsidy.org, which provides as much info on CAP subsidies as is available (shockingly, countries like France have ignored an EU directive and refused to make their subsidy records available to the public). Among the more useful tidbits of info: More than 80 percent of CAP payments go into 20 percent of farms -- including, deliciously enough, members of European royalty. The Queen of England, for example, received over 230,000 euros a year. 5 million farms recceive less than 1,250 euros in payments New EU members from Eastern Europe pay more into the CAP program than they receive in subsidies. Go check it all out.
We know that a sticking point in the WTO negotiations is the resistance by the developed world to reduce their agricultural subsidies. Within that simple statement, however, the nature of ag subsidies is incredibly opaque. If you read Arvind Panagariya’s Foreign Affairs essay, you discover that there are different “boxes” of subsidies. You also discover — according to Cato’s Daniel A.Sumner — that many of these subsidies could soon be ruled as in violation of existing U.S. commitments to the WTO. For now, however, these subsidies are here — but who, exactly, gets them? For that answer, I encourage you to check out the Environmental Working Group’s Farm Subsidy Database. Through many, many FOIA requests, they have produced. an interactive website chock full of interesting facts. For example:
Half of all subsidies go to only 5% of Congressional districts. Four commodities?corn, wheat, rice and cotton?account for 78 percent of all ag subsidies.
EWG also has an interesting proposal to reallocate the ag money away from subsidies but towards rural areas where farmers actually generate high value-added goods already. [Yes, we know U.S. subsidies are bad. What about EU ag subsidies?–ed.] Until recently, the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy was way more opaque in terms of its allocation of funds. However, there’s a new website called FarmSubsidy.org, which provides as much info on CAP subsidies as is available (shockingly, countries like France have ignored an EU directive and refused to make their subsidy records available to the public). Among the more useful tidbits of info:
More than 80 percent of CAP payments go into 20 percent of farms — including, deliciously enough, members of European royalty. The Queen of England, for example, received over 230,000 euros a year. 5 million farms recceive less than 1,250 euros in payments New EU members from Eastern Europe pay more into the CAP program than they receive in subsidies.
Go check it all out.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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