 |
 |
66/94 |  |
Agricultural support estimates
During the mid-1980s, when the Uruguay Round of agricultural trade negotiations was getting underway, the OECD undertook to measure and codify support to the farm sector arising from agricultural policies. This led to the development of the producer support estimate (PSE), an indicator that is available on a timely and comprehensive basis for all 30 of the OECD’s member countries (the European Union is treated as a single entity) and selected non-members. The measure includes budgetary transfers financed by taxpayers but also includes the implicit tax on consumers that arises from agricultural policies – border protection, and administered pricing – that raise farm prices above the levels that would otherwise prevail. The measure is agreed by OECD member countries and is widely recognised as the only available internationally comparable indicator.
Definition
The OECD PSE is an indicator of the annual monetary value of gross transfers from consumers and taxpayers to agricultural producers, measured at the farmgate level, arising from policy measures that support agriculture, regardless of their nature, objectives or impacts on farm production or income. It can be expressed as a total monetary amount, but is more usually quoted as a percentage of gross farm receipts (%PSE). This is the measure used here.
Comparability
Continuous efforts are made to ensure consistency in the treatment and completeness of coverage of policies in all OECD countries through the annual preparation of the Monitoring and Evaluation report. Each year, the provisional estimates are subject to review and approval by representatives of OECD’s member countries, as are all methodological developments. The %PSE is the most appropriate and widely used measure to compare support across countries, commodities and time.
In the table, data for Austria, Finland and Sweden are available separately until 1994 and data for the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the Slovak Republic are available until 2003. Austria, Finland and Sweden are included in the EU15 from 1995. The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the Slovak Republic, together with the 6 EU members which are not members of the OECD, are included in the EU25 from 2004. The OCDE total includes the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the Slovak Republic for the entire period but excludes the 6 EU members not members of the OECD from 2004.
 |
|
Producer support estimate for selected countries As a percentage of gross farm receipts
|
|
Long-term trends There are large and increasing differences in the levels of support among OECD countries. Producer support estimates as a percentage of gross farm receipts (%PSE) currently range from almost zero to 68%. These differences reflect among other things, variations in policy objectives, different historical uses of policy instruments, and the varying pace and degrees of progress in agricultural policy reform. Over the longer term, the level of producer support has fallen in most OECD countries. The average %PSE in 2003-05 at 30% is lower than the 1986-88 average of 37% and has fallen in most countries. There has also been some change in the way support is delivered to the sector. Support known to be the most distorting in terms of production and trade is less dominant than in the past – 71% of total support during the 2003-2005 period compared to over 91% in 1986-1988. |
Source
- OECD (2006), Agricultural Policies in OECD Countries: At a Glance, OECD, Paris.
Further information
Analytical publications
- OECD (2004), Analysis of the 2003 CAP Reform, OECD, Paris.
- OECD (2005), Agricultural Policies in OECD Countries: Monitoring and Evaluation, OECD, Paris.
- OECD (2005), Environmentally Harmful Subsidies: Challenges for Reform, OECD, Paris.
- OECD (2006), OECD Review of Agricultural Policies, OECD, Paris.
- OECD (2006), OECD Sustainable Development Studies – Subsidy Reform and Sustainable Development: Economic, Environmental and Social Aspects, OECD, Paris.
- OECD (2006), OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook: 2006-2015, OECD, Paris.
Methodological publications
- OECD (2002), Methodology for the Measurement of Support and Use in Policy Evaluation, OECD, Paris.
| Texts | |
| • | Indicator web page |
| • | Indicator in PDF |
| Tables (xls) | |
| • | Producer support estimate by country |
| Graphics | |
| • | Producer support estimate by country |
Producer support estimate by country
|
66/94 | |