Farm support is inefficient, says study

A LARGE proportion of the support that governments give to agriculture does not go to the farmers who need it most, according to a new OECD report.

Moreover, such support is inefficient in providing increased income for farmers and distorts production and trade, the study claims.

The report, Farm Household Incomes in OECD Countries, shows that because most support is production-based, the bulk of it goes to the larger, and therefore often the richer, farms.