Farm support is inefficient, says study
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.
In the case of support to the market price of a commodity, the study estimates that only 25% of the funding ends up as a net income gain for the farmers.
Farm household incomes are, taken on average, close to those of other households, the report goes on to add, but increasingly it is through a combination of non-agricultural wages and salaries, investments and social payments that those who are working in agriculture are able to maintain such income levels.
Similarly, although large income disparities remain among farmers, they are being reduced by non-agricultural revenues.
The report proposes more efficient and equitable ways for governments to ensure farm households have decent incomes.
Meanwhile, EU Farm Commissioner Franz Fischler will officially publish his CAP reform proposals in Brussels next Wednesday.
