The report, comprising a main report and case studies on Canada, France, Greece, Japan, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland, addresses socio-economic developement of rural areas.

This paper sets out the key elements of a positive reform agenda for agricultural policies in OECD countries. Its objective is to outline ways in which Member countries can reap the gains of market orientation and open trade, while simultaneously addressing a broad range of domestic objectives, including those related to farm household incomes, the environment, food ecurity, food safety and the viability of rural areas. The paper is forward looking and avoids judgements of specific policies in individual countries. Without pre-empting agricultural trade negotiations, it considers the economic consequences of alternative approaches to agricultural policy reform.

This annual report monitors and evaluates agricultural policies spanning all six continents, including the 36 OECD countries, the five non-OECD EU Member States, and 13 emerging economies.

This annual report monitors and evaluates agricultural policies spanning all 6 continents, including the 36 OECD countries, the 6 non-OECD EU Member States, and 12 emerging economies. It is a unique source of up-to date estimates of support to agriculture using a comprehensive system of measuring and classifying support to agriculture – the Producer and Consumer Support Estimates (PSEs and CSEs), the General Services Support Estimate (GSSE) and related indicators – which provide insight into the increasingly complex nature of agricultural policy and serve as a basis for OECD’s agricultural policy monitoring and evaluation.

This book examines the major rural developments and the issues that policy makers have been dealing with across the OECD over the last two decades.