"This paper is devoted to better understanding of the Brazilian agricultural national policies towards domestic support and implications related to WTO rules. Domestic support has taken central stage in the last years and in light of a global economic crisis will play an even greater role in international trade politics. The paper focuses on Brazil and lays out the different domestic support policies used by the government. It is divided into five distinct parts for better comprehension. These parts are as follow: a synopsis of policies and recent studies; replication of official WTO support notifications; construction of consistent shadow notification; comparison and discussion of shadow notifications in relation to the WTO rules; and projected notifications through 2018. Also ethanol policies and the WTO rules were carefully analysed in order to better understand the Brazilian domestic support. Through this paper the reader will be able to have a better understanding of Brazilian agricultural domestic support policies with respect to WTO rules--a topic not well evaluated in the academic arena up to this time. A lot of scientific work has been done in the field of domestic support, but little has been done to better understand domestic support policies of specific countries in light of the WTO legal system."--Authors' abstract.

Farm support is contentious in international negotiations. This in-depth assessment of the legal compliance and economic evaluation issues raised by the WTO Agreement on Agriculture presents consistent support data and forward-looking projections for eight developed and developing countries (EU, US, Japan, Norway, Brazil, China, India, Philippines), using original estimates where official notifications are not available. Variations over time in notified support in some cases reflect real policy changes; others merely reflect shifts in how countries represent their measures. The stalled Doha negotiations presage significantly tighter constraints for developed countries that provide the highest support, but loopholes will persist. Developing countries face fewer constraints and their trade-distorting farm support can rise. Pressure points and key remaining issues if a Doha agreement is reached are evaluated. Vigilant monitoring for compliance of farm support with WTO commitments will be required to lessen its negative consequences whether or not the Doha Round is concluded.