Project details

The overall objective of the study is to make a comparative analysis of global agricultural policies by assessing a selected set of case study countries. It has been commissioned by the European Parliaments’ Policy Department on Structural and Cohesion Policies to the Institute for Rural Development Research (IfLS) and Wageningen Economic Research (WR). The aim of the project will be achieved by choosing a two-step approach fulfilling the following specific objectives:

• Provide a comparative analysis of global agricultural support, focusing on the main mechanisms as these are applied in the selected countries. The analysis will highlight the main trends in agricultural support, as well as recent changes and new initiatives with respect to agricultural policies. The thus identified patterns will be used to compare these with the policy options as these are proposed by the EU Commission for the future of the CAP. In this comparative analysis the multidimensional nature of agricultural policy making will be explicitly accounted for by distinguishing different policy domains and how these may interact. Moreover, a differentiated analysis will be provide which recognizes the main support mechanisms (e.g. direct payments, risk management schemes, sectoral support, market measures).
• Formulate a set of proposals on how the CAP can in the medium to long term learn from policy developments in other countries. In the light of the main drivers and challenges of the next CAP reform post 2020, these policy recommendations will in particular (1) highlight what policy instruments which form part of the other countries’ policy toolbox could be taken on board in the next CAP reform; (2) envisage how the current balance between existing CAP tools could be adapted in the light of the policy mix applied in other countries; and (3) present a set of related policy options for the future CAP.