Free Essay

Agricultural Subsidies and Development

In:

Submitted By fkazakov
Words 770
Pages 4
Agricultural Subsidies and Development

In recent decades, rich countries and organizations have taken measures to preserve their agro industry. In many of the largest countries as a measure to stimulate the production, subsidy is made for the proceedings or part of the necessary crops. Nowadays we are faced in a big question: What is the impact of these subsidies on world market prices and the producers do not receive subsidies for their production?
There are many opinions from different parts of the world and it is like that because each country has its own point of view and depends how much are they involved in the situation. I will try to distinguish myself and to be objective. I think that if the subsidies were removed overnight the impact on the average consumer and producer will be very bad. Family farmers will be driven into bankruptcy and this will lead to production falls. With less production the market will have risen on food prices and this will reflect directly to the average consumer. Another thing that will probably happen is that big corporation will continue their growth and they will kill smaller farmers with their prices. This will cause no competition in the agriculture and will lead to unfairly high prices. Another important thing that may occur is the lower quality of the products, because every farmer corporation will try to get as much as they can and they will no longer care about the quality because the competition is gone. I think that the benefits will be less from removing the subsidy, because this will lead to affecting the market.
Another important question that faced the world is: What would be better for the poorest country increasing the foreign aid or give them the opportunities to struggle for their money on agriculture market or in other words stopping the subsidy in the rich countries, so the poorest one can have their opportunities to compete. When I’m in the situation to choose between two decisions like poor or rich, small or big I think that the answer is always somewhere in the middle. But unfortunately at most of the time we have to take solutions that are mutually exclusive. We have one very good expression about that in Bulgaria “There is no way Wolf to be full and lamb to be whole.”. If there is an opportunity for those two things to work together will be great. If not, I am thinking that it is always better to let the countries who know what they are doing, to do the right things and wait for them to help others. Otherwise if smaller countries going to the debt, bigger will not be able to help them at all. If they are not good enough to compete in the niche, they have to try improve their goods and try to find another way to sell their produce or crops or whatever they have. They have to try to make their goods different than others and this will make them more competitive at the market. This is my opinion about this question and the best way is if they do not know how to compete and how to be attractive on the market they better stay and wait for aids. Otherwise this will lead to lower quality of the agricultural goods and sometimes shortage of these goods.
Government in developed countries continues to lavish extensive support on agricultural producers even though those producers constitute very small segments of the population. I think that government does this in order to help its own nation not just the producers. Yes they try to stimulate internal production with the entire subsidy that they gave but this is good for the whole nation not just for producers. Otherwise they have to import all this goods from other countries and this will cause higher price on the market and this will lower the purchasing power of average consumer. In my opinion government doing this in order to satisfy and protect its nation.
Regarding to the question about World Trade Organization and what they are trying to do with reducing barriers to free trade in agriculture I absolutely agree with them. As I stated before the perfect way is to find the golden middle between subsidies and free trade. In fact, free trade exists now, but some countries have difficulties in fighting competition. In any case I do not think that the full subsidy is correct, but in some areas is imperative. Each country should establish its own priorities for subsidies and to comply with World Trade Organization.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Agricultural Subsidies and Development

...1. What philosophical principle did Google’s managers adopt when deciding that the benefits of operating in China outweighed the costs? When it comes to the benefits outweighing the cost in China from a layman perspective, one could easily say that there is no philosophical principle was adopted, but rather, common sense led them to China. Even though China may have censorship everywhere, the Chinese don't have as many regulations as they do in America or other developed nations. Workers in China earn way less and work longer hours. Google is able to buy property for less in China, too. If anything, Google actually gained money by establishing a branch in China. On the contrary, one could also say that Google’s managers adopt utilitarian approach, because according to utilitarian philosophy, “it focuses attention on the need to weigh carefully all of the social benefits and costs of a business action and to pursue only those actions where the benefits outweigh the costs” (Hill, 2009, p. 144). For Google, they have their own legitimate and logical reasons why they should keep Google’s with the censorship by Chinese government. Without a doubt, China is a huge promising and potential Internet market in the world, where Google can make a great number of profits. Also, Google top managers explain that it’s better to give Chinese users limited information than to give nothing. What’s more, Google managers argue that Google is the only searching engine in China telling users that their...

Words: 752 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

World Trade Organisation

...WTO AND INDIAN ECONOMY (AGRICULTURAL IMPLICATIONS) BY: RAYNAH FERNANDES 13 SRUSHTI GANGAN 14 NEHA GAONKAR 15 INDEX 1. WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION  GATT  Principles of WTO  Objectives & Function 2. INDIA & WTO 3. INDIAN ECONOMY 4. INDIAN AGRICULTURE  Agricultural Trade  Agricultural Support Policies  Importance Of Indian Agriculture 5. AGREEMENT ON AGRICULTURE  The Three Boxes: Green, Amber and Blue  Trend In Pattern Of Consumption  Implication Of Agreement : Short Term and Long Term 6. WTO & INDIAN AGRICULTURE  India’s Commitment  India’s Agricultural Trade Under WTO Regime 7. A STUDY & ITS FINDINGS 8. SUGGESTIONS 9. BIBLIOGRPHY ACKNOWLEGEMENT We would like to acknowledge and express our sincerest gratitude for the efforts and timely guidance of our professor Mrs. Neelam Shetty of Managerial Economics for providing us the opportunity to study the impact of WTO agreements on the Indian economy especially focused on the agricultural sector. We would also like to thanks and express our gratitude towards professor Mr. Agnelo Menezes of economics from the Bachelors of Arts faculty and his student from XRCVC Master Prashant Lindayat. Each and every team member gave in his best to make sure that this report has all the necessary inputs and is completed on time. We definitely had a knowledgeful and enriching experience. WORLD TRADE...

Words: 12777 - Pages: 52

Premium Essay

Agricultural Subsidy

...International Economics BEQM607 "Agricultural Subsidies & Development" Completed by: John Williams - Rosita Tran - Shrey Sharma- 11739401 Word Count: Viraj Bhatti - Introduction Agriculture accounts for 9% of world trade as is therefore not surprisingly top of the list for government policy for many countries, with agriculture industry still being the largest employer in many developing and third world countries. Currently there are many global issues regarding agricultural policies which include subsidies and tariffs, with continues debate whether they are economically beneficial or in fact detrimental to the agriculture trade market. The world is in a current face off involving developed countries such USA and EU and rising developing countries such as Brazil and India. International efforts have been made to solve issues through trade negotiations such as The Doha Round, a current round of trade negotiations among the World Trade Organization members, which have been going on since 2001 due to the complexity of the issues surrounding agricultural industry. The aim of this essay to critically analyse the effects of removing tariffs and subsidies on the average consumer and average farmer in developed countries as well as how it will effect developing countries. Removing Tariffs and Subsidies “The current subsidies distort incentives for the global trade of agricultural commodities in which other countries may have a comparative advantage. Allowing...

Words: 2886 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Agricultural Subsidies

...Business September 25, 2012 Agricultural Subsidies and Development Summary of Case Study: Agricultural Subsidies and Development The closing case describes the government sponsored subsidies and tariffs on agricultural products in the United States and EU countries. The subsidies and tariffs protect farmers in those countries from low commodity prices, however at the same time, hurt farmers in the developing nations. According to the United Nation, the subsidies and tariffs effectively cancel out the aid provided by the developed world to the developing nations by limiting export earnings from agricultural products. Discussion of this case can revolve around the following questions: 1) If agricultural tariffs and subsidies to producers were removed overnight, what would the impact be on the average consumer in developed nations such as the US and the EU countries? What would the impact be on the average farmer? Do you think the total benefits outweigh the total cost or vice versa? I believe if agricultural tariffs and subsidies were removed overnight the impact on the average consumer in a developed nation would be, the prices of goods would rise because developed nations would no longer be dumping the surplus of good on the world market. The impact on the average farmer would be that they are no longer protected from international demand and prices. I do not think the total benefits outweigh the cost; they should remove all tariffs and subsidies and make it possible for...

Words: 336 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

The Impact of Trade Liberalization on Developing Countries

...2001, are considered to be the first of nine negotiating rounds to address the “needs and the interests” of developing countries (Elliott, 2007, p. 1). There have been many attempts to reach an agreement between countries on agricultural liberalization. The failure to reacha solution still persists, however, as was seen at the “Battle in Seattle”, in November of 1999 where strong anti-WTO sentiment took to the streets in mass protests. (Fabiosa, 2008, p. 1). This anti-trade stance asks the fundamental question whether agricultural trade liberalization is beneficial to developing countries or not. The growth of globalization creates interdependence among countries and increases the capacity of the economy of the countries to engage in international trade. Trade liberalization in agriculture has significant benefits to individuals who devote their lives to agriculture, mainly small farmers from developing countries. This idea would also promote economic growth in these countries. In order to make trade liberalization in agriculture an ideal concept, there are still a few hurdles that need to be cleared, such as granting developing nations funds to meet environmental goals, abolishment of export subsidies, and lost tariff replacement. In order to allow participants to increase trade globally and benefit from it, WTO’s goal is to lower trade barriers as much as possible among its members and to develop fairer trade policies...

Words: 2118 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Agricultural Subsides and Development

...Business September 25, 2012 Agricultural Subsidies and Development Summary of Case Study: Agricultural Subsidies and Development The closing case describes the government sponsored subsidies and tariffs on agricultural products in the United States and EU countries. The subsidies and tariffs protect farmers in those countries from low commodity prices, however at the same time, hurt farmers in the developing nations. According to the United Nation, the subsidies and tariffs effectively cancel out the aid provided by the developed world to the developing nations by limiting export earnings from agricultural products. Discussion of this case can revolve around the following questions: 1) If agricultural tariffs and subsidies to producers were removed overnight, what would the impact be on the average consumer in developed nations such as the US and the EU countries? What would the impact be on the average farmer? Do you think the total benefits outweigh the total cost or vice versa? I believe if agricultural tariffs and subsidies were removed overnight the impact on the average consumer in a developed nation would be, the prices of goods would rise because developed nations would no longer be dumping the surplus of good on the world market. The impact on the average farmer would be that they are no longer protected from international demand and prices. I do not think the total benefits outweigh the cost; they should remove all tariffs and subsidies and make it possible for...

Words: 317 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Agriculture Subsidies

...The modern agricultural subsidy program in the United States began with the New Deal and the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933. With trader barriers already in place for agricultural commodities, this law gave the government the power to set minimum prices and included government stock acquisition, land idling, and schemes to cut supplies by destroying livestock (Benedict, 1953). An agricultural subsidy is a government subsidy paid to farmers and agribusinesses to supplement their income, manage the supply of agricultural commodities and influence the cost and supply of commodities, such as wheat, grain, corn, milk, and soybeans (Agricultural Subsidy, 2012). The government subsidy program was originally designed to protect small family farms against loss of income due to poor crop yields, as well as create lower food prices and stabilize crop supplies. Annual yields are dependent upon factors that farmers often cannot control, such as severe weather conditions. Due to this, it’s contingent upon the government to encourage crop surplus to help guarantee against shortages. The high cost of land, planting, and storage makes it necessary for farmers to borrow and exorbitant amount of money. When the farmers can’t pay this money back because of low crop yields, they rely on these government subsidies to survive. Today’s farm operations have transformed the family farm from a small, self-contained business to a complex, technology-driven enterprise as seen in the rapidly...

Words: 1274 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

The Doha Round

...centre of focus in this current round.1 With average agricultural tariffs allowed at 62 percent, trade in this sector has been vastly distorted.2 Therefore, the agricultural goals of Doha seek to tackle trade barriers afflicting the agricultural trade through lowering export subsidies, opening market and eliminating trade distorting domestic policies.3 The Doha Round also emphasized on encouraging countries to expand trade, so that they can promote economic growth and reduce poverty through the benefits of trade. As such, market access and trade liberalization remained key objectives of this round where developed nations bargain for access into developing nations’ markets in exchange for a reduction in their own subsidization in agricultural products.4 Currently, talks in the Doha Round are stalled over disagreements on major issues regarding agriculture, non-agriculture market access (NAMA), industrial tariffs, non-trade barriers (NTB) and services. The most significant being the persistent difference in interests between developed and developing nations, led by the EU, USA and Japan in the formal and Brazil, China, India, South Korea and South Africa in the latter. One instance would be developing countries insisting on measures that recognize their developmental status, and thus proposing rules that grant them to subsidize exports without facing countervailing duties if the program is justified to have “legitimate development goals”. Political,...

Words: 846 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Trading

...Case study (2) Agricultural Subsidies and Development For decades the rich countries of the developed world have lavished subsidies on their farmers, typically guaranteeing them a minimum price for the products they produce. The aim has been to protect farmers in the developed world from the potentially devastating effects of low commodity prices. Although they are small in numbers, farmers tend to be politically active, and winning their support is important for many politicians. The politicians often claim that their motive is to preserve a historic rural lifestyle, and they see subsidies as a way of achieving that goal. This logic has resulted in financial support estimated to exceed $300 billion a year for farmers in rich nations. The European Union, for example, has set a minimum price for butter of 3,282 euros per ton. If the world price for butter falls below that amount, the EU will make up the difference to farmers in the form of a direct payment or subsidy. In total, EU dairy farmers receive roughly $15 billion a year in subsidies to produce milk and butter, or about $2 a day for every cow in the EU—a figure that is more than the daily income of half the world’s population. According to the OECD, overall EU farmers receive approximately $134 billion a year in subsidies. The EU is not alone in this practice. In the United States, a wide range of crop and dairy farmers receive subsidies. Typical is the guarantee that U.S. cotton farmers will receive at least $0.70 for...

Words: 1625 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Doha Round of Wto Negotiations

...the Doha Round come to a successful conclusion? The WTO conducts negotiations through what they call ‘rounds’. The November 2001 declaration of the Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, known as the Doha Development Round, provides the mandate for negotiations on a range of subjects. Its objective is to lower trade barriers around the world, permitting free trade among countries of varying prosperity. The negotiations of the Doha Round take place in the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) and its subsidiaries. Other work under the work programme, such as issues concerning the implementation of the present agreements, takes place in other WTO councils and committees. The Doha Round was to begin at the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 in Seattle, and was supposed to be called ‘the Seattle Round’, however, some developing countries refused to launch the second round by blocking the “explicit consensus” needed at the final Heads of Delegation. It was later decided via explicit consensus at a meeting in Doha, Qatar, that all countries involved were committed to negotiations opening agricultural and manufacturing markets, services negotiations and expanded intellectual property regulation. This new agenda of the developed world was dubbed the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). Proponents of the Round claim that its intent was to make trade rules fairer for developing countries whilst opponents charged that the Round would...

Words: 2491 - Pages: 10

Free Essay

Economic Cotton Paper

...The US policy for cotton subsidies has affected the market internationally and domestically, united stated by producing 19 percent of world cotton production is one of the most influence country in cotton market. Although there is argument weather US should cut their subsidies on cotton or not but cutting the subsidies and replacing with the new recommended program has much greater benefit for the cotton market domestically and internationally. However the supporter of US subsidies believe that current program supports domestic farmers ,but according to below chart only 10 % of US farmer are enjoying the benefits of cotton subsidies. Eliminating billions of dollars in federal subsidies to American cotton growers each year would make competitive environment for domestic farmer to be more productive and grow plants efficiently. In addition it cause raise in prices by about 10 percent which improve the incomes of millions of poor cotton farmers in Africa especially in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Chad. The reductions in developed country cotton subsidies as a means to fight rural poverty in the developing world, the added income would help families feed and educate millions of children. This statement is very good reason that Congress should cut cotton subsidies. Current Cotton Subsidies Program and its consequences: The main forms of subsidy includes: (1) direct payments to farmers and landlords; (2) price supports implemented with government purchases and storage; (3)...

Words: 1131 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Brazilian Agriculture and the Wto

...Policy Studies School of Politics Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences La Trobe University Bundoora, Victoria 3083 Australia 2 July 2005 Abstract The Brazilian economy transformed from a state of financial crisis in the 1980’s to become a leading agriculture exporter in the late 1990’s. Economic reforms implemented by the Real Plan were a response to a bankrupt decade of failed economic plans and high inflation rates. In this period agriculture played a key role in the control of the inflation and in the stabilization of the economy. The domestic environment of the Brazilian economy and the role of agriculture helped Brazil to develop a more active role and led it to seek for a leadership position in the international agricultural negotiations. On the eve on the WTO’s Cancun Round of negotiation a new coalition of developing countries formed the G-20. The Group was born from a Brazilian initiative and for the first time a group of developing countries stood up against the developed countries in the agriculture negotiations. 3 Acknowledgments I would like to dedicate this thesis to my mother Ana and my brother Matheus. Who believed in me even when I did not. I love you guys. I would like to thank my Father for the support, during the whole process, even at 4 am, William Wyle my good friend and housemate, Celina Italiano and her beautiful family, my adviser Anthony Jarvis, who was always a sea of calm and never lost hope in me and also to thank all my...

Words: 26077 - Pages: 105

Premium Essay

The World Trade Organisation (Wto)

...Cases in the Global Business Environment The World Trade Organisation (WTO) It has been suggested that “of all major economic institutions, the WTO has the worst reputation”. Outline the role of the WTO, and explain why it has proved difficult to reach agreement in recent WTO meetings in Doha, Geneva and Hong Kong. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) The WTO was founded in 1995 after the 8 year Uruguay round of talks, and it succeeded the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) created in 1947. Most of the WTO's current work comes from the Uruguay Round of negotiations (1986-1994). Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the WTO has 151 members (as at 27th July 2007), accounting for over 97% of world trade. The organisation is governed by a Ministerial Conference, which meets every two years, a General Council which implements the conference's policy decisions and a director-general appointed by the Ministerial Conference. The World Trade Organization deals with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business. These agreements are the legal ground-rules for international commerce Global trade deals are negotiated at the Ministerial Conference meetings, which are known as trade rounds and are aimed at reducing barriers for trade. One of the...

Words: 2636 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Agriculture Subsidies and Development

...AGRICULTURE SUBSIDIES AND DEVELOPMENT QUESTION 1 IF AGRICULTURAL TARIFFS AND SUBSIDIES TO PRODUCERS WERE REMOVED OVERNIGHT, WHAT WOULD THE IMPACT BE IN THE AVERAGE CONSUMER IN DEVELOPED NATIONS SUCH AS THE UNITED STATES AND THE EU COUNTRIES? WHAT WOULD BE THE IMPACT ON THE AVERAGE FARMER? Lowering the tariffs and getting rid of subsidies would allow the average consumers to save. The prices for these products would be cheaper and the taxes paid would eliminate because there would no longer be any subsidies to pay for. On the other had this would be a negative for the average farmers in these nations. There would no longer be a surplus of goods that could be sold to monopolize the market. Farmers would no longer benefit from the subsidies they received all profits would be based on production. Lower commodity prices in developing nations would cause farmers to lose revenue because in order to make a profit they would have to raise prices causing them to not be competitive within their market. QUESTION 2 WHICH DO YOU THINK WOULD HELP THE CITIZENS OF THE WORLD’S POOREST NATIONS MORE, INCREASING FOREIGN AID OR REMOVING ALL AGRICULTURAL TARIFFS AND SUBSIDES? Foreign aid comes with strings attached and it does not come without a cost. Foreign aid only seems to balance out the “goodwill” of developed countries. As stated in the case the foreign aid that these developing nations receive from developed countries is less than what they are losing if allowed to sell the commodities...

Words: 630 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

House

...developing world, agricultural subsidies cost producers in the developing world some $50 billion in lost export revenues, effectively canceling out the effect of the aid. As one UN official has noted, “It’s no good building up roads, clinics, and infrastructure in poor areas if you don’t give them access to markets and engines for growth.” Similarly, Oxfam has taken the unusual position for a charity of coming out strongly in support of the elimination of agricultural subsidies and price supports to developing world producers. By increasing world prices and shifting production from high-cost, protected producers in Europe and America to lower-cost producers in the developing world, Oxfam claims that consumers in rich nations would benefit from lower domestic prices and the elimination of taxes required to pay for the subsidies, while producers in the developing world would gain from fairer competition, expanded markets, and higher world prices. In the long run, the greater economic growth that would occur in agriculturally dependent developing nations would be to everyone’s benefit. Although subsidies have been against the spirit of World Trade Organization rules, under the terms of a 1995 “peace agreement” WTO members agreed not to take each other to court over agricultural subsidies. However, that agreement expired on December 31, 2004. Signs are growing that unless rich countries take steps to cut their subsidies soon, a number of efficient agricultural exporting countries...

Words: 611 - Pages: 3