Total support to agriculture (Total Support Estimate, TSE) in OECD countries1 represented USD 349 billion (EUR 311 billion) per year on average in 2020-22, of which 67%, or USD 234 billion (EUR 208 billion), was provided as support to producers individually (Producer Support Estimate, PSE). Producer support across the OECD represented 15.2% of gross farm receipts in 2020-22, down from around 28% in 2000-02 and more than 35% in 1986‑88 (Table 3.1). These averages mask significant variations within the OECD, details on which are presented in Chapter 2 of this report.
There has been long-term decline in the use of Market Price Support (MPS) and output-based payments across OECD countries. Payments based on the unconstrained use of variable inputs slightly increased across the OECD compared to the beginning of the millennium. OECD work finds that these three types of support have the greatest potential to distort agricultural production and trade, and can induce negative impacts on the environment.
Overall, MPS represents the largest share of support to individual commodities, driven by a range of domestic and trade policies. Rice is by far the most supported commodity in the OECD area, followed by sugar, sunflower seed, and several livestock products (Figure 3.2). For several commodities – particularly maize, sorghum, soybeans, and sheep meat – support also comes through other types of transfers, including payments less directly coupled to production.
Some countries apply less-distorting forms of support, such as payments based on parameters not linked to current production, or based on non-commodity criteria such as land set-aside, or payments for specific environmental or animal-welfare outcomes (Chapter 2, Figure 2.15). Payments based on historical entitlements – generally crop area or livestock numbers during a reference period in the past2 – increased in the last two decades, representing more than 3% of Gross Farm Receipts (GFR) and about 22% of PSE during 2020-22. The share of payments based on current crop area, animal numbers, receipts, or income has fallen since 2000‑02; these now represent around 23% of PSE (Table 3.1).
Expenditures financing general services to the sector (General Service Support Estimate, GSSE) in the OECD area increased in nominal terms from USD 37 billion (EUR 40 billion) per year in 2000-02 to USD 48 billion (EUR 43 billion) in 2020-22. However, this increase fell short of the sector’s growth, and expenditures for general services declined as a share of the agricultural value of production from 5.4% to 3.4%. In 2020-22, most of this went to infrastructure (USD 18 billion), a slight increase from 2000-02, and to agricultural knowledge and innovation (USD 15 billion), an increase of 87% in nominal terms, almost in line with the sector’s growth. Expenditures for inspection and control services more than doubled, while spending for marketing and promotion increased less and public stockholding declined substantially over the period. But all these accounted for comparatively small shares of the GSSE expenditure (Table 3.1). Total support to agriculture as a share of GDP declined significantly over time.