Agrarian World: Australians provide less support to their agriculture sector than any other nation

Australians provide less support to their agriculture sector than any other nation

Mick Keogh – Thursday, September 20, 2012

The OECD has released its annual review of national agricultural policies, and the results confirm that total government support measures for Australian agriculture are the lowest for any developed nation on earth, when expressed as a percent of national GDP.

The OECD carries out a review of international subsidy and support measures for agriculture each year, compiling a comprehensive database which details the value of government trade and subsidy measures for national agriculture sectors. Support measures for national agriculture sectors are expressed in a number of different ways, and mainly reported as either the percent of farmers gross income received from government subsidies and support measures (%PSE) or as total support measures for the agriculture sector expressed as a percentage of national GDP (%TSE).

When expressed as percent of total support (which includes tariffs, subsidies, and funding for things like research and development), Australia provides the lowest level of support for its agriculture sector (0.16% of GDP) of any developed nation included in the OECD analysis (as the following graph highlights).

When expressed in terms of Producer Support Estimate (%PSE) – which is the percentage of farmers income which is a consequence of government support measures, Australian agriculture ranks second lowest in the OECD (3% of farmers income from government support measures) , with only New Zealand (1%) lower. The OECD average support level was 18.8% – still persistently high despite global agricultural commodity prices being at historically high levels.

No doubt there will be grateful outpourings of gratitude and support from the Australian community and media for what is effectively for taxpayers the cheapest agriculture sector in the world, providing safe and nutritious food and earning 15% of Australia’s export income in the almost complete absence of any government or taxpayer support measures.