Government support to agriculture is significant and well-documented. Both the WTO and the OECD have been monitoring and measuring agricultural support for decades.
The WTO provides data based on Members’ notifications on domestic support, organised by specific categories or ”Boxes”. These Boxes correspond to Members’ commitments under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), including the “Amber Box” under which support is capped or maintained within de minimis levels. Support under other categories (the “Green”, “Blue”, or “Development” Boxes) is exempt from any monetary ceiling. The WTO also provides data on export subsidies and on other export competition tools such as export credits, export credit guarantees, or insurance programmes, which are taken from Members' notifications and responses to an annual questionnaire per the 2015 Nairobi Ministerial Decision on Export Competition.
The OECD monitors and provides detailed data on agricultural support, and assesses countries’ progress in policy reforms, using a database of indicators where the total support is broken down by support to producers, consumers, and general services to the sector (such as extension services or innovation). These data are used to analyze the incidence and impact of agricultural support policies and to facilitate policy dialogue. These data cover 54 countries representing three-quarters of global agricultural value added (including all OECD and EU economies, plus 11 key emerging economies). Data are updated annually and go back to 1986.
There are methodological differences in how the OECD and the WTO calculate support, so that estimates of support provided by the two Organisations may differ. Most notably, OECD estimates on market price support capture barriers at the border (such as tariff and nontariff measures), as well as relevant domestic policies such as production quotas, while for WTO estimates, domestic support via subsidies and market access are separate categories of commitments.
Please also refer to the information under “Cross-sectoral and economywide”. Data sources listed therein can contain relevant information on agricultural subsidies.