ABSTRACT

Industrial country agricultural policy in the post-World War II era has been highly protectionist; commodity based, market distorting and dominated by domestic politics. The agricultural sector has lagged behind in the general trend of deregulation and market liberalization that has permeated most sectors of the economy. The US farm crisis of the mid-1980s contributed both to the reforms in the 1985 US Farm Bill and to the efforts to liberalize agricultural trade in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade Uruguay Round negotiations. The Uruguay Round enhanced the attractiveness of liberalized domestic policy in that it portended greater openness in international markets. The Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act marked a significant liberalizing departure from previous farm legislation. The World Trade Organization agricultural trade negotiations began seriously in the summer of 2000 after being side-tracked by the break-down of the Seattle Conference in November 1999. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.