ABSTRACT
Organic agriculture is the closest proxy to sustainable agriculture practised on any scale in Europe, and is also the system with the highest guaranteed animal welfare standards. When subsidies encourage unsustainable behaviour, trade liberalization can supply the remedy. The three objectives of the 1994 World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture are: to reduce production-related subsidies; to reduce export subsidies; and to open national markets to imports from overseas. If it is surprising that WTO could have such positive effects on sustainable agriculture, it is because the common agricultural policy is an exceptionally silly policy. In a very modest way, the European Union (EU) is leading the way. Under the agri-environment programme, member states are introducing schemes like organic conversion subsidies. Trade liberalization in the EU will be good for sustainable agriculture, as it must remove some of the perverse and ridiculous incentives offered to farmers.
