While public support for agriculture has reached record levels, the share of support allocated to spurring sustainable productivity growth has decreased, according to OECD director for trade and agriculture Marion Jansen.

Public support for agriculture has reached record levels as governments enacted measures to shield both consumers and producers from the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises, according to the new report.

Agricultural support is up over 13% on average in the past three years (2019-2021).

Most support is provided directly to individual producers, a large proportion of which is in forms particularly exposed to market distortion and production decision influencing, according to the OECD.

Production can’t be stopped

According to Marian Jansen, it is definitely the case that the agriculture sector cannot just stop producing in order to stop emissions of greenhouse gases.

“It can’t, because the agriculture sector has to keep feeding the world. It has to feed a growing world population, so the sector will have to produce more and more and it has to do this in a more and more environmentally way.”

According to the OECD, for this to happen more money has to go into innovation and research and development, more money has to go into skills and more money has to go into infrastructure.

But the report shows that the share of money that goes into these type of investments has decreased over time. It was at 16% of overall government support 20 years ago compared with 13% today.

Emissions reduction challenges

Agreeing with the OECD analysis, emeritus professor of agricultural policy at Trinity College Dublin Alan Matthews noted that increased economic mitigation potential in agriculture production itself requires a significant step up in agricultural research expenditure, which is particularly low.

He proposed that pricing emissions to drive adoption of emissions reduction practices would seem a useful tool.

However, he noted that in Europe we have been offering farmers voluntary measures, for example through environmental schemes and the new eco schemes starting next year, to engage in practices which improve sustainability generally and help in particular to mitigate emissions.

“But it’s voluntary and there isn’t any signal to farmers that this is actually a real cost to us as a society and to the planet and you really should be factoring that cost into your decision making. But there isn’t any incentive at present,” according to Prof Matthews.

He noted that the current debate about delaying the Green Deal implementation in the EU is a little strange, stating the current environment is an opportunity to move even faster towards farm to fork goals.

Not all targets are equal

Of the 54 countries covered by the report, only 16 (of which Ireland is one) have set agriculture-specific emissions reduction targets, which could support mitigation efforts and measure progress.

Of those countries that have agreed defined national emissions reductions targets, not all are legally binding and only 36 have a national strategy to deliver those targets.

Beyond today’s short-term responses to global crises, agricultural policies must simultaneously address current challenges and support long-term reforms to combat climate change.

According to the OECD, direct emissions reductions are relatively limited both in livestock and crops.

Much more important are the indirect effects, for instance reducing deforestation, but also things like improving soil organic matter and bringing carbon into the soil.

The reports details a six-point agenda for reducing agricultural gas emissions while achieving wider food systems objectives related to food security, livelihoods and sustainability.