1. Building an agenda for farm
policy repurposing: lessons
learned from recent thread of
works
David Laborde
Markets, Trade and Institution Division
International Food Policy Research Institute
30 November 2021

2. Outline
Repurposing?
Key Findings
Guidance for
trade rules

3. Why Trade Rules Matter for Farm Policies?
WTO rules
contribute to
shaping them:
• Market access,
• domestic support
and,
• export subsidies
(?)
These policies
impact food
systems:
• What is
produced?
• How much is
produced?
• Where it comes
from?
• How it is
produced?
Policy repurposing
will have
• Cross-Border
impacts
• On trade flows
• On global public
goods (e.g.,
GHG Emissions)

4. Clarifications
Policy support occurs
through various ways
and could be accounted
differently
• Role of Notifications
• Role of Policy
Monitoring and
Harmonization efforts
Repurposing is not
about cancelling the old
policy agenda
• It is about updating it
and adding new
missions to the
agriculture and food
systems.
• More goals should
require more money...
and more money may
mean problems...
Repurposing could take
place across
• Products
• Policy Instruments
(and WTO boxes)
• Countries

5. Outline
Repurposing?
Key Findings
Guidance for
trade rules

7. 2020: What is the effect of
current farm policies on
agricultural emissions?
2021: What will happen if we
reallocate (some) of this
support to R&D and
sustainable intensification?

8. 2020: What is the effect of
current farm policies on
agricultural emissions?
2021: What will happen if we
reallocate (some) of this
support to R&D and
sustainable intensification?
2021: Counting the cost of
various agricultural support
instruments on nature,
climate, nutrition, health and
equity by 2030

9. 2020: What is the effect of
current farm policies on
agricultural emissions?
2021: What will happen if we
reallocate (some) of this
support to R&D and
sustainable intensification?
2021: Counting the cost of
various agricultural support
instruments on nature,
climate, nutrition, health and
equity by 2030
2021: Reallocating farm
subsidies towards products
with low emissions and/or
high nutrition potential

10. Lessons Learned:
Limited Opportunities and careful planning is needed
Removing existing
policies will
Hurt farmers overall (with some
benefits in developing countries)
Will slightly help the poor and
the hungry IF border protection
is removed
Reduce global emissions,
mainly through a contraction of
production and land
abandonment
So, Repurposing is
required
Investment in Sustainable
Intensification is required.
Investing in “traditional”
productivity gains will not deliver
Border Polices and Domestic
Support have, in most of the
cases, opposite effects on diets
Input subsidies are a tricky issue
Focusing on
healthy/environmental
friendly products
Could contribute to reduce the
cost of healthy diets but has
limited impact when using
producer subsidies
Risk for governments to pick the
wrong "good" products
Phasing out resources from
staples could have a small
impact on undernourishment

11. Outline
Repurposing?
Key Findings
Guidance for trade
rules

12. Guidance for trade rules
Current WTO rules are not
an obstacle for repurposing,
but they provide weak
incentives or guidelines.
Blue box policies, especially
for livestock, are a significant
potential to curb GHG
emissions.
Repurposing could involve
significant box shifting
towards Green Box , and
abuse of existing flexibilities
Assessing price support
through historic reference
price is not consistent with a
transformation agenda
In the future, soul searching
for the WTO members:
should the rules focus on
“do no harm” or “do good”
Disciplining Overall Trade
Distorting Support is not
synonymous to improve
Social and Environmental
impacts of farm policies
Increase Transparency and
Monitoring (Notifications) will
be essential to promote trust
and coordination in the global
repurposing process
Tariffs remain an awkward
instrument to guide
repurposing
Border Tax Adjustments are a
second-best option
Discriminatory use will be a
source of dispute and also
inefficiencies

13. Further Readings
▪ IFPRI-World Bank collaboration:
o Laborde, David; Mamun, Abdullah; Martin, Will; Pineiro, Valeria; Vos, Rob. 2020. Modeling the Impacts of Agricultural Support Policies on Emissions from
Agriculture. Agriculture and Food Discussion Paper;. World Bank, Washington, DC. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/34453
o Laborde, D., Mamun, A., Martin, W. et al. Agricultural subsidies and global greenhouse gas emissions. Nat Commun 12, 2601 (2021).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22703-1
o Gautam, Madhur; Mamun, Abdullah; Martin, Will; Pineiro, Valeria; Vos, Rob. 2021 “Repurposing agricultural policy support for climate change mitigation and
adaptation“., https://www.g20-insights.org/policy_briefs/repurposing-agricultural-policy-support-for-climate-change-mitigation-and-adaptation/
▪ IFPRI in collaboration with FAO-UNEP-UNDP
o FAO, UNDP and UNEP. 2021. A multi-billion-dollar opportunity – Repurposing agricultural support to transform food systems. Rome, FAO. Chapter 2 and
Chapter 3 https://doi.org/10.4060/cb6562en
▪ IFPRI-FAO in support of the UNFSS
o von Braun Joachim, Kaosar Afsana, Louise O. Fresco and Mohamed Hassan, “Science and Innovations for Food Systems Transformation and Summit Actions:
Papers by the Scientific Group and its partners in support of the UN Food Systems Summit”. See chapter 1. https://sc-fss2021.org/wp-
content/uploads/2021/09/ScGroup_Reader_UNFSS2021.pdf
▪ Rethinking Farm Policy and WTO rules in the context of MC12 and beyond
o Glauber, J., D. Laborde, and V. Piñeiro. 2021 "New Disciplines for Domestic Support." in The Road to the WTO Twelfth Ministerial Conference: A Latin American
and Caribbean Perspective. V. Piñeiro, A. Campos and M. Piñeiro (eds). IICA and IFPRI. Washington, DC https://repositorio.iica.int/handle/11324/19221
o Glauber, J., D. Laborde, and V. Piñeiro. 2021. "Impacts of Agricultural Producer Support on Climate and Nutrition Outcomes with Special Emphasis on Latin
America and the Caribbean". in The Road to the WTO Twelfth Ministerial Conference: A Latin American and Caribbean Perspective. V. Piñeiro, A. Campos and
M. Piñeiro (eds). IICA and IFPRI. Washington, DC https://repositorio.iica.int/handle/11324/19221
o Glauber, Joseph W.; Laborde Debucquet, David; and Piñeiro, Valeria. 2021. Harmonizing and reducing trade distorting domestic support: An analysis of the
impacts of new domestic support disciplines at the WTO. IFPRI Project Report November 2021. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute
(IFPRI). 10.13140/RG.2.2.24235.98085

14. Forthcoming research on Repurposing Farm Policies
▪ New report in collaboration with the World Bank
▪ IFPRI support to the 2022 SOFI report focusing on repurposing
▪ IFPRI collaboration with IISD on the G7 Agenda
▪ IFPRI collaboration with the Food System Economic Commission on
assessing the True Cost of Farm Policies and Pathways for
Repurposing