The Shape of Things to Come?

While U.S. policymakers remain optimistic about the future of U.S. farm payments despite the recent WTO ruling, one still can’t help wondering how this process ultimately will play out.

One can only assume that if the current subsidies were eliminated, U.S. lawmakers would adopt a payment system designed to cause little, if any, trade distortion --- so-called Green box subsidies.” Yet, even this approach, already being seriously considered by the European Union, has drawn the ire of developing countries.

Devinder Sharma, writing in Bangladesh’s The New Nation had this to say:

“Developing countries need to worry about the 'green box' subsidies because it actually operates like 'income insurance' scheme for the farmers in the industrialized countries. They remain insulated from the volatility of the global markets. Whether the international prices slump or go on a meteoritic rise, they remain unruffled, as their life style has already been protected by the state subsidies. Take the case of US farmers. 'It's a welfare check,' a Chicago Tribune report sometimes back quoted Robert Johnson, 57, who farms 500 acres of corn and soybeans. 'I don't like welfare and I know other people don't either--but you have to take it to survive." He said prices for his crops are too low for him to make a living. He drives a truck at night and his wife drives a school bus to make ends meet.'"

Posted by Jim Langcuster at April 30, 2004 09:59 AM | TrackBack