Policies and Practices: Ending perverse subsidies

Subsidies that make no sense

In rich countries, subsidies and market barriers virtually force farmers to produce more food and fibre than are needed. They also encourage intensive monoculture farming practices, which use excessive amounts of farm chemicals and heavy machinery harmful to the environment.

These subsidies make no sense when they lead to severe ecological impacts and higher prices for everyone in the shops, while securing fewer and fewer jobs in the farms.

Additionally, cash subsidies in rich countries cause environmental degradation in poor countries as farmers there strive to compete against unfair competition.

WWF recommends that governments – especially those of big consuming countries like China, Japan, the United States and the EU – redirect funding from subsidies and market barriers that promote unfair competition towards the adoption of better management practices.

These include government payments for environmental services that farmers provide, such as river basin protection, erosion prevention, clean water and carbon sequestration.

Within the European Union (EU), reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is needed so that it no longer promotes short-term production gains over long-term sustainability.

In the Mediterranean region the CAP, and other EU funding programmes, is promoting agricultural practices especially for water use that are unsuitable under prevailing natural conditions. A substantial proportion of the irrigation infrastructure is badly maintained, coupled with inefficient irrigation methods, resulting in high losses of water.