Farm Leaders from the Cairns Group countries will meet alongside their Trade Ministers in Banff, Alberta, Canada from 9-12 October 2000. The farm leaders from 18 countries have organised a big program in Banff, which includes seminars on trade policy, a strategic planning workshop and joint social functions with ministers.
Following the meeting in Banff the farm leaders will be travelling to Geneva and Brussels to deliver the message of the Cairns Group on farm trade reform. In Geneva, the delegation of farm leaders will meet the Director-General of the WTO, Mike Moore. In Brussels the farm leaders will meet with groups in Europe who have an interest in ending protectionism in European agriculture - such as consumers, exporters, aid agencies and environment groups.
Background to the Banff meeting When farm leaders meet in Banff they will emphasise that the level of agricultural protection has not fallen as a result of the Uruguay Round of trade talks. The mix of support has changed toward direct payments but the consequence is the same: too much agricultural production in the wrong places, which wastes scarce resources. By far the biggest waste is in the rich markets of Europe, Japan, Korea, Norway and the United States.
The agricultural trade problem has been around for some time. It was centre stage at the start of the Uruguay Round in 1986. The fact that it is still a problem fifteen years later underscores the enormous political forces that are brought into play with agricultural policy in protected markets. History, culture, institutional capture, successful lobbying by farmers and the concealment of the real costs involved are all factors behind the trade problem.
Agricultural protection is a huge problem of global proportions. The prize, however, is also huge if reform can be achieved. In 1999, the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade in Australia published a study ('Global Trade Reform - Maintaining Momentum') which showed that a 50 per cent cut in agricultural protection would be worth nearly US$90 billion every year to the world economy.
Pushing for such a big prize is therefore worth doing. For many years the Cairns Group, which comprises the agricultural exporting countries, has been an important "external" force for change. Even though the Cairns Group has proved an effective voice for reform, the task of reform is so large and the prize so great that the arguments for reform need to be bolstered. The World Trade Organization is underresourced, especially in the area of agriculture. The WTO has only eight staff working on agriculture and yet this is where the biggest distortions are in world trade.
In a nutshell education is the key. This education has to be done in ways that communicate so the message gets across. Once that is done there is a chance that the powerful political forces blocking reform can be overturned.
To overcome the powerful political forces resisting reform, equally powerful counterforces need to be found. One of the most powerful counterforces is to expose the enormous waste caused by protectionism. There are many reasons why agricultural support through subsidies and border restrictions should be removed. For example, the subsidies could be better spent elsewhere - either on other needy programs or given back to taxpayers. Trade restrictions hamper economic growth and poverty alleviation in many developing countries. The environment suffers as a result of protectionist farm policies. The burden of import restrictions falls on other exporters. Consumers have restricted choices and pay too much for food. Yet each one of these arguments - as valid as they are - are unlikely to be sufficient on their own to overturn the powerful forces propping up the current system.
The answer lies in several of these arguments being communicated in concert within the electorates of the countries with the greatest protection of agriculture. These arguments need to be communicated within each country. The Cairns Group farm leaders will be discussing this issue in Banff and they will be publishing a new book titled "Solving the Problem - the political economy of agricultural protection".:
