Editing Agriculture (section)

== Policy ==
{{Main|Agricultural policy}}

{|class="wikitable floatright"
|+ [[Agricultural subsidy|Direct subsidies]] for animal products and feed by [[OECD]] countries in 2012, in billions of US dollars<ref>{{cite web |title=Meat Atlas |publisher=[[Heinrich Boell Foundation]], [[Friends of the Earth]] Europe |year=2014 |url=https://www.foeeurope.org/meat-atlas <!--no ISBN exists--> |access-date=17 April 2018 |archive-date=22 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180422045513/http://www.foeeurope.org/meat-atlas |url-status=live}}</ref>
! Product !! Subsidy
|-
|Beef and veal ||18.0
|-
|Milk ||15.3
|-
|Pigs ||7.3
|-
|Poultry ||6.5
|-
|Soybeans ||2.3
|-
|Eggs ||1.5
|-
|Sheep ||1.1
|}

[[Agricultural policy]] is the set of government decisions and actions relating to domestic agriculture and imports of foreign agricultural products. Governments usually implement agricultural policies with the goal of achieving a specific outcome in the domestic agricultural product markets. Some overarching themes include risk management and adjustment (including policies related to climate change, food safety and natural disasters), [[economic stability]] (including policies related to taxes), natural resources and [[environmental sustainability]] (especially [[water resource management|water policy]]), research and development, and market access for domestic commodities (including relations with global organizations and agreements with other countries).<ref>{{cite journal |page=13 |title=Agricultural and food policy choices in Australia |journal=Sustainable Agriculture and Food Policy in the 21st Century: Challenges and Solutions |date=October 2010 |access-date=22 April 2013 |last1=Hogan |first1=Lindsay |last2=Morris |first2=Paul |url=http://coserve.com.au/PDF/VirtualMeeting/ABARE-Agric_food_policy_CONFERENCE_PAPER-2010.pdf |archive-date=15 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215034141/http://coserve.com.au/PDF/VirtualMeeting/ABARE-Agric_food_policy_CONFERENCE_PAPER-2010.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Agricultural policy can also touch on [[food quality]], ensuring that the food supply is of a consistent and known quality, food security, ensuring that the food supply meets the population's needs, and [[Conservation biology|conservation]]. Policy programs can range from financial programs, such as subsidies, to encouraging producers to enroll in voluntary quality assurance programs.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://europa.eu/european-union/topics/agriculture_en |title=Agriculture: Not Just Farming |publisher=[[European Union]] |access-date=8 May 2018 |date=16 June 2016 |archive-date=23 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190523204253/https://europa.eu/european-union/topics/agriculture_en |url-status=live}}</ref>

A 2021 report finds that globally, support to agricultural producers accounts for almost US$540 billion a year.<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |url=https://doi.org/10.4060/cb6562en |title=A multi-billion-dollar opportunity – Repurposing agricultural support to transform food systems |publisher=FAO, UNDP, and UNEP |year=2021 |doi=10.4060/cb6562en |isbn=978-92-5-134917-5 |access-date=14 March 2023 |archive-date=13 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413035812/https://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cb6562en |url-status=live}}</ref> This amounts to 15 percent of total agricultural production value, and is heavily biased towards measures that are leading to inefficiency, as well as are unequally distributed and harmful for the environment and human health.<ref name=":11" /> &nbsp;

There are many influences on the creation of agricultural policy, including consumers, [[agribusiness]], trade lobbies and other groups. Agribusiness interests hold a large amount of influence over policy making, in the form of [[lobbying]] and [[campaign contribution]]s. Political action groups, including those interested in environmental issues and labor unions, also provide influence, as do lobbying organizations representing individual agricultural commodities.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://faculty.missouri.edu/ikerdj/papers/SFT-Corporatization%20of%20Fm%20Pol%20(9-10).htm |title=Corporatization of Agricultural Policy |last=Ikerd |first=John |journal=[[Small Farm Today Magazine]] |year=2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807024012/http://faculty.missouri.edu/ikerdj/papers/SFT-Corporatization%20of%20Fm%20Pol%20(9-10).htm |archive-date=7 August 2016}}</ref> The [[Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations]] (FAO) leads international efforts to defeat hunger and provides a forum for the negotiation of global agricultural regulations and agreements. Samuel Jutzi, director of FAO's animal production and health division, states that lobbying by large corporations has stopped reforms that would improve human health and the environment. For example, proposals in 2010 for a voluntary code of conduct for the livestock industry that would have provided incentives for improving standards for health, and environmental regulations, such as the number of animals an area of land can support without long-term damage, were successfully defeated due to large food company pressure.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/sep/22/food-firms-lobbying-samuel-jutzi |title=Corporate Lobbying Is Blocking Food Reforms, Senior UN Official Warns: Farming Summit Told of Delaying Tactics by Large Agribusiness and Food Producers on Decisions that Would Improve Human Health and the Environment |last=Jowit |first=Juliette |date=22 September 2010 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=8 May 2018 |archive-date=5 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505113448/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/sep/22/food-firms-lobbying-samuel-jutzi |url-status=live}}</ref>