What's New

The February edition of the FAO Monthly News Report on Grains was released yesterday. The report covers ongoing global and regional trends in grain prices and policies. This month's report includes articles on the new US Farm Bill, the potential impact of the crisis in the Ukraine on grain harvests in the region, falling Indian wheat exports, and China's increasing imports of corn and soybeans.

The EU’s trade-distorting domestic farm subsidies were lower in the 2010-11 marketing year than in any previous year, according to new figures that the 28-member bloc has reported to the WTO.

Domestic support payments that are classed as distorting trade fell to €11 billion, the EU says - one-sixth of the level they were at a decade ago, before the European Commission introduced successive reforms aimed at “decoupling” farm subsidies from farmers’ production decisions.

With the Bali ministerial now behind them, the process to develop a Doha “work programme” by year’s end is beginning to gear up in Geneva, with WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo urging members last week to use 2014 to get the struggling negotiations “back on track.”

Two months ago, WTO trade ministers were able to announce their first multilateral deal in nearly 20 years. The Bali package, named after the Indonesian island province where it was agreed, also marked the first deliverables from the Doha Round of negotiations, which have been underway since September 2001.

The latest FAO Food Price Index was released on January 9, citing a slight drop from December. At 203.4 points, the Index was 4.4 percent lower than its January 2013 level.

The Cereal Price Index also dropped by 3 points in January, down a full 56 points from its January 2013 level. This decline can be attributed largely to bumper cereal crops and subsequent large export supplies, which helped reduce prices from the highs seen in 2012 and 2013.

More protection against low prices, while fixed payments ended
decade-long shift to subsidized crop insurance reinforced

By David Orden, IFPRI

After more than three years of oft-times tumultuous positioning, posturing, and negotiations, the U.S. Congress has passed a new five-year Farm Bill: the Agricultural Act of 2014. The bill, which the President will sign into law on February 7, reaffirms the government’s longstanding support to farmers through 2018.