The evolving structure of world agricultural trade: implications for trade policy and trade agreements
The report first sets the context for a discussion of trade policy interventions in the context of evolving structures of production and trade, stressing the importance of the roles that the agriculture sector can play in countries at different levels of development and the fact that policy interventions will need to reflect these different roles. It then reviews evidence on trends in a number of the factors that will shape the evolution of global agricultural trade. The final chapters of the report discuss how trade rules and their related institutions may need to be adapted to account for these evolving trends and to deal with the challenges that face policy makers attempting to achieve multifaceted objectives related to the agriculture sector and to agricultural trade in particular.