Where are governments leading their agricultural sectors? Comparative lessons from agri-environmental measures promoted in the U.S., Europe and Brazil

• Main Author: Gabriel da Silva Medina
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro 2019-02-01
• Series: Estudos Sociedade e Agricultura
• Subjects: agricultural policies; agribusiness; environment
• Online Access: https://revistaesa.com/ojs/index.php/esa/article/view/ESA27-1_where_are_governments
• ISSN: 1413-0580; 2526-7752

This study aims to analyse comparative lessons from current efforts for promoting sustainable agriculture by key global food producing countries. Specifically, we aim to understand: 1) to what extent governments are prioritizing conservation efforts in their agricultural policy budget; 2) what existing agri-environmental measures actually deliver in terms of environmental conservation; and 3) what are the possibilities for improvement in the existing policies for meeting current environmental challenges. Interviews with farmers and experts, as well as a literature review, reveal that agri-environmental mechanisms have gained some footing but they represent only 5.8% of the American, 5.75% of the European, and 1.25% of the Brazilian agricultural policy budgets. Key conservation issues remain poorly addressed, such as water and nutrient management in the U.S., whose landscape-level management resulted in no more than 10% of phosphorus reductions; soil erosion and biodiversity loss in Europe, where farmland bird populations have declined by over 40%; and the restoration of reserves and sensitive land areas in Brazil, which account for less than 6% of the country’s farms’ restoration needs. While environmental organizations advocate for larger investments in conservation, farmers argue for the need to maintain the current levels of support for the sector in order to remain competitive. This stalemate indicates that we might expect minor adaptations, but not incremental changes, in agricultural policies for the near future.