Current agricultural support policies are destroying nature, affecting people’s health, and worsening the climate crisis, according to a new report. The same report argues that the money would be well spent in other areas, improving the world’s food systems and the environment.
Food producers receive $540 billion from governments every year to support their activities, according to a United Nations report. Almost 90% of those subsidies are “price distorting and environmentally and socially harmful,” with beef and milk, the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, receiving most of the funding.
“This report is a wake-up call for governments around the world to rethink agricultural support schemes to make them fit for purpose to transform our agri-food systems and contribute to the four betters: better nutrition, better production, better environment and a better life,” Qu Dongyu, head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said in a statement.
Previous studies have warned about the many challenges faced by the global food system, with millions experiencing chronic hunger while others are obese and overweight. Meanwhile, a third of the food produced every year is wasted, which amounts to more than one billion tons. The system is essentially broken, the researchers explain.
Between 2013 and 2018, support to agricultural producers averaged almost $540 billion per year, representing around 15% of total agricultural production value, the UN found. Of this, about $294 billion was provided in the form of price incentives and around $245 billion as fiscal subsidies to farmers, the majority tied to the production of a specific commodity.
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