Comments on: Will the entitlements crisis trigger farm reform? http://www.tradediversion.net/archives/2007/01/will-the-entitlements-crisis-trigger-farm-reform.html Commentary on development, globalization, and trade by Jonathan Dingel Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:16:24 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 By: Anonymous http://www.tradediversion.net/archives/2007/01/will-the-entitlements-crisis-trigger-farm-reform.html/comment-page-1#comment-140 Anonymous Wed, 24 Jan 2007 02:10:06 +0000 http://www.tradediversion.net/?p=369#comment-140 I think you missed the main point of his blog -- we should give up on the agriculture negotiations, as they are not really as relevant as advertised. Francois has more points to make too. He has proven absolutely spot-on about bio-fuels driving up grain prices. Since the WTO complaints have been price-depressing subsidies, this issue is very quickly going away. Combined with rising incomes in China, grain prices are going to be going up and up. If we take this as his main point, then I think he is right. We could just give up on agriculture talks and focus on other stuff. Services comes to mind. Rules of origin. Stuff like that. I think you missed the main point of his blog — we should give up on the agriculture negotiations, as they are not really as relevant as advertised.

Francois has more points to make too. He has proven absolutely spot-on about bio-fuels driving up grain prices. Since the WTO complaints have been price-depressing subsidies, this issue is very quickly going away. Combined with rising incomes in China, grain prices are going to be going up and up. If we take this as his main point, then I think he is right. We could just give up on agriculture talks and focus on other stuff. Services comes to mind. Rules of origin. Stuff like that.

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