After an extended process of reform the European Union has introduced direct payments tofarmers which are decoupled from production decisions as a central element of its CommonAgricultural Policy. They are also referred to as Single Farm Payments. In this paper weanalyze the production and trade...

This paper has benefited greatly from a discussion of an earlier version with the participantsof the first Humboldt Forum for Food and Agriculture in Davos, Switzerland in March 2009.Research has been made possible in part by a research grant from BASF SE – The ChemicalCompany. The first two...

The economic, political and climatic conditions in which farmers around the world have tomake their production and investment decisions are changing dramatically. This studyanalyses the driving forces of changes in agricultural world markets and their implications forEuropean Union agriculture...