This collection of essays provides the definitive survey of the importance of agricultural reform to the future of the world's trading system. There is growing consensus concerning the need to reduce the level of subsidies in agriculture and to open up the markets of the developed world more to the farmers of the developing world. However, while non-governmental organizations such as Oxfam may agree on this point with free trade economists, governments in Europe and the U.S. seem reluctant to give up their protectionist habits.

Negotiating the liberalization of world agricultural trade in the World Trade Organization (WTO) is fraught with difficulty due to the complexity of the issues and the wide range of interests across countries. In the round of global trade negotiations under the WTO, different perspectives on trade reform have produced a highly contentious agenda. These issues are addressed from a range of perspectives in this survey of the trade agenda and its implications for both developing and developed countries. Agricultural trade specialists, including those in universities, in international organizations and think tanks, analyse a comprehensive range of topics including interests and options in the WTO trade negotiations, the trade agenda from a development patent perspective, WTO trade rules, trade barriers, tariff negotiations and patent protection for developing countries.

Modern day Malthusians warn that Malthus will ultimately be right: the world will be less and less able to feed itself as populations keep expanding and crop yields seem to have reached a peak. The authors of this volume believe that this pessimism is misplaced, and that there is in fact no worldwide food crisis. On the contrary, they show that the world food situation has improved dramatically over the past three decades: prices of agricultural commodities are at their lowest level in history in real terms and crop output is continuing to rise faster than population. This book provides a much needed and reasoned view on a subject that is too often treated emotionally. The important changes in the international food economy are considered in historical context and provide a basis for projections to 2010. The situation should continue to improve and food should become cheaper than it is today.

Modern day Malthusians warn that Malthus will ultimately be right: the world will be less and less able to feed itself as populations keep expanding and crop yields seem to have reached a peak. The authors of this volume believe that this pessimism is misplaced, and that there is in fact no worldwide food crisis. On the contrary, they show that the world food situation has improved dramatically over the past three decades: prices of agricultural commodities are at their lowest level in history in real terms and crop output is continuing to rise faster than population. This book provides a much needed and reasoned view on a subject that is too often treated emotionally. The important changes in the international food economy are considered in historical context and provide a basis for projections to 2010. The situation should continue to improve and food should become cheaper than it is today.