Foreword
The Review of Agricultural Policies in Argentina is one in a series of reviews on national agricultural policies undertaken by the OECD Committee for Agriculture (CoAg). It has been prepared by the OECD Trade and Agriculture Directorate in collaboration with the Secretariat of Agroindustry of the Government of Argentina. The Review examines key trends and policy issues that have shaped the development of Argentina’s agricultural sector over the last two decades and presents a quantitative evaluation of support provided through Argentina’s domestic and trade policies. The Review classifies and measures the support provided to agriculture using the methodology that the OECD employs to monitor agricultural policies in all OECD countries and a growing number of non-member economies, including Brazil, the People’s Republic of China, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, South Africa, Ukraine, and Viet Nam. The Review is the first step in the inclusion of Argentina in the annual OECD Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation report. The Review also features discussion of issues in the Argentine agriculture sector under the main areas of work of the CoAg, such as innovation, productivity, sustainability, risk management and value chains.
The OECD team for the Review comprised Jesús Antón (project lead), Dalila Cervantes-Godoy, Santiago Guerrero and Florence Bossard [who undertook the Producer Support Estimate (PSEs) analysis]. The Argentine team in the Secretary of Agroindustry comprised Simona Paulero, Maximiliano Moreno, Gerardo Petri and Santiago Bonifacio. Additionally, valuable inputs were provided by Veronica Barrenechea, Norma Dobano, Alexandro Jara Podesta, Nicolas Lucas, Gisela Margot Mair, Consolacion Otaño, Joaquin Daniel Perez Martin and Jose Posse, all from the Secretariat of Agroindustry in Argentina. The Review benefited from background reports from the following Argentinian experts: Esteban Barelli, Mercedes Ciampi, Miguel Fusco, Marcos Gallacher, Eduardo Trigo, and Daniel Lema, who also contributed to the PSE calculations. Anita Lari and Michèle Patterson of the OECD provided publication support.
The OECD team also received inputs and contributions from Hubertus Gay, Catherine Moreddu, Urszula Ziebinska, and Karine Souvanheuane of the OECD Trade and Agriculture Directorate. Early drafts of the Review benefited from comments by Carmel Cahill, Ken Ash, Julia Nielson, Guillaume Gruère, Franck Jesus, Vaclav Vojtech, Frank van Tongeren, Martin von Lampe (all from the Trade and Agriculture Directorate, OECD), Jens Arnold and Robert Grundke (from the Economics Department, OECD), Bert Brys (from the Centre for Tax Policy, OECD), and Richard Sigman (from the Environment Department, OECD).
The Review was discussed at the 171th session of the OECD CoAg in November 2018. The Argentine delegation was led by Secretary of Government of Agroindustry Luis Miguel Etchevehere. Lead discussants for the report were Ms. Louise Van Meurs, First Assistant Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Australia; Esperanza Orellana, Director General of Production and Markets, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Spain; and Rodrigo Vega, Agricultural Attaché, Mission of Chile to the European Union. A first draft of the Review had previously been discussed on 31 July 2018 in Buenos Aires at a roundtable chaired by Santiago del Solar Dorrego, Chief of Staff of Agroindustry, with the participation of Argentinian officials as well as experts from the government, academia and the private sector.
The OECD is grateful to the Government of Argentina and Argentinian experts for their engagement and contributions throughout the review process.