• Rural NZ
• Adverse Events
• People issues
• Profitability
  • Compliance costs
  • e-Commerce
  • Employment
  • New industries
  • Performance
  • Producer Boards
  • Stocktake
  • Structural Change
  • Trends
• Research
• Rural Proofing
• SLM Hill Country Erosion Programme
• Community Irrigation Fund
• Stats & forecasts
• Sustainability
• Legislation
• Media Centre
• Publications
• What's New

Annex 1: OECD Guidelines or Recommendations by Policy Areas

Structural Adjustment Programmes:

(a) they should be designed to enhance the mobility and adaptability of agricultural production factors;

(b) they should, where appropriate, be co-ordinated with relevant policies in other sectors of the economy;

(c) they should, where possible, target specific impediments to adjustment and not outcomes;

(d) eligibility should take into account the specific need and potential for adjustment of the individual;

(e) the amount of payment should be based the costs of the adjustment activity undertaken by the farmer;

(f) payments should preferably be one-off and the duration of programmes should, as far as possible, be limited to the transition period of adjustment;

(g) financing arrangements should be consistent with those of other structural adjustment programmes in operation in other sectors of the economy.

Farm Income Stabilisation Measures:

(a) programmes are triggered when the fall in sectoral farm income exceeds a given amount;

(b) baseline incomes for income reduction calculations should be based on short and recent periods;

(c) measures should target a clearly defined income variable, which would include agricultural incomes from as many sources as possible,

(d) payments to farmers should normally be triggered when their farm income falls below a defined threshold;

(e) a ceiling should be place on maximum potential support , and the percentage of the maximum potential support paid could be related to the extent of farmer's financial participation in the scheme;

(0 payments to farmers would, as far as practicable, be made on an annual basis, determined by their eligibility in that year, although the programmes may be of indefinite duration;

(g) where possible, farmers should contribute financially to the scheme.

Disaster Relief Schemes:

(a) a natural disaster should be clearly defined;

(b) payments should help farmers restore their productive base;

(c) payments would be paid to those farmers who can demonstrate damage or loss of productive assets in the event of a declared natural disaster;

(d) payments should be related to loss of assets and would not necessarily represent the full value of the loss;

(e) programmes can be of indefinite duration, with payments being made in years when there is a natural disaster.

Minimum Income Guarantees:

(a) programmes specific to agriculture should ensure that the standard of living of fanning families should not fall below what is considered the acceptable minimum in the rest of the community;

(b) payments should normally be related to the total net income of the farm household;

(c) eligibility for payment should, as far as possible, be defined in conformity with the eligibility criteria for any general minimum income regime;

(d) payments should normally cover the gap between the net total income of the household and the relevant level of minimum guaranteed income;

(e) programmes specific to agriculture should be transitional, while minimum income guarantees could be available indefinitely;

(f) financing arrangements should be consistent with those of any general minimum income regime in operation in the community.

Direct Payments for Environmental Goods:

(a) programmes should be designed to remunerate farmers for the provision of clearly defined environmental goods for which markets do not exist;

(b) payments should not normally be used m situations where they conflict with the polluter pays principle;

(c) the policy target should be the provision of the environmental good itself, and not the production of an agricultural commodity or the use of an input to which the environmental good may be linked;

(d) any individual producing an environmental good that is targeted by a programme would be eligible to receive payment;

(e) the size of the payment would, where possible, be related to the full cost incurred in producing the target environmental good;

(f) the environmental good should not be provided beyond the level where the full social cost of additional provision would exceed its value to society;

(g) environmental payments should normally be made on a recurrent basis determined by individuals' eligibility in each relevant period, although the programme may be of indefinite duration;

(h) wherever possible, the main beneficiaries should be identified and would pay for the provision of environmental goods;

(i) to the extent possible, the valuation placed on the benefits of supplying an environmental good should be determined by the main beneficiaries rather than the government

Contact for Enquiries

Rural Affairs Coordinator
Sector Performance Policy
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND

Phone: +64 4 894 0675
Fax: +64 4 4 894 0745
Contact this person