Committee reviews farm policies, concludes TRQ Triennial Review, addresses food security

Agricultural policies review

A total of 115 questions were raised by members concerning individual notifications and specific implementation matters during the meeting. This peer review process allows members to address issues related to the implementation of commitments outlined in the Agreement on Agriculture. Of the specific implementation matters raised, 18 were raised for the first time, while 23 were recurring matters from previous Committee meetings.

Among the 18 new items, 12 were raised by India and concerned, among other things, programmes relating to climate resilience, technological innovation, sustainable food systems and green production by several members, including Australia, Brazil, Japan, Paraguay, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. India also raised questions regarding the European Union's special agricultural safeguards, Japan's rice policy, New Zealand's rural assistance payments, Switzerland's supply security payments, and the United States' disaster relief payments.  

Among other new topics raised, New Zealand was asked to respond to a question regarding its export statistics for dairy products, and the United States was queried on news reports regarding tariff revenues as a source for aid to farmers.

Discussions carried over from previous meetings included India's various policies on pulses, domestic support programmes, export duties and public stockpiling issues. Other topics included Bangladesh's import measures on beef, Canada's support of dairy products, China's domestic support of US cotton, Egypt's domestic wheat procurement policy, the EU's deforestation regulation, Malaysia's sales tax on imported and domestic goods, and the United States' and targeted agricultural support measures.

All questions submitted for the meeting are available in G/AG/W/258. All questions and replies received are available in the WTO's Agriculture Information Management System.

The Chair urged members to submit timely and complete notifications and to respond to overdue questions, stressing the critical importance of enhanced transparency. In the same vein, the Chair urged members to submit timely replies to the questions they receive in the Committee, noting that several remained outstanding.

Members also discussed a WTO Secretariat background paper in G/AG/W/32/Rev.24 in the context of the annual consultation under Article 18.5 of the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) regarding members' participation in the growth of world trade in agricultural products. A visual representation of some of these data can also be found at WTO | Charts - world trade in agricultural products.

Follow-up on ministerial decisions  

Bali Ministerial Decision on Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) Administration

The Committee successfully concluded the second triennial review of the operation of the Bali TRQ Decision, and adopted the report, which contains a set of conclusions aimed at enhancing the transparency of TRQ utilization.

The discussions focused on several aspects of members' implementation of TRQ commitments and the associated information reported to the Committee through their notifications, with the conclusions targeting transparency in annual in-quota and out-of-quota tariffs as well as the presentation of import data by origin for members whose TRQ commitments entail country-specific allocations.

Members have until 2 December 2025 to consult their capitals, with the understanding that if no objections are raised by then, the draft report in RD/AG/144/Rev.4 will be deemed adopted by the Committee. In the event of any objection to the draft, its third revision will be deemed approved.

Members also discussed the progress in fulfilling the requirements under the Committee's Decision on TRQ administration adopted at the March 2025 meeting.

Annual monitoring of the Marrakesh Ministerial Decision and follow-up on the Report on the Work Programme on Food Insecurity

Members discussed a Secretariat's background paper, G/AG/W/42/Rev.25, which summarizes 30 years of monitoring the Marrakesh Ministerial Decision on least developed countries (LDCs) and net food-importing developing countries (NFIDCs). The paper provides updated insights into food price movements, financing facilities and trade profiles for food and agricultural products across members.

During the discussions, several members highlighted the acute food security challenges LDCs and NFIDCs continue to face, especially in view of their structural dependence on world markets and foreign exchange risks.

The Committee also continued its engagement on the follow-up to the agreed report and recommendations under the dedicated work programme on food security it undertook during 2022-24 in response to the instructions of the Ministerial Declaration at the 12th Ministerial Conference to make the Marrakesh Ministerial Decision more effective and operational. A suggestion was made to monitor how specific recommendations in the agreed report are implemented, and how the data and information in the Secretariat background paper could be better utilized.

Bali Ministerial Decision on General Services

Members shared their perspectives on the implementation of the Bali Ministerial Decision on General Services in practice, and on how a follow-up to this decision could inform the Committee's monitoring and review process under Article 18 of the Agreement on Agriculture.

Technology transfer

Members continued the discussion on transfer of technology to developing economies in the agriculture sector, a topic taken up by the Committee since 2023 in light of the African Group's submission in G/AG/W/238. As in Committee meetings earlier this year, members focused on how policy tools envisaged under the Agreement on Agriculture may be better utilized to promote agricultural innovation and technology transfer domestically.

Updates on agricultural market developments and food security

South Africa briefed the Committee on the 2025 G20 Presidency's work on food security.

Members heard updates from the International Grains Council (IGC), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) regarding recent market developments and the current state of global food security.

The international organizations were invited to the Committee to share experiences in a follow-up to the Marrakesh Ministerial Decision on LDCs and NFIDCs and the report and recommendations of the work programme undertaken pursuant to the MC12 declaration on food insecurity.

The IGC presented the highlights of the  2024 Annual Narrative report on food assistance by members of the Food Assistance Convention (FAC), noting that all FAC parties fulfilled or exceeded their commitments, including through cash based transfers (CBT) and mixed cash and voucher assistance (CVA). The IGC also provided an overview of recent market developments, highlighting good supply situations across commodities such as wheat, maize and rice, while noting that soybean supply could tighten due to a slight reduction in output and high demands for derivative products across sectors such as feed and ethanol.

The FAO warned that, despite improvements, world hunger remains severe with acute food insecurity deepening in 16 hunger spots, 14 of which are NFIDCs. Conflict and violence continue to be the primary drivers of hunger, while funding for food, emergency agriculture and nutrition assistance continues to shrink. Although the FAO food price index in October 2025 decreased by 1.6% from September, prices of domestic staple foods showed mixed developments across several NFIDCs, reflecting the impact of multiple factors, such as conflicts, adverse weather conditions, macroeconomic pressures and local supply constraints.

The WFP reported that food insecurity is expected to remain at alarming levels in 2026, with 318 million people currently facing acute food insecurity, including 41 million in emergency or worse levels (Integrated Phase Classification Phase 4+). The WFP warned that funding shortfalls could push up to 13.7 million people currently experiencing crisis level (IPC Phase 3) of food insecurity into emergency level and underscored the severe consequences of cuts in life-saving assistance, especially for women, children and refugees.

The OECD highlighted its recent  work  on food security and agri-food trade, noting that   agricultural trade has increased fivefold since 1995, now contributing to around 20% of calories consumed worldwide. The OECD's export restriction database,  tracking staple crops since 2007, has recently reported on trends since September 2025.

Next meeting

The next meeting of the Committee on Agriculture is scheduled for 27-28 May 2026.