Agricultural policies under the microscope
Many agriculture policies have emerged in recent years to promote trade, protect agriculture and meet an increasing demand in agricultural products. The EU-funded project 'Modelling agricultural policies: State of the art and new challenge' (Mapstart) aimed to evaluate the impact of agricultural tools, approaches and policies. To reach this formidable objective, the project organised a seminar in 2005 titled 'Modelling agricultural policies: State of the art and new challenges'. It examined cutting-edge approaches that agricultural economic researchers used to assess the impact of policy measures, focusing on analysing tools under the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reforms. Moreover, the project team highlighted the latest quantitative and qualitative developments in assessing agricultural policies and their impacts using sector and farm models, in addition to looking at environmental impacts. Importantly, Mapstart revealed tools used to evaluate the impact of policy measures on rural development, particularly on the multifunctional activity of farms. It also assessed external forces affecting the sector and farms, as well as changes in value of public goods produced through agricultural processes. Other notable project activities focused on organising a call for papers, including evaluation and review, in conjunction with the seminar. All the seminar's results were published through different media and online, clarifying the effectiveness of adopted policies and paving the way for even more effective ones in this domain.
