On 21 September, the British  Embassy Berlin hosted a lively seminar on the role of public goods in agriculture. We were pleased to welcome Wilfrid Legg (OECD) who presented to an audience of around 50  people from government, farming and NGOs. Officials from the relevant UK Ministry (DEFRA) also participated.

In his presentation [Powerpoint, 875 KB, new window], Mr Legg set out a framework to explain the public goods concept. He raised awareness of a range of related policy issues, including

• Where to draw the line between the conflicting goals of agricultural production and provision of public goods
• The circumstances in which governments should or should not pay for public goods and the difficulty in determining their value.
• How to measure the public good from agriculture
• The instruments available to policy makers to deliver public good (not just payments)

Overall Mr Legg argued for a differentiated approach, with instruments and incentives targeted at specific farmers and outcomes.

The presentation and lively question and answer session made a useful contribution to the ongoing debate on the value of agriculture to the general public which promises to be a key issue in the next negotiation of the Common Agricultural Policy.

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