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On June 14, the Economic Policy Program hosted a public luncheon and discussion for Alistair Polson, Special Agricultural Envoy from New Zealand.  This event, entitled, Why not go Cold Turkey?  Farming Without Subsidies:  Lessons from New Zealand. Attended by over 50 people from the Washington policy community, the discussion focused on the reforms that New Zealand made to its agriculture policies.   In the mid 1980s, New Zealand made the decision to eliminate agricultural subsidies unilaterally and subsequently its farming sector has grown faster than the rest of the economy.  Mr. Polson emphasized that New Zealand's farmers consider themselves businessmen and that farming should be viewed just like any other business.   Mr. Polson emphasized that New Zealand's self imposed agricultural reforms had resulted in improvements in productivity and income for farmers.  For example, in 1984, 50 percent of New Zealand farmers' income consisted of government support.  Overproduction was a problem, with farmers raising 34,000 lambs when the market could only bear 24,000. Today, New Zealand farmers have increased their productivity, producing the a larger volume of meat.  They additionally increased the amount of dairy they produced and diversified to products like kiwi fruit and wine.   Based on both the benefits that resulted from the New Zealand reforms and the current strength of the American agricultural sector, Mr. Polson asserted that the United States could also successfully eliminate its agricultural subsidies.  Following Mr. Polson's presentation, there was a lively discussion in which many of the Europeans argued that New Zealand maintained some government interference in its market through the use of state trading enterprises.  Discussion also touched on the role reforming domestic agriculture supports could play in World Trade Organization negotiations.