Putting a Smile on Africa's Face
Claire Healy
Above my desk in GMF's Washington, DC, office is a picture of a young boy named Matunde, who lives in the heart of Africa. Despite being homeless and hungry, he often wears a huge smile on his face.

Mother Mercantilism
Jack Thurston
There was a small measure of progress at the WTO Hong Kong conference, but negotiators still see trade as an arm of politics.

Enjeux globaux, peurs nationales
Benoît Chervalier
L’Organisation mondiale du Commerce (OMC) est-elle en mesure de réussir son cycle de négociation ?

Beyond Good Intentions for Africa’s Rural Poor
Rooted in a pro-poor vision of development, this paper argues for three new actions to be undertaken jointly by the United States and Europe to help tackle the problem of chronic rural poverty in Africa.

The case for ending subsidies has yet to be won
December 6, 2005
The development case for reforming protectionist policies such as farm subsidies and tariffs – the key to success at Hong Kong – has yet to be won.

Why Europe deserves a better farm policy
Jack Thurston
December 2, 2005
The prospects for radical CAP reform look bleak. At the time of writing (December 2005) neither the arguments over the EU budget nor pressure from major farm exporters at the world trade negotiations look likely to force the EU to reform.

Tough on Trade
Jack Thurston
December 1, 2005
It ought to be good news that the current round of WTO trade negotiations is finally getting serious. The world needs an example of international cooperation to cheer about.

Winds of Change
John Audley
October 13, 2005
Confronted by strong political winds in the aftermath of two devastating hurricanes and gusts of hot air blowing off Capitol Hill, the Bush administration still has signaled the right message on global trade negotiations.

The Commodity Problem
Joe Guinan
GMF’s Joe Guinan recently attended a “Strategic Dialogue on Commodities, Trade, Poverty and Sustainable Development” convened by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) in Barcelona, Spain, 13-15 June, 2005, made possible with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation and the Faculty of Law at the University of Barcelona.

Fueling the Race to Hong Kong with EU Sugar Regime Reform
John Audley
In a widely anticipated decision, the World Trade Organization definitively ruled last week that the vast majority of European sugar exports are illegal. Decades old sugar production and export programs, designed to keep sugar prices artificially high and grant preferential market access to former European colonies whose livelihoods once depended upon sugar exports, must now be jettisoned.

A Grand Bargain at the High Table: Linking Trade, Agriculture and Development
Joe Guinan, Susan Sechler
The advocates for trade and agriculture reform to promote development for the world’s poor face a classic collective-action problem: Those who benefit from the status quo have so much at stake that they are focused with laser-like intensity, while the benefits of reform are sufficiently dispersed (spread out over a wider community) or opaque (not readily comprehensible) or long-term (not immediately visible) that it is difficult to organize around them.

The Sounds of Subsidies Reform
Susan Sechler
Just listen. There’s the celebratory Samba music coming from the Brazilian cotton industry, the shouts of appreciation from poor African nations, and the protesting stammers from U.S. cotton farmers. Listen a little closer, though, and you can just make out the quiet noises of resignation, relief, and even a little joy coming from the hearts of first world leaders who will have their tough choices on subsidies made for them.

GMF expert addresses Western Governors
John Audley
I have two messages to share with you: The first message is that reductions in government support for agricultural production are in the making, and governors should begin working with farmers to prepare for a day in the near future when agricultural production in rich countries will rely very little on government support...

Throwing in the Towel?
Joe Guinan, Susan Sechler
On April 12, at a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee on the Administration’s proposals to cut farm subsidies, Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns threw in the towel. Or did he? A few days later, he said there was confusion on the issue caused by a bad Associated Press report. In either case, it’s time for the administration to stop swaying like a corn stalk in a tornado and make a hard decision.

Trading Up
Susan Sechler, Ann Tutwiler
June 26, 2006
After protests, walk-outs, missed deadlines and deadlock, trade negotiators in Geneva have been moving toward a deal on agricultural subsidies and tariffs that could clear the way for a world trade agreement.

Can the Development Agenda Save the Doha Round?
April 9, 2007
While it is frequently bemoaned that designating the Doha Round as a 'development round' has made the negotiations more difficult, the designation may offer the only solution to the larger questions of legitimacy and credibility facing the WTO and the global trade regime.

Putting Food Into Farming: How to Fix the Farm Bill
Joe Guinan, Susan Sechler
January 11, 2007
Farm-state legislators and commodity groups are gearing up for the 2007 farm bill. Rather than propose new legislation to replace the 2002 bill, which is set to expire, they are pushing for a “simple” two-year extension of current programs. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” they say. “Our farmers think the 2002 farm bill was the biggest success ever.”

Why Africa Matters
Gregg Pascal Zachary
October 15, 2006
Rozina Baird is counting her corn. She has five full 100-pound bags in one corner of her mud-brick cottage. A sixth bag is nearly consumed. With her family of five eating the corn at a rate of 5 pounds a day, she has enough for 100 days, enough to carry her through Christmas and perhaps into the new year.

Who Owns the World: The Hidden Facts Behind Landownership by Kevin Cahill
Jack Thurston
December 1, 2006
When, in the Christmas of 1085, William the Conqueror commissioned the Domesday Book, he instructed his emissaries to find out "what or how much each [landholder] had... in land or livestock, and how much it was worth" so he could properly tax his new kingdom.

Local and Sacred
Alan Mamoser
December 4, 2006
Can food in the age of industrial food systems feasibly come from local sources? As an urban regional planner in the US, I have become deeply concerned with fostering more vital economic links between city and countryside, and conserving valuable farmland, energy and ultimately, the health of the consumer.

The Fat of the Land
Jack Thurston
December 1, 2006
According to Kevin Cahill, who has set out to compile a modern Doomsday book on a global scale, the British Monarch's pre-eminence in absolute land ownership has grown over the centuries and the Queen remains the world's biggest landowner - by far. While this makes for a bombshell headline, it is hard to sustain in any real sense of what it means to own property.

Food Aid and Its Relationship to WTO Rules and the Development Agenda
Andreas Schneider
January 2, 2007
Ever since the United Nations announced its Millennium Development Goals in 2000, there has been an ever-increasing sense of urgency with regard to ending global poverty. It is widely agreed that the most important objective of ending global poverty is eradicating global hunger, and one important mechanism for this has been the provision of food aid.

Don't Blame the Unit of Account
Jonathan White
February 5, 2007
On Jan. 1, the fifth anniversary of the introduction of euro notes and coins, Slovenia became the currency club's 13th member. Recent opinion polls, though, show that a majority of citizens in the larger euro-zone countries don't feel like celebrating.

E.U.’s reforms similar to trends seen in U.S. agriculture policy
Ilene Grossman
European agriculture policy is undergoing a transformation. In 2003, wide-ranging changes began to take Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in a direction that tied government payments less to production and focused more on rural development and environmental initiatives.

Towards a Better Deal
Susan Sechler, Ann Tutwiler
August 1, 2006
The crash of the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks was greeted with muted cheers by some protected farmers in wealthy countries, some even buying new tractors to celebrate yet another failure to produce a more efficient and just global marketplace.

Like Midwest, E.U. states trying new rural development strategies
Ilene Grossman
European agriculture policy is undergoing a transformation. In 2003, wide-ranging changes began to take Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in a direction that tied government payments less to production and focused more on rural development and environmental initiatives.