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In the next six to nine months, a new farm bill will be written in the United States

After the suspension of the Doha Development Round of Trade Negotiations

many are left wondering what prospects are left for liberalizing the farm sector and reducing the significant costs imposed on American consumers, taxpayers, and trade partners as a result of government farm policies.

Cato Trade Policy Analysts Sally James has some answers.

Is agricultural reform possible without Doha?

Well, it's certainly possible, although it will be more difficult.

The main reason for the difficulty, I think it was a big mistake

on the part of the administration was to market reform to domestic agricultural subsidies

as a necessary evil as something that had to be done in order to get better

access to agricultural markets abroad. In other words the administration told farmers

essentially that in order to increase exports of American agricultural products

we need to offer to reduce the limit we will place on subsidies that most distort trade.

But don't worry, we will only offer to do that if other countries lower tariffs.

So having backed themselves into a corner like that and by promising to increase market access

abroad for American farmers, the suspension of the Doha Round is giving some

farm lobby groups cause to argue for an extension of the current farm bill.

In the absence of better access to export markets, they seem to be saying,

why should we reduce our spending caps?

Had the Doha Round succeeded, it would have been politically easier to sell reform of

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