Decoupled Payments in a Changing Policy Setting

by Mary E. Burfisher and Jeffrey Hopkins

This report analyzes the U.S. experience with decoupled payments in the Production Flexibility Contracts program from 1996 to 2002. The studies in this report consider the effects of decoupled payments on recipient households, and assess land, labor, risk management, and capital market conditions that can lead to links between decoupled payments and production choices. Each study contributes a different perspective to understanding the response of U.S. farm households and production to decoupled income transfers.

Keywords: decoupled payments, WTO, World Trade Organization, PFCs, Production Flexibility Contracts, farm policy, households, well-being, income, wealth, land tenure, consumption, risk, direct payments, trade policy

In this publication...

• Entire Report
• Abstract, Acknowledgments, Contents
• Introduction
• Farm Program Effects on Agricultural Production: Coupled and Decoupled Programs
• Decoupled Payments: A Dynamic, Economywide Perspective
• Decoupled and Coupled Payments Alter Household Labor Allocation
• Decoupled Payments and Farmers? Production Decisions Under Risk
• Decoupled Payments to Farmers, Capital Markets, and Supply Effects
• Effects of Government Payments on Land Rents, Distribution of Payment Benefits, and Production
• References