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Encyclopediaagricultural subsidiesagricultural subsidies, financial assistance to farmers through government-sponsored price-support programs. Beginning in the 1930s most industrialized countries developed agricultural price-support policies to reduce the volatility of prices for farm products and to increase, or at least stabilize, farm income. In food-exporting countries, such as the United States and France, agricultural subsidies have been designed primarily to increase farm income, either by raising the long-term level of prices above free-market levels or by providing direct payments to farmers. The sale of agricultural products to developing nations at below market prices has often had a devastating effect on the ability of farmers in those nations to prosper, and the continuation of such subsidies has become a stumbling block to efforts to dismantle international trade barriers. Sections in this article: The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. More on agricultural subsidies from Infoplease:
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