REPORT (2025) ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

REPORT BY THE CHAIRPERSON

1.1.  The present report is being circulated by the Chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture on his own responsibility. This report provides a summary of the activities of the Committee on Agriculture ("the Committee") during 2025.

1.2.  The Committee organized four formal meetings in 2025 on 24‑25 March, 23-24 June, 25‑26 September, and 24-25 November 2025.[1] Five informal meetings of the Committee were held respectively on 13 February, 16 July, 16 September, 31 October, and 20 November 2025.[2] Ms. Anna Leung of Hong Kong, China chaired the Committee's March meeting. In June 2025, the Committee elected Mr. Diego Alfieri of Brazil, as its Chairperson for 2025-26. Mr. Diego Alfieri chaired the June, September and November Committee meetings in 2025.

1.3.  In accordance with Article 18.1 of the Agreement on Agriculture ("the Agreement"), at each of its meetings, the Committee reviewed progress in the implementation of Members' commitments. This review process is undertaken based on notifications submitted by Members in the areas of market access, domestic support, export competition, export prohibitions and restrictions as well as under the follow-up to the Ministerial Decision on Measures Concerning the Possible Negative Effects of the Reform Programme on Least-Developed and Net Food-Importing Developing Countries (NFIDC Decision). Between 1 January and 25 November, 355 agriculture notifications were circulated.]

1.4.  In 2025, Members posed 319 questions in connection with specific notifications during the Committee's review process.[3] These questions were distributed as follows: 87% related to domestic support issues, 9% to market access, and the remaining 4% in relation to the export competition, export restrictions and prohibitions, and the NFIDC Decision. 23 questions were also raised regarding outstanding notifications that some Members had yet to submit to the Committee.

1.5.  Members also raised a wide range of matters relevant to the implementation of commitments, independently of notifications, under Article 18.6 of the Agreement. A total of 347 questions on 145 specific implementation matters (SIMs) were raised to 32 Members during 2025. Out of these, 96 SIMs were discussed for the first time in 2025. The remaining matters were discussed on one or more occasions in previous years including repeated questions.

1.6.  Since 2018, the Secretariat has been monitoring the number of outstanding responses under the CoA review process.[4] A gradual reduction in the number of outstanding responses has been observed since this exercise started. As of the November Committee meeting, 186 responses were pending for questions raised during 2013‑2023 and 48 for questions raised in 2024. The successive Chairpersons have continued to encourage Members to increase their efforts to submit the outstanding responses as a means to enhance the efficacy of the Committee's monitoring functions.

1.7.  At each meeting, the Committee reviewed the status of Members' compliance with their notification obligations under the Agreement on Agriculture based on the Secretariat document summarizing the status of compliance with notification requirements.[5] While a significant proportion of notifications are still outstanding (about 22% of all notifications from 1995‑2023), Members are continuing their efforts to bring their notification record up to date. In 2025, three Members used the simplified mechanism agreed at the November 2022 meeting[6] to allow Members to orally announce at Committee meetings their non-recourse to export subsidies, thereby fulfilling their outstanding export subsidy notifications (Table ES:1).

1.8.  In 2025, the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG) considered the status of Members' regular, periodic, and one-time-only notifications in the goods area on the basis of the Secretariat report in _G/C/W/859. As a follow-up, the CTG Chair wrote to subsidiary bodies in April 2025 requesting their Chairs to: (i) discuss additional steps to improve the notification requirements they oversee; (ii) identify measures to enhance the quality and timeliness of notifications; and (iii) report on past actions that had proved effective, with replies due by 10 November 2025. The matter was considered by the Committee at its informal meeting on 31 October 2025, and, in light of that discussion, the Chairperson presented a report[7] to the CTG on 6 November 2025 in document _G/AG/W/257‑G/L/1602.

1.9.  The Committee conducted the annual consultations under Article 18.5 with respect to Members' participation in the normal growth of world agricultural trade within the framework of the export subsidy commitments and the annual monitoring exercise on the follow up to the Marrakesh NFIDC Decision under Article 16.2 of the Agreement on Agriculture, at its November meeting. The consultations to review the normal growth of world agricultural trade were informed by a background note by the Secretariat[8]. The NFIDC monitoring exercise was undertaken on the basis of Table NF:1 notifications by donor Members, contributions by Members and observer organizations[9], as well as a background note prepared by the Secretariat.^[10] The agenda item on implementation-related issues was also taken up at the November meeting of the Committee alongside the annual NFIDC monitoring exercise. The WTO list of NFIDCs remained unchanged as no developing country Member had requested the Committee to be included in the list.^[11] Members also exchanged views regarding the Committee's conduct of the annual reviews of the list mandated under _G/AG/3.[12]

1.10.  The Committee also discussed follow-up to various Ministerial Outcomes, specifically related to (i) the Understanding on Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) Administration Provisions of Agricultural Products, as defined in Article 2 of the Agreement on Agriculture[13]; (ii) the Nairobi Ministerial Decision on Export Competition[14]; (iii) the Ministerial Declaration on the Emergency Response to Food Insecurity[15]; and (iv) the Bali Decision on General Services.[16]

1.11.  Following the conclusions of the first triennial review of the Bali Ministerial Decision on TRQ Administration(_G/AG/36), the Committee adopted at its March 2025 meeting a decision to enhance transparency in the administration of tariff-rate quotas and to effectively monitor the implementation of Members' obligations under the Bali TRQ Decision. The decision contained in _G/AG/2/Add.3 modifies the Table MA:1 format and requires Members with TRQ commitments to provide additional information on TRQ application and licensing procedures in the form of a one-off MA:1 notification by the final regular meeting of 2025, with an extended deadline for developing country Members.[17]

1.12.  In 2025, the Committee initiated discussions on the second triennial review of the Bali Decision on TRQ Administration with a view to finalizing the review at its November meeting. The discussions focussed on specific issues[18] raised by Members, including enhanced transparency of in‑quota and out-of-quota tariffs for products subject to TRQ commitments, disaggregated import statistics by origin for TRQs with country-specific allocations in the schedule, and identification of practical difficulties encountered in utilizing market access opportunities in third countries under scheduled TRQ commitments. A draft report of the review was circulated by the Secretariat in _RD/AG/144 dated 19 September 2025 for Members' consideration and was subsequently revised[19] in light of Members' discussions and comments. At the November meeting, the Committee agreed to use an ad referendum procedure to adopt the Report of the second triennial review contained in _RD/AG/144/Rev.4 with seven-day deadline for comments. [20]

1.13.  On the follow-up to the Nairobi Ministerial Decision on Export Competition, the 2025 annual dedicated discussion took place at the September 2025 meeting, based on the Secretariat's background document[21] and specific questions raised by Members regarding the implementation of the Nairobi Decision.[22] Regarding the modification of the scheduled export subsidy commitments pursuant to the Nairobi Decision, the situation had remained unchanged since February 2022: out of the 16 Members with export subsidy reduction commitments at the time of the Nairobi Decision, 13 Members[23] had their revised schedules certified, two[24] other Members had submitted their revised draft schedule in 2017 where the certification is pending, and the remaining one Member[25] had not yet circulated its draft schedule.

1.14.  During 2025, the Committee continued discussions on the follow-up to the report and recommendations adopted under the work programme pursuant to paragraph 8 of the MC12 Declaration on Emergency Response to Food Insecurity (_G/AG/38). The matter remained on the agenda of all Committee meetings in 2025. Members presented specific suggestions and experiences to effectively follow-up on the agreed recommendations. Observer international organizations also contributed to these discussions, including through written submissions.[26] At the November Committee meeting, this item was considered jointly with the agenda items on the annual monitoring of the Marrakesh NFIDC Decision and Implementation-related issues.

1.15.  In 2025, the Committee initiated discussions on the Bali Ministerial Decision on General Services to enhance understanding of its implementation and promote experience-sharing. Members exchanged views on the practical application of measures highlighted in the Decision, including their role in supporting rural development, food security, and poverty alleviation. To facilitate Members' consideration, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA)[27] and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture of the CGIAR system made presentations in an informal setting during the margins of the November meeting.

1.16.  Following a submission[28] by the African Group, the Committee continued its engagement on transfer of technology in agriculture. Building on thematic sessions held in 2024, the discussions in 2025 focussed on how WTO rules could be employed to promote agricultural innovation and technology transfer domestically. Members suggested exploring policy tools under the AoA to foster innovation, share best practices, and promote agricultural research and technology dissemination. To facilitate Members' consideration, an expert from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) made a presentation in an informal setting at the November meeting on the role of agricultural extension services in supporting innovation and technology transfer.

1.17.  Several online tools support the Committee's monitoring and transparency functions. Since 2012, the Agriculture Information Management System (AG‑IMS)[29] has facilitated Member submission of questions and responses in the context of the Committee's monitoring of implementation of commitments. Under the database on notified agricultural domestic support hosted on AGIMS, the Secretariat in June 2025 released a fifth report on Non-Product Specific AMS and Total Agricultural Value of Production. This report complements reports on the three 'exempt' domestic support categories, namely the Green Box, Article 6.2 development programmes, and the Blue Box, and the report on Current Total AMS and Bound Total AMS, all of which are accessible on the AG-IMS in both the notified currency and in USD. At an information session held on the margins of the November Committee meeting, the Secretariat made a detailed presentation on the Committee's review process, and the digital tools it maintains.[30]

1.18.  Regarding technical assistance activities, in 2025 the WTO's Agriculture and Commodities Division delivered workshops on the Agreement on Agriculture and notifications in Belize; Comoros (virtual); Guatemala (virtual); Oman; Paraguay; South Africa; Vanuatu; and the Philippines (virtual). Two regional workshops on the Agreement on Agriculture for Arab and Middle East Countries, and for Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Caucasus countries were delivered in 2025. Additionally, upon request, the Secretariat organized one‑on‑one trainings on the AG-IMS to assist Members with the use of the online notification submission system. The WTO advanced agriculture notification workshop originally scheduled for July 2025 was cancelled due to budgetary constraints.

1.19.  The following international intergovernmental organizations have regular observer status in the Committee: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Grains Council (IGC), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), World Food Programme (WFP), and the World Bank. The Committee agreed at its November meeting to invite the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) as an ad hoc observer to participate in the formal meetings of the Committee in 2026.

1.20.  In an informal thematic session held in the margins of the September Committee meeting, Canada presented on the role of DS:2 notifications in enhancing transparency around domestic support, and the World Bank shared insights on agricultural risk management and insurance policies. The delegation of South Africa briefed the Committee at the November meeting on the 2025 G20 Presidency's work on food security.

1.21.  The dates of the meetings of the Committee in 2026 were announced at the November 2025 CoA meeting.[31]

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