Nevertheless, the WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) provides Members—both developing and developed—with certain flexibilities to pursue sustainable development objectives like protecting the environment as well as preserving a viable rural farming sector. Mostly developed countries have gained some experience in developing such policies since they had to restructure their rural production sectors already with the beginning of industrialization. Especially, the four countries of the so called Quad—the European Union, the United States, Japan and Canada— are granting large sums to farmers to support their economic viability as well as to encourage environmentally sound farming practices. The EU, in particular, has developed a unique pillar of its common agricultural.
