OECD government policies to support agricultural output often encourage production and lead to less efficient use of water, not to mention exacerbating off-farm pollution and flooding. But measuring the overall efficiency and effectiveness of farm support on water resources is difficult and demands further analysis.
Many OECD countries, however, have succeeded in lowering farm support levels and in decoupling their policy support from production volumes. The result has been more efficient water use, better adaptation to scarcity and less off-farm pollution.