In the late 1980s and early 1990s some efforts were made to reduce farm subsidies. The most dramatic example was that of New Zealand. which scrapped most farm support in 1984.
A study of the environmental effects, conducted in 1993, found that the end of fertiliser
subsidies had been followed by a fall in fertiliser use (a fall compounded by the decline in world commodity prices. which cut farm incomes). The removal of subsidies also stopped
landclearing and over-stocking which in the past had been the principal causes of erosion. Farms began to diversify. The one