Agreement on Agriculture reimagined

balance of two worlds
Photo: r.classen / shutterstock


The “Agreement on Agriculture Re-Imagined” initiative (AoA ReI) proposes a Model Treaty on Agriculture Trade for Sustainable Food Systems. This will govern global food and agricultural trade in the place of the current World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AoA). The Model Treaty is offered as a heuristic, to inspire bold thinking and open up space for new approaches to ensuring fair and sustainable food and agricultural trade.

Background to the project

The world is in urgent need of a trading system that supports sustainable, food systems and equitable outcomes – which the current WTO AoA fails to achieve. Not only are global warming, biodiversity loss, pandemics, and wars putting pressure on food production worldwide, but agriculture itself is also contributing to these challenges. A more balanced trade regime could counteract such challenges and incentivize a transformation towards sustainable food systems.

Food and agricultural trade can be beneficial for producers, consumers, communities, and the natural world. Trade rules can be a central lever for recognizing the importance of agricultural and food systems and moving their governance onto a fairer and more sustainable path.

Reshaping agricultural trade – promoting sustainable food systems

Against this backdrop, a group of experts from around the world have come together in in the AoA ReI, to propose new global trade rules for food and agriculture. The project responds to a major global governance gap and offers an innovative approach.
Rather than proposing adjustments to current agricultural trade rules, the AoA ReI puts forward a comprehensive set of new objectives and rules to govern international trade in food and agriculture.

Advisory Workshop
Advisory Workshop AoA Reimagined, 4-6 June 2023, Prangins, Switzerland


The research team includes scholars and practitioners from Argentina, Brazil, China, the EU, India, Switzerland, Uganda, the USA and Zimbabwe. The project is coordinated by the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) at the University of Bern, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).

Milestones of the initiative

Between 2023 and 2025 the research team

  • identified the global challenges that agricultural trade regulation must address, including an assessment of how WTO agricultural trade rules are failing to meet global challenges. The Background Paper below establishes the need for a new set of rules;
  • worked out the objectives and key concepts that agricultural trade regulation should follow;
  • set out the Principles on which the Model Treaty will be based;
  • formulated a set of policy recommendations for G20 leaders to support their policy-making on agricultural trade and highlight the potential role of the G20 in a corresponding reform process (see Policy Brief "The Agreement on Agriculture Re-Imagined" below);
  • drafted a Model Treaty on Agricultural Trade for sustainable food systems, currently being consulted.

Results

Background: Shortcomings of the AoA

The background paper (see below) describes some of the AoA’s inherent flaws, outlining for example how it prioritizes trade over social, environmental, and food security objectives. It inter alia overlooked the specific needs of different developing countries and has limited their policy space to implement measures necessary to achieve food security and other public interest objective. At the same time, the AoA has enabled wealthier countries to support their agricultural sectors in ways that often do not serve environmental and human rights.

The paper documents how the AoA has been unable to be adapted, in particular to the changed global factors since it came into force in 1995. For instance, agricultural production has grown and shifted geographically, and trade patterns have become increasingly globalized and complex. Market concentration has intensified; with lack of adequate regulation empowering large agribusiness while limiting the bargaining power of farmers and governments alike. Climate change and further environmental challenges are likely to reshape the landscape anew. 

Finally, the background paper reminds us that the political economy of trade is now fundamentally different to that which prevailed at the time the WTO came into being. This calls past assumptions about the objectives and regulation of international trade into question and makes a new global trade regime not just desirable but urgent and necessary.

Underlying principles to govern a re-imagined AoA

The Model Treaty is founded on eight principles which are of equal weight and importance. Their mutual supportiveness and cumulative application is necessary for the Model Treaty to be able to deploy its intended effects. The AoA ReI carefully considered which principles the Model Treaty should be based on. A paper identifies, defines and expresses these principles (see below).

Draft Model Treaty on Agricultural Trade for Sustainable Food Systems, Consultation

The Draft Model Treaty on Agricultural Trade for Sustainable Food Systems (draft for consultations, October 2025) is written in legal language. 

Visualized Draft Model Treaty (PDF, 662KB)
Draft Model Treaty: Table of content (PDF, 410KB)


The AoA ReI team is currently holding consultations with a variety of experts and stakeholders from different communities around the world. Following these consultations, the Draft Model Treaty will be adapted and published.

Swiss “mock parliamentarian” debate

In Switzerland, the AoA ReI team has invited a wide group of stakeholders to discuss the Draft Model Treaty on 21 January 2026 at the University of Bern. Invitees include political representatives, food systems-related associations, practitioners, civil society and academia, to enable the broadest possible perspective on the topic and to receive feedback to enhance the draft. The format will consist of a mock Swiss parliamentary discussion

International consultations

At the international level, a series of technical consultations will be held between now and March 2026.

For more information or to participate in the consultations, please email aoarei@iatp.org.

Info box
Duration

2023 – 2026
Funding

Swiss National Science Foundation SNSF
Partners

Experts from Argentina, Brazil, China, the EU, India, Switzerland, Uganda, the USA and Zimbabwe

Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)

International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI), Uganda

ETH Zurich
Contact

Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Bürgi Bonanomi

Dr. Judith Schäli

Other publications

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