Growing, higher income and more urbanised populations continue to demand a more varied and nutritionally balanced diet. The bio-economy, including renewable energy, also increases demand for food and agricultural products. While responding to these opportunities, the agriculture and food sector is confronting increased competition for natural resources, has to adapt to changing temperatures, precipitation patterns, and more frequent extreme weather events, and is expected to improve its impact on the environment and to provide ecosystem services. There are multiple challenges in improving the well-being of farm households, especially of smallholders and women, while facilitating structural change.

OECD work to date notes that while policies for food and agriculture have begun to change, international and domestic policy settings are not sufficiently aligned with these emerging needs.There is now widespread recognition of a growing urgency for integrated policy approaches that will better enable farmers and the food sector to simutaneously improve productivity, increase competitiveness and profitability, improve resilience, access markets at home and abroad, manage natural resources more sustainably, contribute to global food security, and deal with extreme market volatility.