Thomas Donlan about the failed Doha round:

The real issues were not heard amid this cacophony. India and other developing countries don't need to protect subsistence farmers' tiny incomes; if a billion people live on a dollar a day and another two billion live on two dollars a day, it would take a mere $10 billion to double their income. And increased global trade could pay for such transition costs in very short order.

The developing countries really need cheap imported food and cheap imported capital so that hundreds of millions of subsistence farmers and sharecroppers can move off the land and enter more productive sectors of the economy. If India is going to create economic opportunity for all its people, it needs more mechanized agriculture and fewer peasants. As China has shown over the last 30 years, this is not quick, easy or pleasant, but it works.

In the same way, the U.S., the EU and a few other efficient farming countries don't need to subsidize any of their farmers: They have mechanized agriculture and they can produce food for the entire world without taking billions of dollars a year away from the rest of their economies.