Where direct payments that had been introduced in the context of policy reforms were terminated recently under favourable market conditions, the question arises whether this was based on the view that compensation for past policy reforms was no longer needed and justified, or whether a re-instruinentation was chosen that promises larger benefits for farmers when market prices decline. In other words, behind the apparently positive trend towards lower support levels and less distorting policy structures there may be developments that are not in line with a desirable progression towards better-performing agricultural policies. At the same time, government support for the production and consumption of biofuels in the OECD area and the resulting policy-induced additional use of agricultural raw materials as feedstocks has had the opposite effect of raising world market prices of these commodities (OECD, 2008c), possibly by more than the price-depressing effect of the traditional support policies. Given that the price level on world markets for agricultural products is higher now than in the past, the price-lifting impact of biofuel support policies has, among other tilings, raised concerns regarding implications for food security in poor countries.