Public policies and organic farming

When markets fail, there may be justification for some market regulations by governments. There are at least four recognised causes of market failures that may call for government intervention in agriculture: negative and positive externalities (notably environmental externalities), public goods, insufficient information and market power (a few buyers or sellers are able to exert power on prices). This reading key of public economics is here used to analyse to what extent government intervention in organic farming is justified. We then examine various corrective steps that governments may take on the example of the French plan in favour of organic farming.