According to a recent analysis by farmsubsidy.org, in order to understand how the EU establishes its budget it is first necessary to appreciate the different characters and priorities of the EU's Member states.

The report, Does the CAP fit? Budget reform, the common agricultural policy, and the conflicting views of EU member states, analyses countries' willingness to modernize the budget and their ‘relative thriftiness', concluding that each fits into one of five rough categories: modernizers, misers, fence sitters, big spenders and gold diggers. Given the number of EU governments with large budget deficits, the authors conclude that Members are unlikely to increase their contributions, and that perhaps this will provide the leverage needed to reduce farm subsidies in favour of spending on other priorities. At the same time, farmsubsidy.org warns that a "new wind of protectionism is blowing" following the food and financial crises.

The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development's Bridges Weekly Trade News Digestreports that the latest official EU notification of subsidies to the WTO shows a rise in total agricultural support of more than than €90 billion (US$ 123 billion) in 2006/7.

Although this signals a return to high levels of spending on farm subsidies, the article notes that the type of subsidies have changed, with the most trade-distorting categories having been reduced significantly, and the majority being made up of ‘green box' subsidies, thought to have little or no impact on trade. This takes the EU closer towards standards agreed in the Doha Round of trade talks.

Across the Atlantic, the United States budget for 2011 announced this February proposed to cut back spending by reducing agricultural subsidies by US$ 10 billion over ten years. It suggested that subsidies only be granted to farmers earning under US$ 250,000 a year, down from a current cap of US $500,000 a year, and cutting aid to crop insurance companies. According to Reuters, this proposal was rejected on 3 March by the U.S. House Agriculture Committee, who stated that changes to farm policies should wait until the next farm law is negotiated in 2012.