World Trade Organisation ministers meeting in Nairobi in Kenya have agreed a trade deal which will phase out agricultural export subsidies over the next eight years.
The deal, agreed at the tenth WTO Ministerial Conference, will also improve the rules on international agricultural trade.
EU Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan described the deal as "historic" and said that developed countries will have to reduce all agricultural trade subsidies to zero next month.
He said that this will insure a level playing field for European agricultural exporters in the global marketplace which is what the EU set out to achieve in the negotiations.
Mr Hogan described it as a "square deal" for EU farmers and also for farmers in the developed world.
The trade deal is designed to open up opportunities for the poorest and the most vulnerable developing countries to integrate better into the global trading system.
