Following their suspension in mid- 2006, and their resuscitation in early 2007, the multilateral trade negotiations of the WTO’s Doha Development Agenda appear once more to be on the brink of collapse. Several reasons have been advanced for their lack of success; high on everyone’s list is the central role of agriculture. We ask why a sector that contributes so little to rich countries’ GDP should be able to sabotage global economy-wide trade talks.