This study presents a comprehensive database of 6,124 agri-environmental policies implemented between 1960 and 2022 in about 200 countries. The database includes a wide range of policy types and goals, such as biodiversity conservation, safer pesticide use, and reducing nutrient pollution. It illustrates the application of the database by exploring the association between economic development and agri-environmental policies and between soil-related policies and border discontinuities in cropland erosion. A strong, positive link between economic development and implemented agri-environmental policies is revealed, and it is found that 43% of all global border discontinuities in soil erosion between countries can be explained by differences in their policies. The decade 2021–2030 has been declared by the United Nations as 'the decade of ecosystem restoration'. At the center of attention is the global agricultural and food system, essential for human well-being but also responsible for a large share of greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, land degradation, and nutrient pollution. Every year, a number of policy responses are implemented at various scales using a wide range of instruments, for example, from legislative changes to new payments for ecosystem services. However, a consistent and coherent overview of these policies and their development over time is not available at the global level. The database covers roughly 200 countries and a total of 6,123 different policies for the period 1960–2022. The most common policy type is 'command and control' (legislations and regulations). The number of policies has steadily increased over time. The most common policy targets are fertilizer use and forest and biodiversity conservation. The database is a living resource which can be expanded as needed. The database is useful for research in agricultural and environmental economics, to answer questions such as how much certain policies have achieved so far, how such policies have come about, or how these policies have changed over time. It can also be used to model the preparedness of countries for environmental change and their efforts to mitigate environmental costs. The database also allows for the analysis of the relationship between economic development and agri-environmental policies, and the role of public policies in the soil erosion effect of countries. The study finds that at least 43% of the country effect is explainable by the policies of countries. The database provides the necessary data to look exactly at this question. The role of public policies in explaining between-country differences in environmental performance is an equally important question. The database includes soil-focused policies, so we can estimate their impact on global soil erosion, another major agricultural sustainability issue. This reveals a large effect: about 43% of the overall impact of countries is explained by their policies.This study presents a comprehensive database of 6,124 agri-environmental policies implemented between 1960 and 2022 in about 200 countries. The database includes a wide range of policy types and goals, such as biodiversity conservation, safer pesticide use, and reducing nutrient pollution. It illustrates the application of the database by exploring the association between economic development and agri-environmental policies and between soil-related policies and border discontinuities in cropland erosion. A strong, positive link between economic development and implemented agri-environmental policies is revealed, and it is found that 43% of all global border discontinuities in soil erosion between countries can be explained by differences in their policies. The decade 2021–2030 has been declared by the United Nations as 'the decade of ecosystem restoration'. At the center of attention is the global agricultural and food system, essential for human well-being but also responsible for a large share of greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, land degradation, and nutrient pollution. Every year, a number of policy responses are implemented at various scales using a wide range of instruments, for example, from legislative changes to new payments for ecosystem services. However, a consistent and coherent overview of these policies and their development over time is not available at the global level. The database covers roughly 200 countries and a total of 6,123 different policies for the period 1960–2022. The most common policy type is 'command and control' (legislations and regulations). The number of policies has steadily increased over time. The most common policy targets are fertilizer use and forest and biodiversity conservation. The database is a living resource which can be expanded as needed. The database is useful for research in agricultural and environmental economics, to answer questions such as how much certain policies have achieved so far, how such policies have come about, or how these policies have changed over time. It can also be used to model the preparedness of countries for environmental change and their efforts to mitigate environmental costs. The database also allows for the analysis of the relationship between economic development and agri-environmental policies, and the role of public policies in the soil erosion effect of countries. The study finds that at least 43% of the country effect is explainable by the policies of countries. The database provides the necessary data to look exactly at this question. The role of public policies in explaining between-country differences in environmental performance is an equally important question. The database includes soil-focused policies, so we can estimate their impact on global soil erosion, another major agricultural sustainability issue. This reveals a large effect: about 43% of the overall impact of countries is explained by their policies.