agriculture economics Articles
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Editorial: The urgent need to transform small-scale subsistence farming in Africa towards sustainable agribusiness value-chains
A recent article on 'Why African farmers fail' (http://www.southerntimesafrica.com) bemoaned the lack of progress in transforming agriculture for economic development in Africa. This Editorial outlines some of the responses to that article and discusses the problems raised.Keywords: Africa, subsistence farming, sustainable agribusiness, small-scale farming, agribusiness value chains, economic ...
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Inventorying resources: an application to product–oriented agriculture
Different resources are necessary in the new, product–oriented agricultural environment. This article explores the question of what information is best suited for strategic analysis and strategy formulation for firms involved in product–oriented agriculture. This article will draw upon theoretical literature from general management and interviews with agricultural producers to develop a new ...
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Regional economic integration and local food: the case of Latvia during European Union accession
Latvia's agriculture sector remains economically important despite 50 years of central Soviet planning as well as rapid reorientation to a market economy after independence in 1991 and accession into the European Union in 2004. At independence, many Latvians embraced a local organic farming movement which has evolved during an era of sweeping economic and socio-political change. This article ...
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In search of solvency: changing agricultural governance in an ethnic minority autonomous region of southwest China
During the last quarter century, China's agricultural sector has undergone a dramatic transformation from collective to private production, resulting in marked improvements in quality of life for most rural citizens. However, economic development in the countryside has been highly uneven, particularly in China's southwestern region, with its arid land, rugged topography and high concentration of ...
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Exploring sectoral elasticity vis–à–vis per worker income with a focus to agriculture: a study of Sub–Saharan Africa
In this study, we explore the contribution from sectoral share towards per worker income in the Sub–Saharan Africa (SSA) region over the years, 1980 to 2009. Within the last three decades, agriculture and services did not contribute positively towards growth in per worker income. Manufacturing sector on the other hand, had a transcending effect with a positive contributory power (0.31%) towards ...
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Agriculture and economics in the Water Framework Directive: progress and limitations
Agriculture is having an increasing impact on water resources in Spain, both from a quantitative (consumption) and qualitative (pollution) perspective. Therefore, the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) will have a great impact on this sector. In fact, new river management plans aim to reduce these pressures through the implementation of programmes of measures. These instruments ...
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Regional modelling for optimal allocation of agricultural crops considering environmental impacts, housing value and leisure preferences
Regional planning should consider the impact of agricultural crops on housing value and leisure, as well as on the local environment. We designed an optimisation model for allocating agricultural crops based on farmers' profits as well as the impact on these three factors. Each crop creates a different landscape, as well as a different effect on shading and noise reduction. This in turn ...
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Agricultural innovation and economic growth in Africa: renewing international cooperation
Rising food prices and the associated political upheavals have rekindled interest in international cooperation on food security in particular and economic development in general. This paper argues that efforts to promote food security in sub-Saharan Africa need take into account three key issues: food security is inseparable from economic development; science and innovation are a necessary part ...
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Building reservation economies: Cattle, American Indians and the American West
Removal to reservations involved American Indians in changing economies and federal 'civilisation' programs that were fueled by beef cattle, breeding cattle, working cattle (oxen) and dairy cattle. As 19th century reservations expanded, Native Americans negotiated the bovine economies as consumers, labourers, producers, retailers and marketers. Cattle, working oxen and dairy cows were intended to ...
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Learning about sustainable agriculture
For almost 20 years the Orange campus of firstly the University of Sydney and now Charles Sturt University has been teaching Australian and overseas students about sustainable agriculture. The course is offered as a post graduate Masters course and students spend 18 months at the campus as internal students although many of the Australian students study it by distance mode. The following photo ...
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The farm bill is a food bill
As the new farm bill nears completion, spending projections have been released showing the bill’s price tag approaches a trillion dollars over 10 years. These figures have turned some heads because nearly 80 percent of the spending in the bill will go to nutrition programs. This is how the bill is supposed to work – helping farmers to grow food and helping hungry people have access to ...
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International trade as a source of economic growth: trade barriers and institutions
Trade barriers, erected by advanced countries to the agricultural exports from poor countries, are a greater barrier to economic growth and development than is commonly recognised. It is shown that agricultural policies in advanced countries are a major barrier to agricultural exports from poor countries, and particularly so for countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The major effect on growth is ...
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Agricultural land use and economic growth: environmental implications of the Kuznets curve
The expansion of agricultural land use has been associated with the loss of environmental amenities, such as biological diversity, ecosystem services, and aesthetic values. Here, the determinants of agricultural land use are examined, drawing on panel data from 121 countries over the period 1965–1987. The analysis finds that an inverted U curve (or "environmental Kuznets curve") describes the ...
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Innovation, agricultural growth and poverty reduction
There is increasing agreement that agricultural growth matters for poverty reduction and has a significance extending well beyond the agriculture sector. Examples of successful research and innovation support by DFID show the central role of science and research in technological innovation. Technology cannot be viewed in isolation from innovation in policies and institutions. These provide ...
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Risk and risk management in agriculture: an overview and empirical results
The paper gives an overview of sources of risk and risk management strategies in agriculture. As risk is an inescapable fact of life, in particular in agriculture, farmers must try to manage risk effectively. Risk management is an integral part of good management of a farm, being a way to avoid losses and exploit opportunities. Results of a field survey with 731 Dutch livestock farmers are ...
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The income and production effects of biotech crops globally 1996-2009
This paper provides an assessment of the economic impact at the farm level of agricultural biotechnology on global agriculture. It examines the economic impacts on yields, key costs of production, direct farm income, indirect (non-pecuniary) farm level income effects and impacts on the production base of the four main crops of soybeans, corn, cotton and canola. The analysis shows that there have ...
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Perspective: Investing in research and promoting trade are critical for Africa's agricultural transformation
Africa is now in desperate need of entrepreneurial political leadership which seeks innovative and sustainable development pathways to address the plethora of current and emerging socio–economic and environmental challenges facing the continent. To meet the growing and changing economic aspirations of the largely young population, major productivity increases in agriculture and trade in ...
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Sheep–for–meat farming systems in French semi–upland area. Adapting to new context: increased concentrates and energy prices, and new agricultural policy
We used simulation to study how three French sheep production systems could adapt to a new context created by a surge in cereal prices associated with changes in common agricultural policy support. The evaluation criteria were economic performance, energy efficiency, emissions of greenhouse gases, and sensitivity to technical and economic fluctuations. We found the most intensive system was the ...
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The income and production effects of biotech crops globally 1996–2009
This paper provides an assessment of the economic impact at the farm level of agricultural biotechnology on global agriculture. It examines the economic impacts on yields, key costs of production, direct farm income, indirect (non-pecuniary) farm level income effects and impacts on the production base of the four main crops of soybeans, corn, cotton and canola. The analysis shows that there have ...
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Performance evaluation of irrigation network using fuzzy multicriterion group decision making technique
Present paper discusses applicability of fuzzy multicriterion decision making (MCDM) technique, namely, interval valued fuzzy TOPSIS (IVFT) for selection of suitable irrigation subsystems among 30 such subsystems of Khadakwasla Irrigation Project, India. Five performance evaluations related criterion, namely, participation and cooperation, effective water availability, conjunctive use, economic ...
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