I the past, agricultural markets have been well integrated. Markets for different energy commodities, especially liquid energy products, also have been tightly linked. But agricultural markets and energy markets have not been closely correlated. Table 1 contains partial correlation coefficients between pairwise prices (both levels and first differences) of corn, soybeans, crude oil, gasoline, a...

European Union (EU) agricultural policy has been developed in the pursuit of laudable goals such as a competitive economy and regulatory harmony across the union. However, what has emerged is a fragmented, contradictory, and unworkable legislative framework that threatens economic disaster. In this review, we present case studies highlighting differences in the regulations applied to foods grow...

Assuming asymmetric information over farmer profits and zero transaction costs, prior literature has suggested that when regulating nonpoint source water pollution, a tax on management practices (inputs) can implement full-information allocations and is superior to a tax on estimated runoff. Using mechanism design theory under asymmetric information, this paper shows that under the same assumpt...

THE struggle of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to conclude the Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations brought again to the forefront the important role that agricultural policy continues to play in international trade relations. The sector is subject to heavy-handed governmental interventions throughout the world. Despite decades (even centuries) of economists’ arguments against agri...

The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect official views or policies of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, except as explicitly stated.

Agriculture is one of the major greenhouse gas (GHG) emission sources in China. This paper aims to identify the key factors that have led to rising GHG emissions in China’s agricultural sector in recent decades. This research allows for spatial dependence across provinces, making use of regional data from 31 provinces in mainland China. It investigates the effects of agricultural machinery, dif...

Scattered trees support high levels of farmland biodiversity and ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes, but they are threatened by agricultural intensification, urbanization, and land abandonment. This study aimed to map and quantify the decline of orchard meadows (scattered fruit trees of high nature conservation value) for a region in Southwestern Germany for the 1968 2009 period and ...

Agricultural production is prone to several risks which affect both producers and consumers. In order to enhance investment and achieve a sustained increase in production, coherent and integrated long-term strategies and policies are required to reduce risk aversion and build resilience among African rural producers. Furthermore, the critical importance of social protection and its complementar...