Water-related risks impact development opportunities and can trap communities in a downward spiral of economic decline. In this paper, the dynamic relationship between waterrelated risks and economic outcomes for an embanked area in coastal Bangladesh is conceptualized. The interaction between flood events, salinity, deteriorating and poorly maintained water infrastructure, agricultural product...

We present a bio-economic model that accounts for the effects of water and nitrogen use on the first three moments of profit margin distributions in Swiss maize production. We thus also account for downside risks in farmers’ decision making processes, which extents currently used bio-economic modeling approaches that address agricultural water use. We find that because irrigation reduces the ne...

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...

Agricultural biotechnology holds a unique position in formulating food and trade policies due to its conflicting aspects: its potential to improve food security especially in developing countries, and the intense debates over its risks and unknown impacts on human health and the environment. Agricultural biotechnology, nevertheless, has been widely utilized to help enhance food security with it...

1. In 2005, following a request from Alun Michael, then Minister for Rural Affairs and Local Environmental Quality, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) published a report on the assessment of human health risks associated with the use of agricultural pesticides. The report set out concerns of the RCEP regarding the exposure of bystanders and residents to agricultural pesticides.

Frontier malaria is a biological, ecological, and sociodemographic phenomenon operating over time at three spatial scales (micro/individual, community, and state and national). We explicate these linkages by integrating data from remote sensing surveys, ground-level surveys and ethnographic appraisal, focusing on the Machadinho settlement project in Rondônia, Brazil. Spatially explicit analyses...

Decision making in agricultural production is a complex process in which many risks such as natural, economic and social ones need to be considered. Climate change is one important example for complex risks causing ambiguities. How can farmers be supported to pro-actively deal with and adapt to climate change? A comprehensive answer to this question can create a good potential for an improved r...

Globally, much weight is currently being placed on agriculture to provide food for the growing population as well as feedstock for the bioenergy industry. Unfortunately, the intensification of agricultural operations to satisfy these growing needs has been associated with a number of environmental and human health risks. A review of publications on the subject was conducted and emphasis was pla...

The agriculture sector is highly exposed to climate change and, consequently, to its risks. The climate risk is capable of altering other risks such as asset depletion (damage and loss to assets as a result of extreme climate events), price risks (risk of falling or rising prices) and financial risk (from possible increase of interest rates). Based on the assumption that climate changes indirec...

Agriculture is vulnerable to climate change and a source of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Farmers face pressures to adjust agricultural systems to make them more resilient in the face of increasingly variable weather (adaptation) and reduce GHG production (mitigation). This research examines relationships between Iowa farmers' trust in environmental or agricultural interest groups as sources of clim...