Suchergebnisse

2.3 Dissemination and Utilization of Agricultural Science InformationChapter 3 Sustainable Agricultural Food Production; 3.1 Introduction; 3.2 Farming Systems; 3.3 Common Activities in Food Production; 3.4 The Role of Women in Food Production; 3.5 Factors Affecting Food Crops Production; 3.6 Postharvest Management of Food Crops Produce; 3.7 Mycotoxins Contamination During and After Food Production; Chapter 4 Efficiency In Agricultural Resources Utilization For Food Production; 4.1 Introduction; 4.2 Agricultural Finances; 4.3 Agricultural Land; 4.4 Agricultural Water

Over the past two decades, the Black Sea region has exhibited significantly growing wheat production and exports. In 2017/18, Russia ultimately became the world's largest wheat exporter, a position that was held by the USA for decades. Mostly serving destination markets in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Russian grain exports have become vital to ensuring regional and global food security. However, the Russian wheat export market shows several characteristics that can negatively affect agricultural trade, potentially jeopardizing food supply in import-dependent countries. First, in the face of severe harvest shortfalls, Russia and other Black Sea countries have frequently restricted grain exports in the past, which can contribute to price surges on international markets. Secondly, a functioning futures market reflecting Black Sea wheat does not yet exist. Grain traders therefore use established futures markets for price discovery and to hedge price risk in the Black Sea region, which can involve basis risk. Thirdly, previous research has suggested that Russian wheat exporters exercise market power in order to price discriminate among different destination markets. Further, grain exports can be hampered by deficiencies and bottlenecks in the Russian transportation and export infrastructure. Against this background, this dissertation analyzes how the ascent of Russian wheat exports changes the patterns of global physical trade, results in different pricing dynamics on physical and futures markets, and affects futures price volatility by changing trade policy. The methodological focus lies on time series econometrics, and price analysis in particular. Using vector autoregressive (VAR), autoregressive moving average (ARMA) and vector error correction models (VECM), the econometric analyses are conducted using price series recorded at varying frequencies (monthly to intradaily) to account for economic transactions occurring at different speed on physical compared to futures markets. An initial, descriptive analysis depicts the evolvement of Russian wheat exports over time, with respect to main destination regions. The focus on Russia's food trade with four key markets in the MENA region, namely Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran, shows that grain trade is the central component in the respective trade ties. The deepening or loosening of food trade relations corresponds to the present state of respective political ties. Further, a market integration and price leadership analysis is conducted using a multivariate VECM approach. Analyzing the Egyptian wheat tender market as a proxy for the world wheat market, results suggest that European export prices play an increasingly important role for international wheat price formation, likely stemming from close regional proximity between European and Black Sea markets. These results are in line with the findings of a VAR analysis focusing on realized volatility relations between Black Sea spot and leading futures markets. Here, prices posted at the Euronext Paris (EPA) futures market are determined to affect the Black Sea physical market, while such an effect is not found concerning the Chicago Board of Trade (CBoT) market. Further, this analysis provides evidence of asymmetric adjustment to ruble jumps, which suggests that Russian wheat prices are more likely to increase in response to exchange rate movements than they are to decrease. The final ARMA analysis shows that news about Russian grain export restrictions significantly increase intraday seasonally adjusted realized volatility on the CBoT futures market. Further, elevated volatility can be determined in days preceding such news publications. These pre-announcement effects offer important insights into the validity of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) in the studied market. The restructuring of the world wheat market resulting from the rise of Russian wheat exports is ongoing. Particularly with respect to futures markets, leading exchanges still compete to establish a functioning Black Sea wheat futures contract that could potentially serve as novel global pricing benchmark. Moreover, the Russian government continues to intervene in the grain trade by imposing export taxes or quotas. Against the background of growing world populations and increased likelihood of harvest shortfalls due to climate change, it is stressed that unimpeded food trade is indispensable to ensure global food security. Policy recommendations aiming to prevent the introduction of food export restrictions are provided at the end of the dissertation.

One of the striking features in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries is the deterioration of their agricultural and food trade balance during transition to a market economy as im-ports increased faster than exports or exports even declined. This paper investigates the Slovenian agricultural and food trade in more detail focusing on changes in the geographical distribution of trade and the nature of trade specialization on the basis of the Grubel-Lloyd Intra-Industry Trade index and Marginal Intra-Industry Trade Indices. The results indicate that Slovenian agricultural and food trade largely remains of the inter-industry type with specialisation of exports towards the former Yugoslav markets and imports from the European Union. The proportion of intra-industry trade was especially low for bulk commodities with little or no processing. A major explanations for these findings is that despite the "free" trade agreements Slovenia signed with the EU and countries of Central and Eastern Europe the level of protection in the agricultural and food sector has remained rather high. Due to EU membership Slovenia faces now direct competition in a market of 25 countries. This intensifies the restructuring process in the Slovenian agricultural and food sector. Due to the present low level of IIT this likely induces rather high adjustment costs since restructuring and reallo-cation of factors will have to occur between and not within industries. -- Intra-industry trade ; integration ; agro-food sector

The agricultural and food sector is an ideal case for investigating the political economy of public policies. Many of the policy developments in this sector since the 1950s have been sudden and transformational, while others have been gradual but persistent. This article reviews and synthesizes the literature on trends and fuctuations in market distortions and the political-economy explanations that have been advanced. Based on a rich global data set covering a half-century of evidence on commodities, countries, and policy instruments, we identify hypotheses that have been explored in the literature on the extent of market distortions and the conditions under which reform may be feasible.

The agricultural and food sector is an ideal case for investigating the political economy of public policies. Many of the policy developments in this sector since the 1950s have been sudden and transformational, while others have been gradual but persistent. This article reviews and synthesizes the literature on trends and fuctuations in market distortions and the political-economy explanations that have been advanced. Based on a rich global data set covering a half-century of evidence on commodities, countries, and policy instruments, we identify hypotheses that have been explored in the literature on the extent of market distortions and the conditions under which reform may be feasible.

The agricultural and food sector is an ideal case for investigating the political economy of public policies. Many of the policy developments in this sector since the 1950s have been sudden and transfirmational, while others have been gradual but persistent. This article reviews and synthesizes the literature on trends and fluctuations in market distortions and the political-economy explanations that have been advanced. Based on a rich global data set covering a half-century of evidence on commodities, countries, and policy instruments, we identify hypotheses that have been explored in the literature on the extent of market distortions and the conditions under which refirm may be feasible.

Intro -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Who Should Read this Book? -- The Overall Plan -- The Revised Edition -- Some Disclosures -- References -- Contents -- 1 Biotechnology in the Context of Agriculture and Food: An Overview -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 The Puzzle of Heredity -- 1.3 Altering the Genome -- 1.4 Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology -- 1.5 Recent Developments -- 1.6 What's in a Name? -- 1.7 The Controversy in Ethical Perspective -- 1.8 Conclusion: Beyond Risk and Back Again -- References -- 2 The Presumptive Case for Food Biotechnology -- 2.1 Technological Ethics: A Précis -- 2.2 Ethics and Risk -- 2.3 The Risk-Based Approach -- 2.4 The Logic of the Presumptive Case -- 2.5 The Social Dimension of the Presumptive Case -- 2.6 Making the Case for Biotechnology Badly -- 2.6.1 The Modernist Fallacy -- 2.6.2 The Naturalistic Fallacy -- 2.6.3 The Argument from Ignorance -- 2.6.4 The Argument from Hunger -- 2.7 Conclusion -- References -- 3 Biotechnology, Policy and the Problem of Unintended Consequences: The Case of rBST -- 3.1 What is rBST? Why Does it Matter? -- 3.2 Biotechnology Policy and Philosophy -- 3.3 rBGH: Assessing Unwanted Consequences -- 3.3.1 Food Safety -- 3.3.2 Animal Welfare -- 3.3.3 Environmental Impact -- 3.3.4 Social Consequences -- 3.4 Ethical Disputes, Governance and Consensus Politics -- 3.5 Social Consequences Redux -- 3.6 Learning from rBST -- References -- 4 Food Safety and the Ethics of Consent -- 4.1 The Ethics and Political Theory of Food Safety Regulation -- 4.2 Safety Criteria and Biotechnology -- 4.3 Ethical Gaps in Food Safety Governance -- 4.3.1 Bad Actors -- 4.3.2 Collateral Consequences -- 4.3.3 Social Uncertainty -- 4.4 The Philosophy of Food Safety -- 4.4.1 Classification -- 4.4.2 Purification -- 4.4.3 Optimization -- 4.5 Classification and Purification Versus Risk-Based Optimization.

This book examines the origins, functioning and work, successes and difficulties, and the continuing relevance of four UN bodies to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Miilions of people worldwide choose migration as a livelihood strategy, with the households and communities staying behind relying heavily on remittance infows. The question of whether migration is benefcial to the households and individuals staying behind is an important one, because the efects may occur in diferent spheres and over time and they may not always be straightforward. This calls for a detailed examination of how migration afects the well-being of households and individuals staying behind in migrant-sending communities. Accordingly, this thesis evaluates the efects of participation in international migration and remittances on the well-being of households and individuals in migrant-sending communities in Kosovo. Adopting a pluralistic conceptualization of well-being and utilizing a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods of investigation, it advances the current global migration debate on the efects of migration on the development processes in low- and middle-income economies. First, the dynamic efects of migration and remittances on households' poverty and income distribution are estimated. Based on a nationally representative dataset and using state-of-the-art matching techniques, we measure impacts based on counterfactual scenarios, and, for the frst time, take a step forward by applying a dose-response function approach to assess poverty efects due to variations in the time-length of receiving remittances. Our fndings show that remittances alleviate both absolute and relative poverty levels and lead to marginal increases in inequality for the case of Kosovo. We further demonstrate that - although poverty reduction efects are stronger in the short-run - remittances have a positive poverty reduction efect over time. The efects of migration and remittances on households' expenditure behavior are further assessed. The empirical results indicate that participation in migration reduces households' budget share for household food consumption with no immediate impact on households' budgetary allocations for business investments, health, and education expenditures. Our interpretation of such fndings is that participation in migration does not cause substantive changes on the spending behavior of households with migrant family members, while remittances are predominantly used to cover basic consumption needs. Second, participation in migration and remitting patterns are linked to broader and sometimes contradicting outcomes of well-being. Utilizing a case study research approach, we provide an in-depth analysis of these complex interlinkages between migration, remittances, and the well-being of migrant-sending communities. While we illustrate how remittances often protect families from poverty, there are negative outcomes as well. Social comparisons to migrants infuence the migration aspirations and the subjective well-being of individuals in the village communities. Together with the delineation of a minimum remittance income, it turns into a barrier for participation in the local labor markets. In particular, women's disengagement from work leads to increased vulnerability and economic dependency with negative implications for their empowerment and well-being. Our research contributes to the most recent migration research in three main aspects. First, the study applies novel econometric techniques to estimate dynamic welfare efects of migration. Given the scarcity of panel data in our feld of study, the approach opens a new methodological venue for future impact assessments in the absence of longitudinal data. Second, the analysis of the broader well-being outcomes of migration shows how the current migration and development agenda should be redefned to recognize improvements in well-being as a dynamic process that includes not only material welfare, but also aspects such as happiness, independence, empowerment and more. Third, our empirical fndings contribute to closing an empirical gap in research by highlighting migration and remittance efects in the highly remittance-dependent, but under-researched European and Central Asian transition economies.

The agricultural and food sector is an ideal case for investigating the political economy of public policies. Many of the policy developments in this sector since the 1950s have been sudden and transformational, while others have been gradual but persistent. This paper reviews and synthesizes the literature on trends and fluctuations in market distortions and the political-economy explanations that have been advanced. Based on a rich global data set covering a half-century of evidence on commodities, countries, and policy instruments, the paper identifies hypotheses that have been explored in the literature on the extent of market distortions and the conditions under which reform may be feasible.