Reaction-diffusion waves of advance in the transition to agricultural economics

In a previous paper [J.Fort and V.Méndez, Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 867 (1999)], the possible importance of higher-order terms in a human population wave of advance has been studied. However, only a few such terms were considered. Here we develop a theory including all higher-order terms. Results are in good agreement with the experimental evidence involving the expansion of agriculture in Europe

Audit report on America's Agricultural Industrial Heritage Landscape Inc. D/B/A Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, December 31, 2003

Other audit reports

Designation of Co-benefits and Its Implication for Policy: Water Quality versus Carbon Sequestration in Agricultural Soils, March 2005

Designation of Co-benefits and Its Implication for Policy: Water Quality versus Carbon Sequestration in Agricultural Soils, The

Audit report on America's Agricultural Industrial Heritage Landscape Inc. d/b/a Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, Independent Auditor's Reports, Financial Statements and Supplementary Information, Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs, December 31st, 2003 & 2004

Other Audit Reports

Multilateral Trade and Agricultural Policy Reforms in Sugar Markets, September 2005

We analyze the impact of trade liberalization, removal of production subsidies, and elimination of consumption distortions in world sugar markets using a partial-equilibrium international sugar model calibrated on 2002 market data and current policies. The removal of trade distortions alone induces a 27% price increase while the removal of all trade and production distortions induces a 48% increase by 2011/12 relative to the baseline. Aggregate trade expands moderately, but location of production and trade patterns change substantially. Protectionist OECD countries (the EU, Japan, the US) experience an import expansion or export reduction and significant contraction in production in unfettered markets. Competitive producers in both OECD countries (Australia) and non-OECD countries (Brazil, Cuba), and even some protected producers (Indonesia, Turkey), expand production when all distortions are removed. Consumption distortions have marginal impacts on world markets and location of production. We discuss the significance of these results in the context of mounting pressures to increase market access in highly protected OECD countries and the impact on non-OECD countries.

Collective Marketing Arrangements for Geographically Differentiated Agricultural Products: Welfare Impacts and Policy Implications, May 2006

This paper examines the incentive of atomistic agricultural producers within a specific geographical region to differentiate and collectively market products. We develop a model that allows us to analyze the market and welfare effects of the main types of real-world producer organizations, using it to derive economic insights regarding the circumstances under which these organizations will evolve, and describing implications of the results obtained in the context of an ongoing debate between the European Union and United States. As the anticipated fixed costs of development and marketing increase and the anticipated size of the market falls, it becomes essential to increase the ability of the producer organization to control supply in order to ensure the coverage of fixed costs. Whenever a collective organization allows a market (with a new product) to exist that otherwise would not have existed there is an increase in societal welfare. Counterintuitively, stronger property right protection for producer organizations may be welfare enhancing even after a differentiated product has been developed. The reason for this somewhat paradoxical result is that legislation aimed at curtailing the market power of producer organizations may induce large technological distortions.

Audit report on America's Agricultural Industrial Heritage Landscape Inc., D/B/A Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, Independent Auditor's Reports, Financial Statements and Supplementary Information, Schedule of Findings and Questioned Costs, December 31, 2004 & 2005

Other Audit Reports - 28E Organizations

The emergence of biofuels and the co-movement between crude oil and agricultural prices

Biofuels are becoming an alternative to non-renewable energy sources but we know little about the economic mechanisms influencing their prices. This paper studies the interrelationships between the spot prices of oil and those of agricultural commodities used as biofuel feedstocks. Using daily data since 1988, we identify a co-movement after 2005 that does not appear for other food-related commodities and is not due to general economic variables. We also find traces of the co-movement in the prices of a large biofuel stock. The results amount to the first systematic piece of empirical evidence linking spot oil and agricultural markets via the emergence of biofuels.

Audit report on America’s Agricultural Industrial Heritage Landscape, Inc., d/b/a Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area (Silos and Smokestacks), in Waterloo, Iowa for the years ended December 31, 2006 and 2005

Audit report on America’s Agricultural Industrial Heritage Landscape, Inc., d/b/a Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area (Silos and Smokestacks), in Waterloo, Iowa for the years ended December 31, 2006 and 2005

Economic Aspects of Agricultural and Food Biosecurity in the United States, March 2007

Concerns about biosecurity in the food system raise a variety of issues about how the system is presently organized, why it might be vulnerable, what one could reasonably do to better secure it, and the costs of doing so. After presenting some facts about US agriculture and food, this paper considers three economic aspects of the general problem. One is the global problem, or the way biosecurity measures can affect how countries relate to each other and the global consequences that result. Another is how to best manage the immediate aftermath of a realized threat in order to minimize damage. The third is how to seek to prevent realization of the threat. Some policy alternatives are also presented.

Welfare Impacts of Cross-Country Spillovers in Agricultural Research, 2007

The welfare implications of intellectual property protection (IPP) for private sector agricultural research are analyzed, focusing on the realistic cases in which countries provide different IPP levels, technology spills over across countries, and the public sector is involved in research. A model is developed to determine who benefits from, and who should pay for, the associated research. The paper contains some interesting results on the implications of a harmonization of IPP policies through multilateral agreements or via technology that allows research firms to prevent the copying of plants and animals that express traits that have emerged from their research.

Audit report on America’s Agricultural Industrial Heritage Landscape, Inc., d/b/a Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, in Waterloo, Iowa for the years ended December 31, 2007 and 2006

Audit report on America’s Agricultural Industrial Heritage Landscape, Inc., d/b/a Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, in Waterloo, Iowa for the years ended December 31, 2007 and 2006

Statistical Brief on the Agricultural Research of Cape Verde

The primary purpose of this brief is to provide various statistical and institutional details on the development and current status of the public agricultural research system in Cape Verde. This information has been collected and presented in a systematic way in order to inform and thereby improve research policy formulation with regard to the Cape Verdean NARS. Most importantly, these data are assembled and reported in a way that makes them directly comparable with the data presented in the other country briefs in this series. And because institutions take time to develop and there are often considerable lags in the agricultural research process, it is necessary for many analytical and policy purposes to have access to longer-run series of data. NARSs vary markedly in their institutional structure and these institutional aspects can have a substantial and direct effect on their research performance. To provide a basis for analysis and cross-country, over-time comparisons, the various research agencies in a country have been grouped into five general categories; government, semi-public, private, academic, and supranational. A description of these categories is provided in table 1.

Statistical Brief on the Agricultural Research of Cape Verde

The primary purpose of this brief is to provide various statistical and institutional details on the development and current status of the public agricultural research system in Cape Verde. This information has been collected and presented in a systematic way in order to inform and thereby improve research policy formulation with regard to the Cape Verdean NARS. Most importantly, these data are assembled and reported in a way that makes them directly comparable with the data presented in the other country briefs in this series. And because institutions take time to develop and there are often considerable lags in the agricultural research process, it is necessary for many analytical and policy purposes to have access to longer-run series of data. NARSs vary markedly in their institutional structure and these institutional aspects can have a substantial and direct effect on their research performance. To provide a basis for analysis and cross-country, over-time comparisons, the various research agencies in a country have been grouped into five general categories; government, semi-public, private, academic, and supranational. A description of these categories is provided in table 1.

Audit report on the Iowa Agricultural Development Authority for the year ended June 30, 2008

Audit report on the Iowa Agricultural Development Authority for the year ended June 30, 2008