The interorganizational challenge of agricultural reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The case study reported below examines USAID's "Linking Agricultural Markets with Producers" program. This program complemented Bosnia and Herzegovina's overall sustainable agriculture policies. Implementing organizations quickly recognized that sustainability must be achieved not only from an environmental perspective, but in the interorganizational domain as well. Public, private and nonprofit players had to develop the social, economic and political infrastructure required for sustainable agricultural projects to succeed. These institutional changes were at times more difficult than the sustainable agriculture policies and practices they supported. Framed within LAMP's identification of constraints and proposed solutions for agricultural reform, we explored the interorganizational linkages required for success. We identified three distinct types: 1) those within the international community, 2) those within the local community and 3) those between international and local organizations. The case illustrates the institutional and managerial obstacles to and opportunities for implementing sustainable development reforms in transition settings.

EU agricultural reform fails on biodiversity

In December 2013, the European Union (EU) enacted the reformed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for 2014–2020, allocating almost 40% of the EU's budget and influencing management of half of its terrestrial area. Many EU politicians are announcing the new CAP as “greener,” but the new environmental prescriptions are so diluted that they are unlikely to benefit biodiversity. Individual Member States (MSs), however, can still use flexibility granted by the new CAP to design national plans to protect farmland habitats and species and to ensure long-term provision of ecosystem services

Agricultural reform in the United States,

Mode of access: Internet.

A Preliminary Impact Assessment of Doha Round Results on Agricultural Policies in Turkey

Turkish agriculture has been experiencing a period of unique policy experiment over the last couple years. A World Bank-initiated project, called the Agricultural Reform Implementation Project (ARIP), has been at the forefront of policy change. It was initially promoted by the Bank as an exemplary reform package which could also be adopted by other developing countries. It was introduced in 2001 as part of a major International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank-imposed program of “structural adjustment” after the country had been hit by a major financial crisis. The project has finally come to an end in 2009, and there is now an urgent need for a retrospective assessment of its overall impact on the agricultural sector. Has it fulfilled its ambitious objective of reforming and restructuring Turkish agriculture? Or should it be recorded as a failure of the neo-liberal doctrine? This book aims at finding answers to these questions by investigating the legacy of ARIP from a multi-disciplinary perspective.

Swiss Policies for more Food Security

Resource-poor yet blissful Switzerland is also one of the most food-secure countries in the world: there are abundant food supplies, relatively low retail prices in terms of purchasing power parity, with few poverty traps. Domestic production covers 70% of net domestic consumption. A vast and efficient food reserve scheme insures against import disruptions. Nonetheless, the food security contribution by the four sectoral policies involved is mutually constrained: our agriculture is protected by the world’s highest tariffs. Huge subsidies, surface payments, and some production quotas substitute market signals with rent maximisation. Moreover, these inefficiencies also prevent trade and investment policies which would keep markets open, development policies which would provide African farmers with the tools to become more competitive, and supply policies which would work against speculators. The paralysing effect of Swiss agricultural policies is exacerbated by new “food security subsidies” in the name of “food sovereignty” while two pending people’s initiatives might yet increase the splendid isolation which in effect reduce Swiss farmer competitiveness and global food security. Is there a solution? Absent a successful conclusion of the Doha Round (WTO) or a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement (TTIP) further market openings and a consequent “recoupling” of taxpayer support to public goods production remain highly un-likely. To the very minimum Switzerland should resume the agricultural reform process, join other countries trying to prevent predatory behaviour of its investors in developing countries, and regionalise its food reserve.

Cambio técnico y medioambiental en España : ¿Atraso agrario o "dragón europeo"?

La visión peyorativa sobre la agricultura española, principal fuente de empleo hasta 1950, ha sido una de las constantes en los análisis socioeconómicos hasta fines del siglo pasado. Se convirtió en uno de los tópicos que alimentaron la inferioridad hispánica, a lo que contribuyeron escritores como Joaquín Costa. La renovación de la historia agraria ha corregido la imagen de atraso social y económico por dos caminos: el mejor conocimiento de los procesos de innovación técnica y el de los límites ambientales y biológicos de la actividad agraria española. Esto último sirve para llamar la atención sobre los peligros del productivismo, que fue más fácil de consolidar después de que el franquismo destruyera y reorientara los sistemas de innovación al eliminar las posibilidades de la vía campesina que ofrecía la reforma agraria republicana

Cambio técnico y medioambiental en España : ¿Atraso agrario o "dragón europeo"?

La visión peyorativa sobre la agricultura española, principal fuente de empleo hasta 1950, ha sido una de las constantes en los análisis socioeconómicos hasta fines del siglo pasado. Se convirtió en uno de los tópicos que alimentaron la inferioridad hispánica, a lo que contribuyeron escritores como Joaquín Costa. La renovación de la historia agraria ha corregido la imagen de atraso social y económico por dos caminos: el mejor conocimiento de los procesos de innovación técnica y el de los límites ambientales y biológicos de la actividad agraria española. Esto último sirve para llamar la atención sobre los peligros del productivismo, que fue más fácil de consolidar después de que el franquismo destruyera y reorientara los sistemas de innovación al eliminar las posibilidades de la vía campesina que ofrecía la reforma agraria republicana

Cambio técnico y medioambiental en España : ¿Atraso agrario o "dragón europeo"?

La visión peyorativa sobre la agricultura española, principal fuente de empleo hasta 1950, ha sido una de las constantes en los análisis socioeconómicos hasta fines del siglo pasado. Se convirtió en uno de los tópicos que alimentaron la inferioridad hispánica, a lo que contribuyeron escritores como Joaquín Costa. La renovación de la historia agraria ha corregido la imagen de atraso social y económico por dos caminos: el mejor conocimiento de los procesos de innovación técnica y el de los límites ambientales y biológicos de la actividad agraria española. Esto último sirve para llamar la atención sobre los peligros del productivismo, que fue más fácil de consolidar después de que el franquismo destruyera y reorientara los sistemas de innovación al eliminar las posibilidades de la vía campesina que ofrecía la reforma agraria republicana