Farm Input, Farm Output and Retail Food Prices: A Cointegration Analysis

This paper investigates the adjustment mechanism between farm input prices, farm output prices and food retail prices in Canada. Johansen's maximum likelihood approach is used in addition to the Engle-Granger approach to test for cointegration. Contrary to the common assumption that farm output prices are more flexible than farm input prices, it is found that farm output prices, though cointegrated, are weakly exogenous in the sense that they do not respond in a systematic manner to disequilibrium in farm input prices and retail food prices. Evidence is found to support “cost push” and “demand pull” theories but, since food retail prices carry a heavier weight in the cointegration relations, it can be concluded that shocks manifesting themselves (first) at the retail level do not persist as long. Cet ouvrage se concentre sur le mécanisme d'ajustement entre les prix des intrants à la ferme, les prix payés aux producteurs agricoles et les prix de l'alimentation au détail au Canada. Les techniques développées par Johansen et par Engle et Granger sont utilisées pour vérifier des hypothèses reliées à la cointegration. Contrairement à la présomption que les prix payés aux agriculteurs sont plus flexibles que les prix de leurs intrants, on a découvert que les prix payés aux agriculteurs, bien que cointégrés, sont exogènes au moindre degré dans le sens qu'ils ne s'ajustent pas en fonction du déséquilibre dans les prix des intrants et les prix de l'alimentation au detail. La théorie voulant que les prix montent à cause des hausses dans les prix des intrants est vérifiée de même que la théorie alternative voulant que les ajustements des prix se fassent du détail aux intrants. Fluctuations occasionées par des changements dans les prix de l'alimentation au détail sont dissipées plus rapidement que les ajustements causés par des variations dans les prix des intrants.     

Noncash Income Transfers and Agricultural Land Values

Several studies have considered the impact of government cash income transfers to agricultural producers on agricultural land prices. This study examines the effects of a noncash income transfer on agricultural land prices. The impact of the U.S. sugar program on irrigated land prices in Montana is evaluated using a hedonic regression model. The model considers the impacts of sugar beet price and land characteristics on land prices. The results indicate that noncash income transfers generated by the U.S. sugar program have been capitalized into cropland prices.     

Agricultural Credit Subsidies and Farmland Values in Canada

The objective of this study is to determine the impact of farm credit subsidies on the value of farmland in Canada. The price-components model based on the capitalization principle is developed and estimated using the pooled data from four selected provinces (Quebec, New Brunswick, Manitoba and Saskatchewan) from 1972 to 1991. The results show that increases (decreases) in interest subsidies are expected to increase (decrease) farmland and building values. However, the short-term impact is estimated to be small. The regional analysis shows that the abolition of interest subsidies across the country is likely to have a relatively higher impact on land and building values in Quebec than in the prairie provinces.     

我国农业科技园区需要研究解决的几个问题

农业科技园区巳经成为我国农业和农村发展的一个亮点，但农业科技园区普遍亏损问题十分突出，急需予以研究解决。本文在初步调查的基础上，提出政府扶持方式、经营管理机制，用地保障、技术集聚机制与形式、企业员工激励机制、从经营的角度进行规划调整等6个方面的研究课题。     

Agricultural and Economy‐Wide Effects of European Enlargement: Modelling the Common Agricultural Policy

The economic impact of extending the Common Agricultural Policy to the Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) has become a major issue in the European enlargement debate. This paper provides an assessment of the economy‐wide effects of European enlargement using a global general equilibrium model where special attention is given to modelling the instruments of the Common Agricultural Policy, the Agenda 2000 proposal and the EU budget. The results indicate a substantial potential for increasing agricultural production in the CEEC. The EU budget will increase significantly and the transfers from EU taxpayers to farmers in the CEEC result in significant welfare gains in the new member countries. In spite of these important transfers the macroeconomic costs for the EU are found to be limited.     

Distortions to World Trade: Impacts on Agricultural Markets and Farm Incomes

The latest versions of the Global Trade Analysis Project database and the Linkage model of the global economy (projected to 2015) are used to estimate the impact of removing all merchandise trade distortions (including agricultural subsidies). Results suggest that a move to free merchandise trade would increase farm employment, the real value of agricultural output and exports, real returns to farm land and unskilled labor, and real net farm incomes in developing countries. This would occur despite the decline in international terms of trade for some developing countries that are net food importers or are enjoying preferential access to agricultural markets of high-income countries.     

Implementable Ramsey-Boiteux Pricing in Agricultural and Environmental Policy

Agricultural producers frequently face price discrimination that is based either on characteristics of their products, or on the physical manner in which the product is produced. We consider how to set such discriminatory prices optimally and show that for a very broad range of production technologies, the first-best voluntary policy, which involves a modified version of Ramsey-Boiteux pricing, is implementable even in the presence of hidden knowledge by farmers about their types.     

Using Multi-Criteria Decision Models to Assess the Economic and Environmental Impacts of Farming Decisions in an Agricultural Watershed

This paper reports on the integration of a farm decision model with a watershed biophysical model to evaluate the economic and environmental impacts of farming decisions in an agricultural watershed. A baseline, one uncoordinated and four watershed-level coordinated decision scenarios were evaluated and compared as alternative ways of managing the significant tradeoffs expected when multiple conflict management objectives exist. The four coordinated scenarios outperform the uncoordinated one in terms of economic returns and key environmental impacts. The study's findings contribute to the understanding of biophysical and economic processes in agricultural watersheds.     

农业综合开发投入产出效果的地区差异

由于不同地区的自然条件和经济条件存在差异，农业综合开发的投入产出效果也存在一定的差异。本文运用聚类分析方法，通过对15年农业综合开发投入产出的比较研究，确定了不同地区、不同产业的比较优势，为今后农业综合开发在不同地区的投入方向提供参考依据。     

农产品物流体系的规制及其专业化发展

本文在分析农产品物流交易特性的基础上,对我国现行农产品物流体系的规制效率进行了深入分析,认为一体化规制结构并非农产品物流的有效治理结构,应鼓励农产品物流体系向专业化发展;结合我国农产品物流中心的兴起及其规制,认为三方规制结构是专业化农产品物流体系的有效治理结构。