Agribusiness,Peasant Agriculture and Labour Markets: Ecuador in Comparative Perspective

The consolidation of capitalist agriculture in countries such as Ecuador has led to a recent revaluation of territories (central highlands) where cheap labour has facilitated agribusiness development linked to the world market. This process generates growth in the numbers of rural wage workers and the creation of a labour market that, in relation to others in several Latin American countries, has certain particularities: permanent jobs, gender balance, an absence of intermediaries and low levels of precariousness. Small‐scale peasant producers are marginalized in this context and play functional roles within the current dynamics of agribusiness firms. The organizational weakness of rural wage earners and the pursuit of clientelist relationships by firms do not allow rural workers and local communities to devise economic and social strategies that might improve their position in this ‘field of forces’ in the territory.     

Values and Markets: an Analysis of Organic Farming Initiatives in Andalusia

This article sets out the overlapping political and cultural roots of an innovative farming co‐operative in Andalusia, one composed of both ex‐labourers and small farmers. One strand of values involves the realization of a food chain in which no capitalist enterprise can extract profit from their labours: this, together with various conceptions of personal and local autonomy, shapes much of their practice of organic farming. Nevertheless, their labour has to generate an acceptable livelihood through selling food in an environment dominated by large‐scale commercial agriculture in both the ‘conventional’ and ‘organic’ sectors. The article explains how they achieve this by building ties with consumers around a variety of shared values. This focus on the particularities of a radical food movement sheds light on many larger issues, both the nature of markets and competition in the dominant economy, and the debates about organic certification and ‘conventionalization’.     

‘Deal’ or ‘No Deal’? Impacts of Alternative Post‐Brexit Trade Agreements on UK Agriculture

Brexit will have important implications for UK agricultural commodity markets due to potentially significant changes to trade flows. We quantify the sectoral impacts on UK agriculture of three illustrative scenarios, which capture a broad range of potential trade arrangements: Bespoke Free Trade Deal , WTO Default and Unilateral Trade Liberalisation . It is estimated that the projected market impacts are relatively small if the UK negotiates a Bespoke Free Trade Agreement with the EU. The projected impacts are much greater under the two other scenarios, which capture potential trade arrangements if ‘no deal’ is reached. The high tariffs imposed under the WTO default scenario lead to significant adjustments in trade between the UK and EU‐27, with the impact on the domestic UK market depending on whether the UK is a net importer or a net exporter of the relevant commodity. All sectors experience price and production declines under the trade liberalisation scenario in which the UK unilaterally sets tariffs on imports from both the EU‐27 and the rest of the world to zero; the impacts are particularly severe in the beef and sheep sectors where international competition is very strong.     

Rethinking the agrarian question: Agriculture and underdevelopment in the Global South

In recent years, agriculture has come to be seen as increasingly irrelevant to processes of industrialization and economic development in the Global South. The integration of developing economies into global capitalism and the continued advance of structural transformation would seem to indicate that there is no longer a classic “agrarian question” in the developing world. In other words, agriculture is no longer a major barrier to capitalist development in these countries. However, there is reason to doubt this growing consensus. This article argues for a rethinking of the agrarian question in the Global South and presents evidence that capitalist property relations have not penetrated agriculture throughout much of the developing world. Contrary to recent trends in the literature, I argue that not only is there still an agrarian question in the Global South but also that it remains central to explaining lower levels of industrialization in these countries and, thereby, their relative underdevelopment.     

The Development of Agrarian Capitalism in Post‐Soviet Russia

A core set of criteria have been met, so that it is accurate to speak of an agrarian capitalist system in Russia. The development of agrarian capitalism carries with it increased stratification, which is analysed along five dimensions: earned income, land expansion, use of credit, income from food sales and income from household enterprise. The paper demonstrates increasing differentiation between households, between professional cohorts and within professional cohorts. The data showing stratification within professions suggest that intra‐cohort stratification is driving most of the inter‐cohort stratification. The Russian model of agrarian capitalism and its processes of stratification have yielded a bifurcated countryside in which a thin stratum of ‘super winners’ has emerged. Economic processes have developed beyond simple stratification and have created the basis from which a rudimentary class structure appears to be forming.     

United States–Cuba Agricultural Relations and Agrarian Questions

In the wake of Cuba's far‐reaching, halting economic reforms, geopolitical rapprochement and trade openings with the United States (US) offer opportunities and risks for Cuban small‐scale farmers and agrarian cooperatives: pressures, paradoxes and potential abound. Meanwhile, on the margins, agro‐ecologically oriented tours bring admiring US students, farmers and agrarian advocates. Cubans concur that the country must solve key problems in its agricultural sector to overcome the contradictions of its agri‐food model, and that this entails more exchange with the US – but in what capacity and on what terms? The current crossroads begs the classic agrarian question, even as it updates it. Having experienced and survived the promises and disasters of both capitalist and communist agricultural economies, Cuban farmers expand the original ‘peasant’ protagonist. As they navigate new non‐state markets and recent re‐entrenchment of state control of prices, Cuban farmers and cooperatives struggle to avoid monopolizing tendencies of unfettered capitalist as well as communist agricultural economies – both of which have historically been ecologically damaging. US agribusiness courts Cuba, but not as mere unidirectional capture: Cubans are inviting and leveraging trade to end the embargo, which is increasingly being modified altogether. Key Cuban agrarian principles of resilience and cooperativismo have persisted through capitalist and communist crises: could they influence prospects for agro‐industrial hegemony from the North?      

Transatlantic Similarities and Contrasts in Rural Development PoliciesTransatlantische Ähnlichkeiten und Gegensätze bei den Politiken zur Entwicklung des ländlichen RaumsPoints communs et divergences transatlantiques sur le développement rural

Transatlantic Similarities and Contrasts in Rural Development Policies
The United States (US) and European Union (EU) share many general policy aims for rural areas, but they differ in the ways in which they try to achieve these aims. The principal difference lies in the role envisioned by agriculture in overall rural development. EU policies treat agriculture as a provider of public goods, and many of its 'rural' programmes target agriculture. In the US, very few Federal rural development programs are focused solely on agriculture. Differences of approach may be linked to different farm distributions, population densities, historical settlement patterns, and the historical policy process per se . In particular, in the US rural development policy does not cover the environment or income support to farmers; these are addressed through other programmes. In contrast, the EU classifies its agri-environmental programmes as rural development, claiming that more environmentally-friendly farm practices bring benefits to the broader rural economy. US State and local initiatives emphasize many themes found in the EU's Pillar II programmes, such as value-added or sustainable agriculture. Overall, although there are marked differences in the ways in which policies are implemented, the coverage of these policies in the EU and US is rather similar.     

TOWARDS A BROADER UNDERSTANDING OF MEAT DEMAND — PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

This paper sets out meat consumption trends in the United Kingdom and within other EU countries over the past 40 years; it shows that whereas in the UK meat consumption has only increased by a small amount, for other EU countries it has almost doubled. In analysing the data in more detail, it is apparent that ‘non-price/income’ factors have been playing a more important part both for the UK and other EU countries. It is true that in recent years there has been much more published empirical work on the effect of different attitude, demographic and structural factors on meat demand; commercial and Governmental organisations have also been collecting a significant amount of relevant unpublished data. However, there has not been much recent progress on integrated approaches which combine the analyses of the consumer behaviourist with those of the economist. The paper concludes by stating that this is an area of growing importance for the food industry and those interested in analysing food demand trends. Agricultural economists should therefore get more involved in it.     

The Rise and Decline of Small‐Scale Sugarcane Production in South Africa: A Historical Perspective

South Africa's sugar industry has long been distinguished by its large number of small‐scale sugarcane growers (SSGs) farming on ‘communal’ land and its peculiar privately administered regulatory structure. In recent years, however, the numbers of small‐scale growers have declined precipitously. This paper argues that the relationship between the rise and fall of SSG production and the industry's governing regulatory structure is closer than usually appreciated. The emergence of SSG production in the late 1970s and the 1980s can be traced to industry‐subsidized initiatives, disguised as small‐scale credit, to bring commercially inalienable Bantustan land into cane production with strong miller oversight. From the late 1980s to 1990s, however, the elimination of these subsidies encouraged millers to subcontract support to farmers, while simultaneously instigating an increase in SSG numbers by removing restrictions on grower registration. Although low rainfall is a central proximal factor in the rapid decline of the SSGs in the 2000s, their rapid increase was structurally fragile.     

CAP Reform: Prospects for crop markets in the Enlarged EU: Reform der GAP: Aussichten für die Märkten von Feldfrüchten in der erweiterten EU: La rëforme de la PAC: I'avenir des marchés agricoles dans I'Europe élargie

CAP Reform: Prospects for crop markets in the Enlarged EU Agricultural Policy Modelling in the EU has become more complicated due to the recent CAP reform and EU Enlargement. Under the AGMEMOD (Agricultural Member States Modelling) Partnership, teams of economists with specialist knowledge of agriculture in their own countries have come together to build the AGMEMOD model. The model can be used to analyse the impact of policy reform at a country level in EU member states and at an aggregate EU level. The model covers a wide variety of agricultural commodities, but this article focuses specifically on the impact of the policy reform on the cereals sector. Results are presented for the EU15 in aggregate, the New Member States (NMS), Bulgaria and Romania. The implication of EU Enlargement is also examined for the accession countries. For the EU15, results suggest that there would be a modest reduction in grain production and a slightly larger reduction in oilseeds production by 2010, as a response to the decoupling of cereal payments. Results for the NMS suggest that their accession will bring some modest growth in grains production by 2010, This result is not greatly different from that which might have been achieved had these countries remained outside the EU. The recent reforms limit the extent to which the CAP stimulates increased production in the NMS. La réforme de la PAC: l'avenir des marches agricoles dans l'Europe élargie Avec l'elargissement et la recente reforme de la PAC, modeliser la politique agricole europeenne devient de plus en plus difficile. C'est pour cela que plusieurs Cquipes d'kconomistes ‐ chacune selectionnee sur la base de ses connaissances accumulees sur l'agriculture de son propre pays ‐ se sont associees pour construire le modele AGMEMOD, dans le cadre du partenariat MAEM (Modelisation Agricole des Etats Membres). Ce modkle est utilisable pour analyser l'impact des reformes de la politique agricole, tant au niveau de l'Europe entiere qu'i celui de chacun des Etats membres. Il couvre une vaste variete de produits agricoles, mme si le present article met I'accent sur les cereales. k s resultats sont prksentes pour les agrigats ‘Europe a 15’, ‘NMS’ (nouveaux ktats membres), Bulgarie et Roumanie. On examine aussi, ici, les implications de I'elargissement de I'Union pour les nouveaux membres. Pour 1'Europe a 15, a la suite du dkcouplage des aides cerealieres, les resultats conduisent i envisager a I'horizon 2010 une modeste reduction de la production de cereales et une reduction un peu plus forte de la production dolkagineux. Dans le mCme temps, les NMS devraient connaitre un faible accroissement de leur production de cereales. Ceci n'est pas fondamentalement different de ce qui serait arrive si ces pays etaient restes en dehors de 1'Europe. Dans les NMS, les reformes recentes ont pour effet de brider les accroissements de production auxquels I'application de la PAC aurait permis de s'attendre. Reform der GAP: Aussichten für die Märkte von Feldfruchten in der erweiterten EU Die Modellierung von Agrarpolitiken in der EU gestaltet sich auf Grund der kurzlich durchgefiihrten Reform der GAP und der EU‐Erweiterung zunehmend schwieriger. Im Rahmen der AGMEMOD (Agricultural Member States Modelling, Agrarmodellierung von Mitgliedstaaten)‐Partnerschaft haben sich Okonomen zusammengefunden, die im Hinblick auf die Landwirtschaft in ihren Heimatlandern uber Fachkenntnisse verfiigen, um das AGMEMOD‐Modell zu erarbeiten. Mit Hilfe dieses Modells konnen die Auswirkungen der Politikreformen sowohl auf Ebene der EU‐Mitgliedstaaten als auch auf aggregierter EU‐Ebene analysiert werden. Das Modell deckt eine groRe Anzahl von landwirtschaftlichen Produkten ab; dieser Artikel behandelt jedoch insbesondere die Auswirkungen der Politikreformen auf dem Getreidesektor. Die Ergebnisse werden fiir die aggregierte EU‐15, die neuen Mitgliedstaaten (NMS) sowie fiir Bulgarien und Rumanien dargestellt. Die Auswirkungen der ELI‐Erweiterung werden ebenfalls ftir die Beitrittslander untersucht. Im Fall der EU‐15 zeigen die Ergebnisse einen geingen Ruckgang bei der Getreideproduktion und einen etwas hoheren Ruckgang bei der Olsaatenproduktion bis zum Jahr 2010 als Folge der Entkopplung der Getreidezahlungen. Die Ergebnisse fiir die NMS deuten darauf hin, dass sich ein geringes Wachstum der Getreideproduktion bis zum Jahr 2010 ergeben wird. Dieses Ergebnis unterscheidet sich nicht wesentlich von einem Szenarium, in welchem diese Lander der EU nicht beigetreten waren. Die kurzlich durchgefiihrten Reformen begrenzen die produktionssteigernde Wirkung der GAP in den NMS.     

RURAL SOCIOLOGY AND ITS RELEVANCE TO THE AGRICULTURAL ECONOMIST: A REVIEW*

Following a discussion of the relationship between agricultural economics and rural sociology, the current status of the latter is discussed, including the differences between European and American approaches. The background to an emerging ‘sociology of agriculture’ is described and recent developments in the sociological analysis of some of its constituent components are considered. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between landholding and the social structure and to the development of ‘agribusiness’ as a vertically-integrated food-production complex. The impact of these on labour relations in agriculture and on the rural community are outlined. The article concludes with an assessment of future trends in rural sociology, concentrating on themes of rural development, the sociology of agriculture and the sociology of natural resources.     

Safe food,green food,good food: Chinese Community Supported Agriculture and the rising middle class

The growth of China's middle class is driving an expansion of interest in ‘green’ and sustainable food, food that is perceived to be healthy, safe and environmentally friendly. Self-consciously ‘sustainable’ agriculture is a new phenomenon in China, but it has emerged from, and builds upon, an agrarian history that is markedly different from that of the West. In this paper, we address the relationship between the Chinese middle class, an overwhelmingly urban group, and Chinese sustainable agriculture, a largely urban-oriented enterprise, from the perspective of our work in establishing and operating Beijing's first Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm. We discuss the farm's environmental and institutional sustainability, situating its development within the larger context of contemporary Chinese agriculture, and we examine the potential for future success with CSA models in China based on evidence from this case.     

Sweetness and Power – Public Policies and the ‘Biofuels Frenzy’

Sweetness and Power – Public Policies and the ‘Biofuels Frenzy’ In the last decade, there has been a huge policy‐led expansion in biofuels production and consumption. This paper presents some of the findings of a funded research project which has sought to identify the drivers of biofuels policies over this period. It focuses on the EU, US and Brazil which, together, represent about 90 per cent of global biofuels markets. Biofuels policies have three key drivers: as a partial substitute for fossil fuels, to lower greenhouse gas emissions; as a way of improving energy security, by diversifying away from fossil fuels and from the limited number of countries with fossil‐fuel reserves; and as a means of promoting rural development, given the opportunities offered by the production of biofuel feedstocks and their processing into biofuels. One particular challenge for both the EU and US has been to create and sustain a broad coalition of stakeholder interests in support of biofuels and biofuel policies. Both have sought to promote ‘conventional’ biofuels now, whilst trying to aid the development of ‘advanced’ biofuels industries that will address problems with existing technologies. The continued failure to deliver significant quantities of advanced biofuels raises questions for biofuels policymakers going forward, not least dealing with the downsides of conventional biofuels that, so far, have not been mitigated by a successful transition to advanced biofuels.     

Environmental efficiency and the impact of regulation in dryland organic vine production

Organic agriculture figures prominently in the policies adopted by the EU to improve the environmental impact of agriculture. It may also potentially provide other benefits such as high-quality, health-enhancing food products and advancements in rural development. Recent years have brought new research to assess the environmental and economic implications of organic conversion. Economic efficiency comparisons between organic and conventional farms have been extended to include environmental performance. The inclusion of this variable in efficiency analysis may be useful when assessing the potential impact of suggestions to improve environmental regulations and policies. This paper applies the environmental efficiency model to the analysis of different technologies and calculates productivity and efficiency with and without environmental impacts. In the empirical part of the paper Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and bootstrap techniques are applied to detect and measure differences between organic and conventional agriculture aggregate efficiency and productivity in a sample of vineyard farms operating in semiarid, non-irrigated conditions in Navarre (Spain), taking farms’ nitrogen surplus and pesticide toxicity indicators to consideration. The results for these particular agronomic conditions suggest that organic agriculture is more environmentally efficient than conventional agriculture in dryland farming, in that it achieves a more favorable production to environmental impact ratio. Nevertheless, conversion to organic production methods for extensive vine cultivation under arid conditions does not guarantee substantial environmental gains, since the organic farms in our sample do not display inferior levels of pollution emissions per unit input as extensive conventional production. The overall environmental efficiency of organic farming is largely attributable to the fact that organic farms come closer to the frontier of their own technology. We find no significant technological differences in environmental productivity, however. In terms of policy implications, these findings suggest that the tightening of specific environmental restrictions in organic standards should involve consideration of technological differences in environmental productivity between organic and other alternative technologies. If organic technology is less productive, more restrictive regulation could undermine the economic viability of farms, and thus undermine the other benefits of organic farming. The results also indicate that, at the local level, it could be convenient to address part of organic subsidies to further improvements in the control of pollution from fertilizers and pesticides.     

Implementing the EU eco-scheme in the Netherlands: A results-based points system approach

The latest reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) aimed at making it more results-oriented in order to ensure the sustainability of the sector. From 1 January 2023, in the new policy framework, the European Commission introduced a new tool – eco-schemes. This tool presents several advantages compared to the former ‘greening’ since it includes more ambitious targets than the previous policy framework. Another difference with the previous system is that the eco-schemes focus on results rather than efforts, while creating some room for the EU Member States to design measures which take into account existing local circumstances and needs. For the implementation of the eco-schemes, the Netherlands has developed a menu-points-system. The Dutch system is a good policy improvement compared to the previous ‘greening’ measures. Nevertheless, due to its hybrid form, it does not yet lead to the best possible cost-efficiency measures. To achieve that, a ‘pure’ point-reward (instead of an effort-reward) should have been implemented. Another novelty of the Dutch eco-scheme policy is the development of a simulation tool, which can assist farmers to test different choices before they make their final decisions.     

Productivity and Convergence in European Agriculture

We investigate relative productivity levels and decompose productivity change for European agriculture between 2004 and 2013. Specifically (i) we contribute to the debate on whether agricultural Total Factor Productivity (TFP) has declined or not in the European Union (EU); (ii) we compare the relative TFP level across EU Member States and investigate the difference between ‘old’ Member States (OMS, i.e. the EU‐15) and ‘new’ Member States (NMS); and (iii) we test whether TFP is converging or not among Member States. The empirical analysis applies an aggregate quantity framework to country‐level panel data from the Economic Accounts for Agriculture for 23 EU Member States. The results imply that TFP has slightly decreased in the EU over the analysed period; however there are significant differences between the OMS and NMS and across Member States. Finally, our estimates suggest that productivity is generally converging over this period, albeit slowly.     

黄河故道区农业生产模式研究——以聊城市为例

从区域开发的角度,对聊城市黄河故道区的环境特征、农业生产存在的问题等进行了分析,针对黄河故道区的环境特征及农业发展现状提出了:有机循环生态农业发展模式;生态观光农业发展模式;果—菜复合栽培农业生产模式等三种不同的农业生产模式构想,为黄河故道区农业可持续开发提供了依据。     

Environment, Land Use and Amenities – the New Dimension of Rural DevelopmentEnvironnement, utilisation des terres et aménités – la nouvelle dimension du développement ruralUmwelt, Landnutzung und landschaftliche Schönheit – die neue Dimension bei der Entwicklung des ländlichen Raums

Environment, Land Use and Amenities – the New Dimension of Rural Development
While agriculture, environmental conditions, and rural development are concerns common to both sides of the Atlantic, their interrelationships are viewed quite differently. For the EU, agriculture is seen as a means of sustaining the countryside; keeping it attractive to tourists and prospective residents. Farmers are stewards of the land and as such a key to rural development. For the US, agriculture and the environment are seen in potential conflict. Most of the expenditure on conservation goes to keeping environmentally sensitive cropland out of production. At the national level at least, the appeal of the countryside is not seen as a means to rural development, so that conservation programs tend to be seen as a threat to rural development by reducing the use of local off-farm services. Part of the difference in viewpoint may stem from the greater socio-cultural significance of agricultural landscapes in the EU. However, recent research in the US suggests that landscape is important in attracting new rural residents and visitors and there is growing recognition on both sides of the Atlantic that the natural environment helps shape rural growth. More research is needed on the relationship between the environment and rural development as unsupported assumptions seem to underlie policies in both regions.     

Russian to modern world history: Teodor Shanin and peasant studies

This paper is a retrospective of Teodor Shanin's work, mostly in the 1970s and 1980s, the principal period of his publications in English. It may also serve as a guide to tracing Shanin's main themes and issues, which included establishing a ‘generic’ peasant studies (‘peasantology’) and how he aimed to do so; his explorations of the development of capitalism and its impact on peasantries in Russia from the late 19th century to the contemporary Third World; similarly, his ideas of the promotion of ‘modernization’ of peasant agriculture by states; his relationship to Marxism in the historic Russian context and beyond; his views of peasant ‘classness’ and politics; and his vision of an alternative path of agricultural development based in peasant farming, which he drew largely from Chayanov.