Agricultural Marketing in Spain

The paper deals with the analysis of marketing in the Spanish agrofood sector. The methodology follows the industrial organization paradigm: structure, conduct and performance. It gives a first analysis of market environment, monetary fiscal policies, and consumer's demand. Market structure shows a dominance of minifundia at farmer and retail level. A concentration process is going on at wholesale and industrial level. Conduct and performance of agrofood marketing are being studied, with special attention to competitiveness and rice evolution. Finally some observations are made on marketing characteristics in some of the traditional food sectors.     

Agricultural Marketing in France

French production is based on a large agricultural area with a large number of farmers. They work with co-operatives which are very near to them and collect their product. Protectionism has led to a disequilibrium with the economic system in this sector. Actual CAP's orientations and the increase in competition, has forced farmers and co-operatives to concentrate and restructure. The number of farmers has decreased while many co-operatives have started to process raw production materials. One goal of the food industry is to become more international. French food industry made a lot of acquisitions abroad but the increasing place of Italians in French companies also has to be noticed. Distribution plays an important role in agricultural marketing where 66% of food products are sold through about ten companies. This market structure allows them to have a favored position. However, it's a very dynamic sector which now faces some difficulties.     

Economic development, institutional change, and the political economy of agricultural protection An econometric study of Belgium since the 19th century

This empirical study uses 100 years of annual data on 11 agricultural commodities from Belgium to measure the impact of structural changes coinciding with economic development and changes in political institutions on agricultural protection. The analysis shows that changes in agricultural protection are caused by a combination of factors. Governments have increased protection and support to farmers when world market prices for their commodities fell, and vice versa, offsetting market effects on producer incomes. Other economic determinants were the share of the commodities in total consumer expenditures (negative effect) and in total output of the economy (positive effect). With Belgium a small economy, there was no impact of the trade position. Changes in political institutions have affected agricultural protection. Democratic reforms which induced a significant shift in the political balance towards agricultural interests, such as the introduction of the one‐man‐one‐vote system, led to an increase in agricultural protection. The integration of Belgian agricultural policies in the Common Agricultural Policy in 1968 coincided with an increase in protection, ceteris paribus. Both institutional factors, related to changes in access to and information about the decision‐making at the EU level, and structural changes in the agricultural and food economy may explain this effect.     

体验经济视域下西安浐灞生态区农业旅游产品开发研究

随着旅游业市场需求的不断转变,体验经济理论与旅游业的融合发展已经成为必然的趋势,也越来越受到国内外学者的重视。文章以西安浐灞生态区农业旅游产品为研究对象,从体验经济视角出发,分析了浐灞生态区农业旅游产品发展现状;揭示了其存在的农业产业规模小,农业产业化水平低、农产品总量不足,农业旅游产品吸引力不足、市场开发能力不强,景区基础设施建设简陋、综合服务能力不强,开发缺乏前期规划、没有与体验经济很好地融合等问题;最后,遵循因地制宜、突出特色,市场向导、注重营销,循序渐进、逐步开发,创新技术、注重管理,经济-社会-生态协调可持续发展等原则,探索了浐灞生态区农业旅游产品的开发模式,如重大有益事件带动模式、特定功能带动模式、交通带动模式、产业带动模式、优惠政策带动模式、居住带动模式等。     

Less Livestock in North-western Europe? Discourses and Drivers Behind Livestock Buyout Policies

Direct intervention in the size of livestock numbers is not considered a main option in European agri-environmental policies nor in policy studies. Nevertheless, the governments of the Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium) have announced livestock buyout schemes. This article contributes to the scarce literature on this policy instrument by sketching the characteristics of different types of buyout schemes. We analyse how the issue of reducing livestock numbers is being framed in four EU Member States with high livestock dense regions: the Netherlands, Belgium (Flanders), Denmark and Germany. While the debate on ‘technology versus volume’ can be observed in all four countries, the ‘nitrogen crises’ in the first two has led to a reframing of concerns over livestock numbers in relation to place-based deterioration of habitats and the possibility of granting permits for new economic activities, rather than as a global issue of mitigating climate change. Pre-existing institutional frameworks influence the introduction and design of new buyout policies. In the context of high political pressure, existing policies to close down farms were reinforced and nutrient emission rights systems offered the opportunity to take production rights out of the market. Notwithstanding the policies and available budgets, the issue of direct intervention to reduce livestock numbers remains controversial.     

AGRICULTURAL PRICE POLICY,FOOD AID AND INPUT SUBSIDY REFORMS IN BURKINA FASO

This paper examines the agrarian decline in Burkina Faso that prompted structural adjustment reforms by the World Bank and the IMF in the early 1980s. Official interventions in the cereals, cotton and fertiliser sectors are examined, and an analysis made of regional impacts of the proposed reforms on producers and consumers. Counter-factual simulations with a multi-region, multi-commodity agricultural sector model are used to evaluate three policies: eliminating input subsidies, increasing official market commodity prices, and reducing food aid imports. Model results show that these reforms would improve agricultural-sector performance, but depend on cotton exports to pay for fertiliser, contrary to government self-sufficiency objectives. Relaxing capacity constraints on official marketing operations would also need to be eliminated to achieve reform objectives.     

MARKETING BOARDS AND QUOTA POLICIES FOR CANADIAN FARM PRODUCTS: AN APPRAISAL OF PERFORMANCE*

Since the great economic Depression, Canadian farm operators have always emphasized the need to strengthen their bargaining position in the market place. Basically, farm operators believe that the individual farmer is in no position to bargain effectively in a product market with a few large firms.
Legislators have responded to the wishes of farm operators by enacting legislation which provides for the formation of compulsory marketing boards controlled by producers. An ever-increasing number of these boards are now in operation. The granting of exclusive powers to sell particular farm products, however, is one which involves the public interest and the public is, therefore, vitally interested.
This paper focuses attention on the exercise of the powers vested in these marketing boards through their use of quotas, and their limitations to entry of new producers into particular sectors of the agricultural industry. The paper indicates that there are some positive features to the quota policies pursued by marketing boards. Some economic security has been afforded farm operators with short-term stability engendered in particular sectors of agriculture. There are certain negative consequences of these quota policies, which affect the location of production and also impair the competitive strength of particular sectors of agriculture to which they are applied. They have also interfered with the most rational utilization of resources in associated industries. These aspects of the quota policies are, therefore, inconsistent with the public interest. The study outlines principles that should form the basis of a revitalized marketing policy that may be more consistent with the public interest.     

Legal,Ethical, or Responsible Food

The article discusses the concepts of legal, ethical, and responsible food in international food business. Food rules are divided into 3 categories: rules you follow because you have to (law), rules you follow because it is right (ethics), and rules you follow because it gives you a competitive advantage (responsibility). Food issues that need to be addressed include consumer rights (safety, nutrition, marketing), environmental issues (climate, eutrophication, biodiversity), employee policies, animal welfare, and fair trade practices. The laws of various countries often leave room for ethics and responsibility. This room varies between countries and elements of responsibility. In the European Union, United States, and China, market focus is on somewhat different food issues. Retailers and consumers drive food companies toward change, and the level of effort required is defined through combining food company values and stakeholder views.     

新冠肺炎疫情冲击粮食安全:趋势、影响与应对

新冠肺炎疫情在全球加速扩散蔓延,引发全球粮食市场异常波动以及对中国粮食安全的担忧。疫情对后期全球粮食生产与贸易的影响将进一步加大,全球粮食市场波动有可能进一步升级。随着全球金融市场充分释放流动性,国际投机资本若炒作农产品市场,爆发类似2008年粮食危机的风险将越来越高。分析表明,中国粮食安全保障体系总体上可从容应对全球粮食市场波动升级的挑战,但大豆等农产品进口需防控国际市场波动风险。本文认为,要高度重视全球粮食市场波动的可能风险和挑战,必须加强监测、及早谋划,系统应对、综合施策。包括:有效管控输入性不稳定预期对国内粮食市场的干扰和冲击;进一步强化粮食生产能力建设;构建国家粮食安全保障风险治理体系;完善重要农产品储备体系;强化农产品全球供应链管理;加强国际粮食安全、贸易和投资政策协调。     

Agricultural policies and food systems: Priorities for indicator development

Existing indicators of agricultural protection and support were developed primarily to gauge the market and welfare effects of government policies. They have shed light on a wider range of impacts through their use in economic models and empirical analysis. The rising scale of support to agriculture globally, and continued reliance on market distorting policy instruments, make this work as important as ever. Deeper investments are nonetheless needed to address heightened concerns about the spill-over impacts of agricultural policies on the performance of food systems, in particular with respect to food security and nutrition, rural livelihoods, resource use and the environment, and global emissions. A first area for development is improved measures of policies to correct agriculture's externalities. A priority here is to develop a carbon tax equivalent of sectoral mitigation efforts. A second area is to provide a clearer delineation of government spending on private versus public goods. This would make a valuable contribution to a ‘repurposing’ agenda that seeks to identify how agricultural budgets can be spent more effectively, as well as the scope for transferring resources to wider social priorities, such as public health and climate action.     

Improving Agricultural Physical Marketing Infrastructure in Africa Through More Self-Help

The paper provides a brief overview of the problems of physical agricultural marketing infrastructure in Africa, with particular reference to rural roads and marketing facilities, such as storage, processing and market centres. In order to overcome these constraints, it is necessav to strengthen macro policy changes, with particular reference to commodity marketing, rural finance and government decentralization policies with the obiective of providing more incentives to marketing enterprises and local authorities to promote infrastructure development. Changes in macro policies have to be supported by adequate training programmes, support to institution building and adjustment of aid strategies to encourage self-help in developing marketing infrastructure.     

Economy-wide reform and agricultural recovery: Observations of economic Darwinism among transition economies

The fitness of an economy and its prospects for continued prosperity will be measured and determined by its robustness and its ability to adapt to changing circumstances. Some countries in transition are adapting much more easily than others to rapid changes in the orientation of their economy, the common objective of which is to achieve economic growth through the adoption of a range of characteristics generally associated with a market economy. Economic growth does not have to be very fast, but it must be efficient and sustainable. Policy adjustments must address political economy concerns, while seeking to achieve macroeconomic equilibrium and price stabilization, competitiveness, efficiency and flexibility, and the protection of the living standards of the most vulnerable population The process of agricultural sector reform will be determined both by economy-wide policies and sector-specific policies. This paper first outlines a taxonomy of the objectives of agricultural sector reform, and then discusses the way in which indirect price interventions (specifically exchange rate and interest rate policies, expansive fiscal policies and industrial protection policies), influence agricultural growth. Lessons of experience drawn from the UNDP/World Bank Trade Expansion Program structural and sectoral adjustment operations in Poland, and the cases of New Zealand and Chile are employed to illustrate not only the constraints that countries face in this regard, but also in identifying targets for further action. The third section presents what is called the architecture of incentives for agriculture'. In defining a strategy of agricultural sector reform, experience has shown that a structure of incentives can be developed that creates an environment ripe for agricultural growth-incentives relating, for example, to taxation, prices, foreign investment, privatization and demonopolization, decentralization and institutional reform. Special considerations that will require additional attention by policy-makers outside of this structure include the maintenance of GATT-legal principles in trade policies, issues relating to tariffication (including concerns about price risk management, food supply, and the role of food aid), input and credit subsidies as a means to correct for market failures, and the role of regional trading blocks in world trade.     

Conditioning trends shaping the agricultural and rural landscape in Africa

African countries continue to face deepening food crises that have been accentuated by the global food, energy, and financial crises. This situation is part of a long‐term structural problem: decades of under‐investments in agricultural sector and poor policies of support for smallholder farmers who form the bulk of the farming population. The inability of these farmers to achieve a supply response when commodity prices were high and market access was less of a problem suggests that there are multiple sets of binding constraints that continue to limit the potential of agricultural growth to reduce food security and poverty on the continent. This article reviews some of the historical trends that have hampered the performance of the agriculture sector. In addition, it reviews the impacts of more positive trends that could stimulate agricultural growth in Africa that could change the African agricultural landscape. The article however warns that there are more recent global developments and some continental challenges that could prevent or slow agricultural growth. These include the global financial crisis, public sector investments, inequities in global agricultural development policies, rush for agricultural lands by foreign investors, domestic commercial financing markets, climate change, and emerging carbon markets. The article argues that while opportunities for accelerated growth exists for African agriculture, new sets of policy instruments will be needed to support smallholder farmers to access new agricultural technologies, finance, reduce impacts of climate change, and adopt sustainable land use practices that can allow them to benefit from emerging global carbon markets.     

Smallholder cooperatives and agricultural performance in Rwanda: do organizational differences matter?

Agricultural policies in Rwanda focus on agricultural intensification and increased market orientation of the smallholder farm sector. Cooperatives are seen as key vehicles in this, but little is known about their effectiveness to achieve these goals. In this article, we analyze the impact of cooperative membership on the agricultural performance of rural households in Rwanda. We use cross‐sectional survey data, collected in 2012, to analyze the impact of cooperative membership on different agricultural performance indicators, including indicators on agricultural intensification, market orientation, farm revenue, and income. We use several econometric techniques to deal with potential selection bias in estimating the impact of cooperative membership, including a proxy variable method based on a willingness to pay measure and propensity score matching methods. We find that cooperative membership in general has a positive impact on farm performance but these effects are driven by specific types of cooperatives.     

Neither State nor Market: The Influence of Farmers' Organizations on Agricultural Policies in Costa Rica

In recent decades, policies in many countries have been shaped by the implementation of economic liberalization, characterized by state withdrawal from marketing operations and control of trade. In this era of liberalization, policies regulating commodity marketing and trade were expected to disappear, but, in fact, this has hardly occurred. A comparative study is carried out of three farm sectors in Costa Rica, based on a dynamic analysis of behaviour in the context of the institutional change brought about by liberalization. The capacity of farmers' organizations to adapt and contribute to institutional change through their control over economic activity and their participation in policymaking processes is highlighted. In so doing, it is shown that, even in a liberalized era, policies regulating marketing and trade still exist and affect the functioning of agricultural markets. These policies differ according to the farm sector and can be linked directly to the influence of farmers' organizations within these sectors. It is shown that organizations play a key role in the regulation of farm sectors, and that their success depends on the institutional and organizational “thickness” to which they have contributed in each sector. Differences in historical trajectories can explain differences in the capacity of organizations to influence policymaking and to gain market share.     

THE COST OF FOOD MARKETING*

There exists a wealth of statistical data in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on agricultural structure and production, and on the consumption of food, much of which is well known and readily available to research workers outside. But much less is known about the manufacturing and distribution costs of food between the farm gate and the consumer. The purpose of this paper is to present aggregate data relating to food marketing, in much the same way that earlier contributions, notably to this Journal, have covered agricultural output and net income, and farm structure. Changes in the food marketing sector since the end of rationing are briefly set out and, following discussion of some of the conceptual problems involved, estimates are presented of the value added to food between farm or port and the retail level, and of the magnitude of the flows within the sector     

大兴安岭北奇神产品销售策略探析

介绍了北奇神品牌的背景及现状,分析了产品的特点,指出产品存在质量不高、数量不足、市场营销策划不周、企业机制不活、人才匮乏等方面的问题。针对产品定位、目标顾客、细分市场、市场测量、营销模式、特色商品营销、宣传体系等七个方面进行了详细的销售体系策划,提出了新的经营和销售理念。提出了产品供应管理、销售商品管理、客户服务管理、财务管理四个方面的管理措施,从而建立起北奇神产品营销及管理的一套完整管理体系。     

Export Performance on the Malaysian Wooden Furniture Industry: An Empirical Study

There has been a significant increase in the quantity and quality of international and export marketing research with respect to effective solutions toward export performance. However, an investigation on the impact of marketing strategy and export performance in a single industry is lacking. In addition, the influence of environmental factors to moderate the relationship between export marketing strategy and export performance has received little agreement. This research aims to investigate the relationship between export marketing strategy and export performance in the Malaysian wooden furniture industry as well as the influence of the moderating role of environmental factors on the relationship between export marketing strategy and export performance. Personal, mail, and phone interview methods were used to measure export marketing strategy, newly developed environmental factor variables (which consist of the global economic situation and certification), and export performance. The findings show that there is no direct relationship between export marketing strategy and export performance. Uniquely, the moderating effect of certification appears to moderate a few relationships between product and promotion adaptation, distribution strategy, design strategy, and target market specification on export performance. Managerial implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.