Community resilience,policy corridors and the policy challenge

This article discusses the complex interlinkages between community resilience and the policy challenge, linked especially to the notion of state-led policy corridors and who should be in charge of the ‘global resilience transition’. State policies affect every community within a nation state either directly or indirectly, and pathways of change are channelled into specific ‘corridors’ which can have both malign and benign repercussions for community resilience. While the most effective policies are usually tailored specifically at the needs of particular communities and dependent on appropriate timing of policy implementation, state policies also often lead to a reduction of community resilience. The increasing embeddedness of most communities into the global capitalist system also makes it difficult to raise resilience and trade-offs become inevitable. In many communities (often in the global South) policies may have to focus on preventing further loss of resilience at community level, while in others (often in the developed world) the focus may have to be on the rediscovery of strongly resilient pathways. A new contract between the state and communities may have to be established, as new forms of institutionalisation, regulation and spatialisation become significant in the uneven development of spaces of resilience where the rediscovery of strong resilience has to become an inherently moral process. Building strong community resilience is often an endogenous process linked to local customs that, at times, may operate, change and influence decision-making outside of the state policy realm, although community-level actors cannot always be left alone to guide their own resilience pathways without interference from the state. Some external regulation of resilience transitions may be needed and in most cases the state has to play at least some role in guiding and influencing the transition towards strong community resilience – i.e. resilience is not ‘made’ and does not emerge out of a vacuum, but it is transferred through complex processes of policy and other exchanges between communities and wider society.     

Trade,policy, and food security

Food insecurity is extensive throughout the world and hunger and malnutrition are expected to remain serious humanitarian and political concerns, both in the short term and for the foreseeable future, particularly in low income developing countries where many rural and urban households are both income and asset poor. In those countries, domestic agricultural production is expected to be especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change over the next 30 years. Thus international markets for staple agricultural commodities, which have become increasingly important as sources of nutrition for both developing and developed countries over the past 60 years, are likely to become even more important in the future. Free trade policies allow countries to exploit their comparative advantages in economic activity, increasing average per capita incomes, longer term growth rates and a country's capacity to fund social safety nets for the poor. However, many countries abandoned those policies in favor of domestic protections in their efforts to mitigate the effects of short run food crises. The policy challenge is therefore to resolve the tension between optimal long run policies and short run initiatives to address food security concerns.     

One federal policy,four different policy contexts: An examination of agri-environmental policy implementation in the Midwestern United States

Much research attention has been given to devolved environmental policies and variation in state adoption of environmental policies. Less attention has been paid to variation in top-down federal policies, including in the agri-environmental arena. The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is the largest working land conservation program in the United States, incentivizing the adoption of conservation practices on active agricultural land through cost-share and technical assistance. While the program is federal, state offices of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) are charged with implementing the program in their state. Qualitative interviews (n = 26) were conducted with NRCS personnel in four Midwestern states to explore similarities and differences between state administrative outputs. Program outputs are determined through a mixture of national, state, and local administrative processes and are driven by dissimilarities in state resource concerns and agricultural systems. The process by which farmers apply for cost-share funding through EQIP is largely the same across states, but states vary in several important outputs, especially resource and conservation practice priority, as well as state and local partnerships. Outreach methods do not tend to vary between states; NRCS districts typically rely on passive recruitment and word-of-mouth recruitment. Divergence in state EQIP outputs constitute a significant difference in the policy context in which farmers make conservation decisions in the Midwest, which has implications for research concerning farmer behavior. While federal policies implemented across the states offer some level of consistency in the setting in which individual land managers make decisions, variation may still exist in many policies that results in different policy outputs.     

Market intermediaries,storage and policy reforms

Intermediaries play a crucial role in the functioning of agricultural and food markets in developing countries through linking production, imports and storage with consumption. We analyse how competition in the intermediary sector and alternative forms of intermediaries determine the incentives for storage and market outcomes more generally. We apply this framework to the Egyptian wheat sector as an illustrative case study, a country where food security is a priority, where both forms of intermediaries co-exist and undertake storage but where issues of reforms to the role of intermediaries have been raised. Through stochastic simulation, we analyse two changes in government policy: first, the effects of changing the policy instruments with both types of intermediaries undertaking storage; second, relating to market reforms where the private sector replaces the storage function of the parastatal. These issues have wider significance for addressing the interaction between food security and a wide range of policy reforms including de-regulation of parastatals in developing countries.     

Planning policy,housing density and consumer preferences

Due to a combination of government planning policies and market pressures in England in the period 2000–2008, there was an increase in the construction of flats and high-density developments and a decline in the construction of houses. In this paper, an analysis of the effects of these policy constraints is undertaken. Using hedonic pricing models, we test for a non-linear relationship between house prices and residential density in England. Consumers prefer houses over flats and detached properties over semi-detached and terraced (i.e. lower density suburban areas). However, both low-density, detached-dominant areas and high-density, flat-dominant areas attracted a premium over medium density areas and the relative size of these price differences vary between different housing market areas. In cities outside London, we consistently see a convex relationship between price and density, whereas a concave relationship between price and density is consistently observed in London. This suggests a different form of relationship between density and house prices in large urban conurbation areas, compared to more typical provincial cities. The conclusions we draw are that in the correct context, high density may be viewed positively but a single planning policy is not appropriate and it should be tailored to suit local market needs.     

Climate change: scenarios,impacts, policy,and development opportunities

This article is divided into three parts. First, it provides an overview of the main outcomes of the last IPCC assessment report, both in terms of economic drivers of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and in terms of impacts of climate change, in particular for the agriculture sector. Then, it focuses on policy options and their optimal design, taking into account technological availability, international cooperation, and above all the stringency of the remaining carbon budget. Finally, it analyzes the size and direction of investment decisions required to stabilize GHG emissions and their implications for economic development.     

Dryland salinity: economic, scientific, social and policy dimensions

A broad range of information relevant to salinity is reviewed in order to critically evaluate existing and prospective policy responses. The review includes issues of hydrogeology, farmer perceptions and preferences, farm-level economics of salinity management practices, spill-over benefits and costs from salinity management, and politics.
The technical challenge of preventing salinity is far greater than previously recognised. The farm-level economics of currently available management practices for salinity prevention are adverse in many situations. Off-site benefits from on-farm practices are often small and long delayed. Past national salinity policies have been seriously flawed. While current policy proposals include positive elements, they have not sufficiently escaped from the past.     

Trade policy, biotechnology and grain self-sufficiency in China

Over the past 20 years the growth of China's agricultural economy has been extraordinary. However, it seems unlikely that China will maintain self‐sufficiency in grains by 2005 without substantial intervention. We develop a CGE model to assess the options available to Chinese policy makers. We compare the welfare effects of import tariffs and domestic support, and explore the potential of biotechnology as a means to achieve self‐sufficiency through improvements in agricultural productivity. Our results indicate that the price interventions that would be required to maintain China's desired self‐sufficiency ratios are considerable, and are unlikely to be compatible with WTO accession. The productivity improvements required are also significant, and likely beyond the current potential of biotechnology.     

土地、房价与宏观调控之我见

土地既是房地产市场的源头要素,也是房地产市场的重要组成部分,土地供给和信贷投放两道闸门一起管,是本次宏观调控的一大鲜明特色。在短短的一个半月时间里,国家就房地产行业接连发出三道政令,这是史无前例的5月9日,国务院办公厅转发了国家七部委《关于做好稳定住房价格工作的意见》,这是继3月26日国务院办公厅发出《关于切实稳定住房价格的通知》、4月27日国务院常务会议提出“加强房地产市场引导和调控的八点措施”之后,所发布的又一调控房地产市场的重大举措。在短短的一个半月时间里,国家就房地产行业接连发出三道政令,这是史无前例的。…     

Food crops, exports, and the short-run policy response of agriculture in Africa

The response of agriculture to changes in relative prices is an important factor in the success of structural adjustment programs in Africa. In this paper I estimate supply functions for total agricultural output, food crops and export crops in 14 African countries for the years 1975 to 1990. Food and export crops are substitutes in production in the short run. Total agricultural output responds negatively to increases in export prices and positively to increases in food prices. A plausible explanation is that as farmers shift resources to export crop production, food supply falls in the short run, while the increase in export supply may take several years to materialize. The exchange rate is significant in explaining both food and export crop production and aggregate agricultural supply, suggesting that the exchange rate is acting as a proxy for excluded macroeconomic variables or that changes in the exchange rate are not passed immediately through to prices.     

Crop research,biotech canola,and innovation policy in Canada: Challenges,opportunities, and evolution

Increased investment in agricultural research could contribute to sustainable development goals and benefit farmers, consumers, the environment, and the economy. This paper provides recent evidence and a critical assessment of the evolving Canadian canola crop development and innovation policy and compares it to the wheat and pulse sectors that differ in degree of biotechnology adoption, seeded acreage, intellectual property rights, and private sector involvement. This study also assesses how crop characteristics and technological changes affect future optimal public policy. A number of innovation policies are discussed that could stimulate further growth within the crop sector.     

Invasive species: The categorization of wildlife in science,policy, and wildlife management

Species categories commonly used in nature conservation, such as protected, endangered, reintroduced, or invasive, are open to various interpretations that can result in diverging and sometimes serious consequences. This is vividly apparent with respect to invasiveness because the categorization of species and individual animals as invasive impacts on how they are treated in practice. This article demonstrates how different constructions of invasiveness in science, policy, and wildlife management can be traced back to different assessments of the origin, behavior, and impact of the invasives. Specifically, the focus is on the different conceptions of space and the role of data in the categorization of invasives. We find that, in science and policy, invasiveness is constructed mainly in terms of the origin and impact of invasives but that these domains differ in how they treat space in their assessment of origin: whereas science uses ecological spaces, such as biogeographical regions, to assess whether a species belongs to, or is invasive in, a certain area, policy uses policy spaces such as countries or states to do so. In assessing the impact of invasives, science argues about including it in its definition, whereas policy requires detailed data about ecological, societal, and economic damage in order to take action. In wildlife management, the focus in the construction of invasiveness shifts from origin and impact to behavior of invasives. This requires detailed data about where the invasives are, where they are going, and what they are doing. By showing the dynamic and context-specific nature of the construction of invasiveness, the article contributes to ongoing research about classifications of nature, their difficulties and ambiguities, and their implementation and consequences in practice.     

Multifunctional agriculture, policy measures and the WTO: the Norwegian case

One of the questions debated in the ongoing WTO agricultural negotiations is whether 'trade-distorting' subsidies, or subsidies outside the 'green box', are needed in order to pursue non-trade concerns. The term 'multifunctional agriculture' is increasingly applied to describe non-trade concerns. This article focuses on how to achieve the multifunctional goals that nations may have with minimal trade-distortion. In the first part of the article, this is done by a literature review and a theoretical analysis. The findings are then converted into an analysis of possible policy formulations in a Norwegian context using a partial equilibrium model. The article argues that multifunctionality hardly can justify the use of market support, while it may justify production-related budget support if the positive externalities or public goods are produced jointly with or complementary to agricultural production. The article concludes with suggestions for WTO trade rules to prevent such policies from becoming a form of protectionism.     

An overview of hydrogen prospects: Economic,technical and policy considerations

Hydrogen is expected to play a role in the future low-carbon economy as an energy carrier, but its market penetration remains to be seen. Much of the existing literature generally focuses on comparison of marginal production costs and prices to make rather optimistic projections. This study argues that such analysis is myopic as important barriers are ignored. Following Porter’s five-force approach, we methodologically identify the economic market forces that shape the development of hydrogen markets, and discuss key obstacles in the supply chain. Using evidence of available hydrogen technologies and costs, the distribution network is identified as a major fixed-investment barrier to market entry, but it is argued that much of it could be overcome if natural gas infrastructure and technology is shared with the hydrogen sector. Natural gas, in turn, is projected to function as a transition fuel under current carbon emissions targets. This study finds that policy costs needed to promote hydrogen to achieve environmental goals can be substantially reduced if government and private investment decisions strategically focus on synergies with natural gas. The possible formulation of such policies is discussed using Australia’s hydrogen industry as a case study.     

Zionism and agricultural land: National narratives,environmental objectives,and land policy in Israel

The 1990s saw two different and even contradictory trends in Israel. On the one hand, there was a substantial increase in environmental awareness, on the part of both the general public and decision-makers, that led to a change in the land use planning policy at the national level. On the other hand, the Israel Lands Council (ILC), the body empowered by law to shape the national land policy, made a series of decisions that severely violated the principle of preserving agricultural land and led to massive conversion of agricultural land and open space for commercial, industrial, and residential development. Thus the national land policy became incompatible with the land use planning policy and the rise in environmental awareness it reflected.     

Private irrigation investment in Colombia: effects of violence,macroeconomic policy,and environmental conditions

This paper identifies and estimates the effects of several determinant, on private investment in irrigation in Colombia. It attempts to quantify macroeconomic policy, environment, and violence variables that have been identified in previous studies as significantly affecting investment, in agriculture in genera., and in irrigation in particular. Variables such as violence, climate, and governmental price credit policies are used to explain changes in private investment in irrigation across regions and over time. Violence negatively affects private investment. Climate affects the investment such that in regions with favorable climate condition, investment in irrigation is less attractive, and appropriate government crop-price and credit policies promote investment in irrigation.     

The agricultural policy trilemma: On the wicked nature of agricultural policy making

Agricultural policy has been seen as exceptional, compartmentalized and complex. Consequently, policy making in agriculture has been portrayed as particularly difficult – sometimes as an example of a ‘wicked problem’. In this paper I argue that agricultural policy is more than ‘just’ a complex and wicked problem. It tends to be inbuilt contradictions in the form of trilemmas in agricultural policymaking, which imply that some combinations of core goals are impossible to reach. In this article I develop and illustrate the concept of an agricultural policy trilemma with Norway as a case – a plausibility probe. I argue that the concept of a trilemma may be a useful analytical tool in analysing policy and shifting policy priorities. I describe the development, and workings, of the trilemma from the 1970′s to the beginning of the corona crisis in 2020.