Dynamics of food policy formulation in the USA

Examination of the dynamics of food policy formulation in the USA reveals a series of intriguing contrasts. As an example of pluralist decision making, it is unequalled in the sheer number and variety of actors and interests which it encompasses. This article analyses four principal generic elements of the food policy process: its ideological underpinnings; its policy settings; its substantive components; and, its foreign-domestic linkages. The profound changes which have occurred in the Washington political climate are also considered in terms of their implications for food-related policies in both the domestic and international arenas.     

Energy systems analysis for food policy

Recent work on energy systems analysis of food production systems has demonstrated the importance of energy to the food production sector of the economy. We show how energy requirements for food production are closely related to the intensity of production, and that there is a quantifiable trade-off between land and energy use. This trade-off is quite different for vegetable and industrial food as opposed to animals and fish. Thus the energy consequences to food production from changes in diet, shrinking land resources or increasing population may be readily computed.     

Toward a food secure future: Ensuring food security for sustainable human development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Food security remains a top development priority and global concern. It is enshrined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Sustainable Development Goal two. Food security is also a core component of the human development and capability paradigm, since food access and entitlements are critical for reinforcing essential human capabilities. In introducing this special issue, this paper argues that agriculture is central to improving food security and reducing poverty in Africa. It suggests that realizing the potential of agriculture in Africa requires rapid increases in land productivity and increases in agricultural yields. A science-based approach that integrates gender and sustainability is critical to meet this goal, through the design and implementation of policies that improve the availability farm inputs and farm technology. The paper concludes by introducing the papers in this special issue.     

National food strategies and food policy reform

National food strategies, sponsored by the World Food Council, are intended to produce policy blueprints for improving food production in poor countries. International experience with agricultural development discloses wide agreement on national and local policy specifics which should have priority. However, the absence of research into the political attitudes and processes which foster consensus on goals and the reconciliation of competing desirable policies, eg short term v long term, equity v efficiency, may impede the desired policy reform.     

Towards a food and nutrition policy in Tanzania

Fragments of a nutrition policy are seen throughout the different phases of Tanzania's modern history. Efforts of the pre-Independence period culminated in formation of a committee on nutrition which advocated improving food storage, food legislation and standardization, and nutrition education. After independence, an initial period of concentration on cash crops was followed by increased cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, and some nutritional surveys were undertaken. After the Arusha Declaration in 1967 a basic needs strategy giving greater stress to food production and adequate nutrition received emphasis, and a Food and Nutrition Centre was established with 4 departments: food science and technology; manpower development; medical nutrition; and planning and coordination. Emphasis on production is reflected in a target of reducing malnutrition by 30 to 50% in every region by 1981, and an interdisciplinary approach is being used to achieve this goal. The basic similarity in proposed activities during the various phases of Tanzania's history indicates that political will is necessary for carrying out the policies.     

Towards a food and nutrition policy for Australia,an environmentalist view

The state government of Victoria, Australia, recently prepared a discussion paper towards a regional food and nutrition policy. This evaluation finds it deficient in various ways. The critique contains recommendations for the building of a national food policy. The commission report displays a lack of a systems view of the problem of nutrition, which would recognize a diversity of influences on eating (e.g. social frameworks and frameworks by which we think and know). Linear causality is not an adequate concept. Agribusiness impacts heavily on the environment. In the case of meat production, inputs to production far exceed food energy outputs. Disposal of the by-products of meat production is also more problematic. The way to impact on these wasteful and destructive industrial practices is to consume less meat. Additives in food are a serious problem not well enough addressed. This and other processing increase the cultural perception of foodstuffs as human artifacts. Awareness of the cultural role of foods would allow Australians to cope with industry campaigns promoting meat and processed foodstuffs. There should be more attention to mutual impacts of environment, consumptiuon, and additives and processing. Food from low in the food chain (cereals, seafood) should be promoted not as substitutes but as foods in their own right. Commission recommendations should deal with questions such as nutritional information labeling of foods, and especially an attempt to foster consciousness of the environmental impact of food consumption: Government policy should be mindful to the extent possible of the impact on poor areas of the world of wasteful food consumption in Australia. Proposals for action should benefit from the impact of several fields of expertise beyond health, agriculture, consumer affairs and others; for instance, anthropology or environmental science.     

Technological forecasting in the formulation of national policy

In order to have some chance of predicting long-range perturbations in the market for industrial goods, management must of necessity become involved (if only tangentially) with futurology and technological forecasting. As intellectual stimulus futurology offers much diversion, as illustrated in this stimulating article by Professor Arthur Bronwell.     

Research and development policy in the USA: Implications for satellite communications

Research and development in fields as diverse as microelectronics and space vehicles have profoundly affected the technologies of information transmission, as well as the way in which government regulates the communications and information service industries. This article focuses on R&D policy in the USA, drawing from 1984 OTA reports. The article focuses briefly on industry and universities and at greater length on government actions and policies, indicating possible implications for communication satellites.     

Power and the US food policy agenda

The author examines the cycle of the struggle for control of the US food policy agenda. It is commonly thought that the central matter of public policy is the choice between alternative solutions to issues on the agenda. The real question is whether the issues on the agenda are the relevant ones and who has control of the agenda. A review of the US food policy agenda since the middle of the nineteenth century is carried out within this context.     

Nutrition planning and food policy

The development priorities of recent years may be a cause of malnutrition amongst the poorest groups. To achieve more adequate planning, elements of an interdisciplinary approach are suggested in this article. These could be characterised as identification of risk groups, analysis of consumption patterns, continued monitoring, and understanding of the effects on individual behaviour of social, cultural, educational and economic forces.     

Private agri-food standards: Implications for food policy and the agri-food system

This paper provides a brief introduction to the evolution and nature of private food safety and quality standards, highlighting the resultant impacts on the structure and modus operandi of supply chains for agricultural and food products and the challenges posed for processes of agricultural development. It serves as an introduction to a series of papers that provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge regarding private food safety and quality standards in both an industrialised and developing country context. In so doing, it aims to provide a catalyst for further research on this rapidly evolving field of inquiry.     

Fertiliser and food policy in LDCs

At a time of fertiliser scarcity and high prices it is important to know more about the poorly understood relationships between fertiliser and food production. Fertiliser price increases are reflected in increased prices for food which poses a dilemma for governments attempting to increase food production and minimise rising prices. Through the use of a simple macro-model these relationships are discussed and the policy insights they offer. Impact of price receives special attention because of its frequent use as a policy instrument.     

美国关于邻苯二甲酸盐含量测试的政策声明

美国消费品安全委员会（CPSC）总顾问最近发布了一项关于邻苯二甲酸盐含量测试的政策声明,该声明符合《消费品安全改进法》（CPSIA）第108条款的规定。消费品安全委员会职员解释说明了禁止用于＂各个单独的增塑零部件＂的特定邻苯二甲酸盐。为了配合该政策的执行,     

Cloud TV: Toward the next generation of network policy debates

We are entering the 4th generation of TV, based on the online transmission of video. This article explores the emerging media system, its policy issues, and a way to resolve them. It analyzes the beginning of a new version of the traditional telecom interconnection problem. The TV system will be diverse in the provision of technology, standards, devices, and content elements. For reasons of interoperation, financial settlements, etc., this diversity will be held together by intermediaries that are today called cloud providers, and through whom much of media content will flow. Based on their fundamental economic characteristics, the cloud operators will form a concentrated market structure. To protect pluralism and competition among clouds and of providers of specialized elements requires the protection of interoperation. This can be accomplished by a basic rule: by the principle of an a la carte offering of service elements.     

美国政府促进非常规天然气勘探开发的政策与经验

美国非常规天然气开发已有100多年的历史,但最近30多年是美国非常规天然气快速发展的时期。美国政府在取消价格管制、实行市场化机制的同时,还采取矿权费减免、税收减免、勘探开发技术研究和转让等鼓励非常规天然气勘探开发的政策和措施,并设立了非常规天然气研究项目,对致密气、煤层气和页岩气等非常规天然气资源的评价研究给予资助。这些政策和措施使得美国非常规天然气产量在2009年达到3307．8亿立方米,占当年全国天然气产量的54％;也使联邦和地方政府的税收增加了几十亿美元,使消费者因低气价获益1000亿美元;同时形成了一批非常规资源勘探开发新技术和新理论。美国政府促进非常规天然气开发的政策与经验对中国天然气工业的发展具有十分重要的参考和启示作用。     

US food stamp policy — political considerations

The author analyses the political factors which influence reform of the US food stamp programme. After discussing the reasons for the failure of the Ford Administration's proposals he examines the Carter Administration's efforts and discusses future alternatives to the food stamp programme.     

Food aid and food policy in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has now replaced India as the most publicized large scale recipient of food aid, importing 1.67 million tons of food grains, four fifths of which were on concessional terms, in 1977/78 (July to June). Some analysts, extrapolating from the poor performance of the agricultural sector up to the mid 1970s, also project that Bangladesh will be one of the largest importers of foodgrains in a decade's time merely in order to maintain current pitifully inadequate levels of nutrition.¹ Yet so far there has been no open debate or systematic attempt to analyse the impact of food aid on the Bangladesh economy, compared with the controversy and intensive analysis of food aid to India. This article² is intended to demonstrate the seriousness of this gap in the literature. It includes a review of provisional evidence on the role of food aid in the Bangladesh economy during the first quinquennium of ‘planned’ development, 1972/3–1977/8.     

Towards regional food security in southern Africa: a (new) policy framework for the agricultural sector

In the southern African Region (SAR) large populations, mainly concentrated in rural areas, face food insecurity and poverty. Food insecurity is intensified by adverse weather conditions and droughts which impact negatively on farm level food production throughout the region. Agriculture constitutes an important economic sector in the majority of countries in the region. This is measured as share of agricultural value added to the GDP and as agriculture's share in employment. Based on these facts alone, it must be obvious that sustained agricultural performance will play a significant role in the improvement of food security and livelihoods in the region. However, food security is not only attained in rural areas and by the consumption of home produced food stuffs. Urbanisation is expected to increase dramatically over the next few decades and feeding the urban masses, at affordable prices, must be considered to be a high future priority for governments in the region. Food security must not be viewed as an agricultural issue per se. The drive to food self sufficiency through domestic agriculture production in many countries in the region did not enable these countries to feed their own population. Food security should rather be defined as the acquirement of sufficient and nutritious quantities of food (Sen, 1981, Poverty and Famines: An essay on Entitlement and Deprivation). An approach, whereby attention is given to the macro level availability of food, access to income streams as well as improved production capacity to acquire food at a household level and the utilisation of nutritious food, should therefore be guiding food security policies (SADC: FSTAU, 1997, A Strategic Framework for Food Security in the Region). This broader view emphasises household level poverty reduction, economic development and growth as important components of a food security strategy (World Food Summit, Rome, 1996). An important issue which therefore needs to be explored is whether agriculture does have the potential to contribute to economic processes, which will support broad based development and food security. This paper is intended to argue the importance of agricultural development for food security in the region and to develop a diverse policy framework to strengthen this new, more comprehensive role of agriculture in the region.     

Radical food for thought : Food policy in Cuba and Nicaragua

This article looks at the differences and similarities between Cuban and Nicaraguan agrarian and food policies. The fundamental challenge facing the two countries has been to ensure a supply of basic foodstuffs to a population where demand outstrips supply. The solution, chosen by Cuba and forced upon Nicaragua, has been to establish a system of food rationing. Finally, the policies of Cuba and Nicaragua (successes and mistakes included) are compared with those of Mexico where, in 1980, a food policy (SAM) was launched to achieve many of the same objectives.