Essential agriculture,sacrificial labor,and the COVID-19 pandemic in the US South

As farmworkers were reframed as “essential” workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, US growers demanded unfettered access to foreign farm labor. After initially announcing a freeze on all immigration processing, the Trump administration bowed to farmers' demands, granting a single exception for agricultural guestworkers under the H-2A visa program. Through a focus on H-2A farmworkers in Georgia, this paper highlights how the pandemic exacerbated farm labor conditions in the US South. The author interrogates these conditions through the lens of racial capitalism, exposing the legacies of plantation political economies and a longstanding agricultural labor system premised on devaluing racialized labor. These histories are obscured by the myth of agricultural exceptionalism—the idea that agriculture is too different and important to be subject to the same rules and regulations as other industries. Agricultural exceptionalism naturalizes the racial capitalist system and informs state responses that privilege agricultural production through the exploitation of farmworkers, remaking “essential” farmworkers as sacrificial labor.     

The Cotton Influence Index: An Examination of U.S. Cotton Subsidies

Given the lack of a bill or amendment specific to cotton, we introduce a Cotton Influence Index to capture legislators' influence in championing the cause of the cotton growers during the hearings of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002. Regression analyses reveal a relationship between Cotton Influence Index and campaign contributions, cotton farmland, party affiliation, and ideology. Tobit analysis indicates a significant relationship between different "actions and participations" by representatives to advance the interest of cotton—that is, components of this index and their future cotton political action committees' (PACs) contributions to them.     

经营规模、分工深化对小农户化肥减量施用的影响——以黄河流域玉米种植户为例

[目的]通过分析黄河流域3省区玉米种植户化肥施用强度与减施情况,探析经营规模与化肥施用强度非线性关系及纵向分工深化的中介作用。[方法]文章基于扩展回归模型,使用2020年黄河流域中甘肃、宁夏以及陕西3省区玉米种植户问卷调查数据,分析经营规模和分工深化对农户化肥使用量的影响及作用机制。[结果]（1）扩大经营规模可以显著抑制农户化肥的过量施用,但当达到一定规模后,这种抑制效应消失,继续扩大经营规模将不再降低农户化肥施用强度。（2）经营规模与纵向分工卷入程度之间也存在“U型”的非线性关系,在达到一定规模之前,经营规模的扩大会显著提高农户服务外包的程度。（3）扩大经营规模可以通过提高纵向分工卷入程度进而降低农户化肥施用强度。[结论]玉米种植农户经营规模与化肥施用强度间存在“U型”的非线性关系,且纵向分工卷入程度在经营规模与化肥使用强度间存在完全中介作用。     

Farm-Level Economic Performance of Genetically Modified Cotton in Maharashtra, India

A study of the commercial growing of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton in India, compares the performance of over 9,000 Bt and non-Bt cotton farm plots in Maharashtra over the 2002 and 2003 seasons. Results show that since their commercial release in 2002, Bt cotton varieties have had a significant positive impact on average yields and on the economic performance of cotton growers. Regional variation showed that, in a very few areas, not all farmers had benefited from increased performance of Bt varieties.     

Efficiency Wages, Deferred Payments, and Direct Incentives in Agriculture

Empirical evidence from agricultural labor markets is consistent with efficiency–wage theory and inconsistent with several alternative explanations. According to this theory, the higher wage or deferred payment (benefits) that direct–hire growers pay relative to that of farm labor contractors is an efficiency wage. Growers use this extra compensation to lower their monitoring expenses and reduce shirking by workers.     

土地流转中农村女性权益状况的实证分析——以河北省米村和湖北省石村为例

本文以两个村庄的调查为基础,分析女性在土地流转过程中的角色及其权益损伤状况,并探讨女性对这一状况的认知。研究结果表明,在家庭内部,男性作为富余劳动力首先从农业中转移出去,农业生产呈现女性化的趋势,农业生产的女性化直接影响着土地流转的发生。在土地流转过程中,女性的决策权遭到不同程度的损伤;婚姻流动时,女性的土地承包经营权受到剥夺;在父母将自己的土地承包经营权转让给子女的过程中,女性的继承权时常得不到保障。对于女性在土地流转过程中权益被损的现象,女性应当与男性一样被赋予同样的权利。     

Vertical integration in West Africa's cotton industry: are parastatals a second best solution?

This article provides a framework to compare market outcomes among vertically integrated monopsonies in the cotton sector of West Africa and alternative, more competitive market structures. Based on a principal agent framework, in the presence of factor market constraints, as well as capital market failure, efficiently operated cotton parastatals increase sector welfare and efficiency by providing input credits. In equilibrium, outcomes with the principal agent model suggest growers receive the reservation income to participate in cotton production while the principal (cotton company) extracts the surplus above the reservation income. Competitive markets entail more equitable distribution of benefits than with parastatal vertical integration, but credit and factor market constraints can still persist. Promotion of a competitive market system will not support cotton productivity growth unless stakeholders pursue complementary programs to develop credit markets and research and extension institutions. In the presence of current market failures, parastatals may be a second‐best solution.     

我国天然橡胶种植户生产行为的影响因素分析——基于橡胶价格持续低迷的背景

[目的]通过分析在天然橡胶价格持续低迷背景下种植户的生产行为,从农户及家庭特征、生产特征、市场因素和政策因素4个方面选取16项指标,研究影响天然橡胶种植户生产行为的因素。[方法]选取2015年在天然橡胶主植区云南、海南的农户调研数据,运用多元Logit模型分析天然橡胶种植户生产行为改变的影响因素。[结果]种植户生产行为选择降低和提高割胶频率是种植户权衡各类因素追求利益最大化而产生的不同行为模式,其中橡胶收入占比、种植年限、投入肥料变化、雇工割胶、生产成本、后期价格态度、补贴满意度、收益满意度8项因素对种植户选择降低割胶频率具有显著影响;受教育子女数量、种植规模、雇工割胶、是否享受补贴4项因素对种植户选择提高割胶频率具有显著影响。[结论]天然橡胶种植户的生产行为受多种因素共同作用,并且天然橡胶价格持续低迷破坏了天然橡胶产业的可持续发展。     

Is There a Viable Market for Area-Based Crop Insurance?

The performance of area yield insurance and farm-level multiple peril crop insurance is analyzed for cotton and soybean production in Georgia and South Carolina. The analysis improves on many previous studies by utilizing actual farm-level yield data and by comparing the two types of insurance products not only for actuarially fair premium rates but also for actual unsubsidized and subsidized premium rates. Results suggest that, even in heterogeneous production regions, area yield insurance may be a viable alternative to farm-level insurance when premium rates for farm-level insurance contain large positive wedges.     

Institutional Environment and Technical Efficiency: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis of Cotton Producers in West Africa

This paper examines the effects of the institutional environment on West African cotton farmers’ technical efficiency (TE). First, key aspects of the cotton sector institutional environment are discussed, including input and credit access, and producers’ organisations. Then, a stochastic frontier production function, which incorporates technical inefficiency effects, is applied to farm level data collected in Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali. The survey includes farmers’ evaluations of the cotton sector institutional environment. Results suggest that institutional level features influence producers’ TE, besides farm‐level characteristics. Cotton growers who report a negative experience with the joint liability programme, who identify the cotton price mechanism or access to credit as the main constraints to performance, and who cultivate more hectares of cereals are technically more inefficient in producing cotton. Findings suggest that cotton farmers in Mali are less technically efficient in producing cotton than in Burkina Faso and Benin. Agricultural development policies focusing on reducing farmers’ financial stress, particularly through the establishment of adequate price mechanisms (i.e. higher farm‐gate prices and timely payments to farmers) and improvement in the input–credit markets should be encouraged to improve TE in West Africa.     

“十四五”时期农村劳动力就业:形势展望、结构预测和对策思路

“十四五”时期,世界处于百年未有之大变局深度演化期,我国农村劳动力就业形势更加复杂,困难和挑战前所未有.供给层面,农村劳动力的规模、结构和意愿显著变化.需求层面,全球化巨大的不确定性增加了就业红利减少的风险,城镇产业新旧动能转换可能导致摩擦性和结构性失业,农村就业承载力和就业空间也迎来调整.综合人口增长和城镇发展态势,...     

农户气象感知对购买天气指数保险意愿的影响——以山西岢岚和江苏南通430食用豆户为例

目的 综合已有研究发现,学者忽略了农户的气象认知对其天气指数保险购买意愿的影响。方法 文章基于山西省岢岚和江苏省南通市430食用豆种植户的实地问卷调查数据,运用Probit模型分析食用豆种植户对气象（如平均气温、平均降雨、干旱、霜冻等的发生次数及严重程度）的感知对其购买天气指数保险意愿的影响。结果 （1）食用豆种植户的气象感知显著地影响其购买天气指数保险的意愿。此外,食用豆种植户的村干部经历和兼业户身份对其购买天气指数保险产生正向且显著的影响;（2）而家庭人口数以及是否有专门的食用豆贮藏场所等对食用豆种植户购买天气指数保险产生负向且显著的影响。结论 因此,在食用豆种植户中推广天气指数保险应关注到其气候的感知,可以通过多种方式（例如公益宣传片、教育培训等,线上线下、网络电视手机、书籍宣传册等）宣传气候变化对食用豆种植的危害,强化食用豆种植户的风险管理意识,进而提高其购买天气指数保险的意愿。     

How farmers benefit from plant clinics: an impact study in Bolivia

Between 2000 and 2009, nine plant clinics in three agro-ecological areas of Bolivia (Andes, lowlands and valleys) served about 800 communities in an area roughly 300 × 100km. Over 6000 farmers consulted these clinics with 9000 queries. Many found the advice so useful that they visited the clinics repeatedly. A survey of 238 clinic users found that most adopted the clinics' recommendations. Fruit and vegetable growers who followed the clinic recommendations tended to spend less on pesticides. As for certain crops like potato, citrus and peach palm, a modest increase in pesticides helped improve the quality and quantity of the harvest. Farmers improved their incomes by following the clinics' advice. The poorest farmers enjoyed the greatest increase in income per hectare. This was the first study to explore the impact of plant clinics; future studies need to be improved, for example by obtaining baseline data and by comparing clinic users to their peers who have not used clinics.     

Well‐off small‐scale tobacco growers and farm workers in the Mexican agrarian reform (1972–1990)

In this article, I study small‐scale growers of blonde tobacco varieties from the state of Nayarit in Mexico who had contract farming arrangements with the state‐owned company Tabamex (1972–1990). I refer to them as “well‐off small‐scale tobacco growers” given that in the 1960s, 1970s, and the 1980s, they became one of the subaltern social groups that benefited the most from the Mexican Agrarian Reform. I want to set this research apart from the ones carried out on tobacco growers in Nayarit, which have almost exclusively understood this group as agricultural producers and have perceived as secondary, and even as anecdotal, the impact of the high levels of wage labour hired in the region. I argue that in order to have a better understanding of the social relations at play, it is important to take into account that Nayarit tobacco growers have also been employers of farm workers. Hence in my analysis, I have also included the seasonal farm workers hired by these small‐scale tobacco growers because of their importance in the labour force. More specifically, I have looked into the vulnerability and invisibility of these workers both within this branch of agricultural activity and state institutions.     

Welfare impacts of technological change on women in southern Mali

It has often been hypothesized that new agricultural technologies could have an adverse impact on women because additional labor required of them reduces the time spent and therefore income earned from private-field activities. This study shows that the expansion of cotton cultivation on the household communal fields in southern Mali associated with the introduction of new technologies results in increased payments to women for their increased labor on the cotton fields. Unfortunately, these payments are small compared to the loss of revenue from private-plot production. Thus, the net effect of the expansion of household cotton cultivation is a reduction in incomes of women who cultivate private plots. Short-run policy implications of this study are that improving women's income requires concern with their private - plot earnings. For example, profitability of the private-field crops could be increased with higher input use. In the long run, as land becomes even more constrained, emphasis needs to be placed on institutional changes to increase women's bargaining power so that they obtain larger shares of the new income streams resulting from technological change on the communal field. Institutional changes already occurring in the region, with the apparent objective of increasing women's (and non-household head men's) bargaining power, include organized work teams and the movement toward smaller, nuclear families.     

Price-Predicting Ability of Farm Managers: Empirical Findings with Flower Producers in the Netherlands

Differences in income among horticultural growers producing under similar conditions are known to be substantial. Production policy, including cultivar choice, plays an important role. Both price variation over time and price differences among cultivars provide valuable management information to growers to adapt their production policy. This study focuses on price-predicting skills of specialized chrysanthemum growers. The study, based on a survey among 26 participants, shows that growers who predict absolute prices well for one period do not have a higher chance of predicting well for other periods. With respect to predicting relative price positions (relative to other cultivars or other firms), evidence is found, however, that this is a skill, especially for estimating the relative market position. Also, evidence is provided that price differences among cultivars are nonrandom in time, and it is concluded that growers could adapt their production planning and cultivar choice to benefit from expected price variations.     

水稻规模种植户持续种植意愿影响因素研究

[目的]水稻规模种植户在稳定水稻种植面积中起到关键性的作用,如何扶持和稳定规模种植户的持续种植粮食具有十分重要的战略意义。[方法]文章利用浙江省145户水稻规模种植户的调研数据,采用二元Logistic模型对水稻规模种植户的持续种植意愿进行了实证分析。[结果]单位面积平均土地租金和粮食生产总投入对持续种植意愿呈反向影响,粮食销售收入和田地质量提升的投入对持续种植意愿呈正向影响。高额的土地租金和不断增长的粮食生产投入,使得粮食生产收益不断下降,特别是对于具有一定规模的种植户而言,不得不选择消极的种植意愿;与此同时,较高的销售收入能带来较高的生产收益,使得规模种植户更愿意继续种植,而田地质量提升能带来较高的产出率,规模种植户对持续种植也将更有信心。[结论]据此提出降低水稻种植成本、稳定粮农正常收益、规范土地市场、引导农户提高田地投入等政策建议来稳定和激励水稻规模种植户持续种植,保障国家粮食安全。     

New evidence regarding the effects of contract farming on agricultural labor use

Contractual agreements between smallholder farmers and agribusiness companies have gained in importance in many developing countries. While productivity and income effects of contracting in the small farm sector were analyzed in many previous studies, labor market and employment effects are not yet well understood. This is an important research gap, especially against the background of continued population growth and structural transformation. Here, we investigate the effects of two types of contractual agreements between large international processing companies and smallholder farmers on agricultural labor use, household labor allocation, and hired labor demand in Ghana's palm oil sector. We use cross‐sectional survey data and a willingness‐to‐pay approach to control for unobserved heterogeneity between farmers with and without contracts. We find that agricultural labor intensity is substantially reduced through the contracts, because contracting in Ghana is associated with the adoption of labor‐saving procedures and technologies. Simple marketing contracts lead to reallocation of the saved household labor to off‐farm employment, whereas resource‐providing contracts lead to a stronger reallocation of labor within the farming enterprise. Household labor is more affected by labor savings than hired labor.     

补贴政策对农户油茶经营供给时间影响实证分析

基于福建省5个县市的216户油茶种植户的微观调查数据,采用截取回归模型定量分析油茶补贴政策对农户油茶经营供给时间的影响。研究结果表明:油茶补贴收入对户主油茶经营供给时间具有高度显著的正向影响,油茶补贴政策很大程度上调动了农户经营油茶产业的积极性;此外,家庭平均年收入、户主从事非农劳动时间、加入油茶专业经济合作组织、户主时间贴现率对农户油茶经营供给时间具有显著的负向影响;具有社会资本、户主懂得油茶经营管理技术则具有显著的正向影响。因此,提出加大不同形式补贴的力度、加大经营管理技术培训的力度、鼓励发展油茶专业合作社、加大技术研发力度的建议。