Debating the Multifunctionality of Agriculture: From Trade Negotiations to Development Policies by the South

The process of economic liberalization that began in the late 1980s has had profound repercussions on the situation of agriculture in developing countries. Market instability, aggravated competition and asymmetry between agents linked to the emergence of big transnational companies have led to greater economic risks for farmers and disparities between countries and within every national situation. In such a context, the emergence of a debate in Europe on the multifunctional character of agriculture and on its economic, social and environmental roles may seem a far cry from the concrete situations of the countries of the South, which have no resources to pay for the other functions of their agriculture. Moreover, this difficulty is intensified by the fact that the debate has been placed within the context of the WTO negotiations, which has led to the pro- and anti-multifunctionality groups taking up a more radical stance. Nevertheless, the multifunctional view of agriculture does appear to be a plausible approach. It offers the possibility of going beyond the questions concerning productivity and market competitiveness towards establishing a debate in terms of strategies for sustainable development, in which the place and roles of agriculture can be thought out. Multifunctionality, founded on objectives negotiated at the local level, does seem to present an opportunity for numerous countries of the South to pursue their public policies on a new basis.     

Multifunctionality and Agricultural Trade Negotiations

Differing views of multifunctionality—attributing nonmarket benefits to agricultural production—continue to be an obstacle in World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations. Some nations see multifunctionality as justifying subsidies to agricultural production; others see it as disguised protection. This paper shows that while multifunctionality never justifies trade interventions, it can justify production subsidies or taxes. Recognizing that the subsidies or taxes can be economically efficient policies, nations must precisely define and value the externalities in order to design policies and defend those interventions in the WTO. Trade rules are developed that accommodate domestic policy intervention while preventing disguised protection.     

Agri-Environmental Stewardship Schemes and "Multifunctionality"

The United Kingdom introduced the first agri-environmental scheme in the European Union in 1986. Since then, the United Kingdom has developed and implemented several other schemes that also feature stewardship payments to improve agriculture's environmental performance. In this article, lessons learned from the United Kingdom's agri-environmental programs are identified. Using the concept of "multifunctionality," which increasingly is influencing agricultural policy in Western Europe, the authors examine key issues associated with potential major expansions of stewardship payment schemes on both sides of the Atlantic.     

Measuring Individual Preferences for Rural Multifunctionality: The Importance of Demographic and Residential Heterogeneity

We propose an approach to conceptualise ‘rural multifunctionality’ and further investigate peoples’ preferences for it. We use an opinion survey concerning individual preferences for several functions that rural spaces should provide. We use the analytical hierarchy process approach to assess the relative importance of each function. The results show how the social weightings of these functions are balanced, confirming that society demands truly multifunctional rural territories. Nonetheless, differences are found in individual preferences. We explore the demographic and socioeconomic determinants of these individual preferences, paying particular attention to the importance of heterogeneity using seemingly unrelated regressions. In short, results from this research could be employed as a useful informative element for the future development of public policies related to rural spaces.     

国内外农业多功能性研究文献综述

综阅国内外农业多功能性研究文献可知,国外研究着重农业多功能性单个因素量化分析,与农业环境计划比较分析,对农业商品产出和非商品产出从联合生产角度分析,运用环境经济学评估方法估算农业多功能性价值以及对农业多功能性目标政策的讨论等五个方面。国内研究包含四个主要方面:从经济学角度对农业多功能性进行理论分析,从不同国家对农业多功能性问题的不同立场进行实质分析,从农业多功能性问题与非贸易关注之间关系进行比较分析和撇开农产品国际贸易利益,对我国农业各功能的价值现状分析。国内与国外研究主要区别在于后者比较集中于农业多功能性的模型量化分析。     

The Effects of Educational Externalities on Maize Production in Rural Malawi

The paper looks at the existence, nature and form of intra- and inter-household externalities of education on productivity, efficiency and uncertainty of maize production in rural Malawi. Data from the Third Integrated Household Survey are used. I find statistically and economically significant positive intra- and inter-household externalities from education on all three elements, and that intra-household externality effects are larger than inter-household externality ones. Community-level schooling is found to substitute for household-level schooling in the sense that farmers who reside in households where members are not educated nevertheless have relatively higher production and lower production uncertainty, on account of living in communities where some inhabitants are educated. The paper also finds that the intra- and inter-household externality effects are more pronounced for the least efficient farmers, that they are monotonic and that they are largest when average household schooling is relatively low.     

Competition, Externalities, and Input Substituting Technologies

The period 1997–2000 saw a rapid global consolidation of crop seed companies. The emerging companies are applying genetic engineering to exploit complementarities and substitutabilities between seed and other crop inputs. This article develops a model of competing technologies where one substitutes for a conventional input. A monopolist may cross-subsidize a technology that substitutes for an input in order to price discriminate between user types. In duopoly, a socially excessive or insufficient share of acres may be subject to an input substituting technology. Welfare improving regulations are identified in the case where a technology substitutes for an externality generating input.     

论木材加工项目的外部性

林业企业在投资项目时,往往只注重经济效益,而忽视了投资项目带来的外部性效益。在理解外部性涵义的基础上对木材加工这一项目的外部性进行研究,针对木材加工所产生的负外部性进行分析。从安全隐患、噪音和粉尘污染这三方面来研究木材加工过程中所产生的外部性,其中安全隐患产生的对资源和大气的影响,噪音产生的对人体健康的影响,粉尘产生的对大气、人体健康及农作物等的影响。并针对出现的外部性问题提出建议,包括加强企业管理,避免杜绝安全隐患;针对行业污染特点,制定指导性技术规范;更新机械设备,加强员工自身保护工作,使外部性成本内部化,建立外部性补偿机制以及建立一套较完善的法律体系来确保综合防治的各项措施得以实施。     

现代农业发展阶段及中国农业发展的国际比较

加快农业国际化进程,是21世纪中国农业战略性发展和实现农业现代化的一个重要方面。将中国农业推向国际舞台,在理论上需要明确现代农业发展阶段和中国农业国际化比较优势,这有助于明确不同阶段中国农业发展任务和要求,缩小与发达国家和农业现代化国家的农业差距,这是一项重要的基础工作。本文讨论现代农业阶段划分并在多国数据比较的基础上,对中国现代农业和农业现代化发展做出分析。一、农业发展阶段过去的经验和教训清楚地表明,农业对经济社会的作用是显而易见的,科学划分农业所处发展阶段,对提升农业水平,对促进经济社会发展的作用是巨大…     

农业高新技术：二十一世纪中国农业的发展战略

高新技术是现今生产力最活跃的因素,社会经济的发展已经由过去的要素驱动、资本驱动转向技术驱动、技术资本和人力资本成为创造社会财富的主体,在当今科学技术发达的知识经济时代,高新技术已成为推动经济增长的“发动机”,用高新技术改造和武装农业,正在成为世界大多数国家和地区农业发展的主流。20世纪的后半叶,中国以世界7%的耕地生产了24%的粮食,养活了22%的人口,取得了举世瞩目的成就,但是,人口、资源和环境的重负使中国农业在进入21世纪仍面临着艰巨而久远的任务,根据世界农业科技发展趋势和中国的国情,未来中国农业的发展唯一可行的出路在于采取高新技术战略。     

A Water Bank Game with Fishy Externalities

This article describes a classroom game used in a minicourse on economics for Environmental Studies students. The game, inspired by the operation of the Idaho Water Bank and the rising importance of water rights trades in the region, features a double oral auction in which farmers sell diversion rights and hydroelectric companies buy them. The increased in-stream flows create external benefits for fly fishers, who participate in the game in later rounds. The game can illustrate the role of markets in allocating resource use rights, and the effects of external benefits, free riding, and price ceilings.     

现代农业视角下的创意农业发展对策

创意农业是现代农业的延伸、丰富和发展,作为一种新型的农业发展模式,创意农业具有高融合性、高文化度、高附加值、高集群化、盈利持久化以及效益综合化等特征。创意农业通过整合效应、资本效应、融合效应和品牌效应,为农业和农村的发展开辟了全新的空间。发展创意农业应当从思想观念、政策措施、组织领导等方面全方位运作,形成综合优势,获取实际效果。     

农业资源优化配置与农业可持续发展

分析了农业生产与资源环境的关系,论述了资源优化配置的生产体系特征和测度和量化指标;阐述了农业自然资源优化配置的基本理论与指导原则;提出资源优化配置的6点对策。     

The Competitive Position of Canadian Agriculture

Competitiveness is treated as the ability to produce and distribute goods and services in the international economy in a fashion that provides a rising standard of living. Competitiveness in agriculture is affected by a wide variety of factors interacting throughout the economies of Canada and other countries around the world. From a commodity standpoint, Canada's competitive position would appear to be high for wheat and pork, moderate for feedgrains. oilseeds and beef, low for dairy and poultry, and mixed (some moderate to high and some low) for fruits and vegetables. We are likely to maintain our competitiveness over time primarily through adjustments in exchange rates, changes in productivity in production and marketing, and alterations in returns to farmer-provided resources and in land values. In addition. domestic and foreign support policies may affect the salability of our products, although subsidies may not reflect competitiveness from a true cost standpoint. La compétitivité peut se définir comme I'aptitude à produire et a distribuer biens et services sur les marchés internationaux de faqon à accroitre son niveau de vie. En agriculture, la compétitivité dépend de I'interaction d'une grande variété de facteurs au sein de l'économie du Canada autant que de celle des autres pays du monde. Envisagée par catégories de produits primaires, la compétitivite du Canada semblerait élevée pour le ble et pour le porc. moderee pour les cereales fourrageres. les oleagineux et le boeuf, faible pour les produits laitiers et la volaille et variable (parfois moderee a elevee et parfois faible) pour les fruits et les legumes. Nous parviendrons vraisemblablement a maintenir notre compétitivite, a I'avenir. principalement en ajustant les taux de change. notre productivite et notre strategie de commercialisation. et en modifiant les revenus tires des ressources fournies par les agri-culteurs ainsi que la valeur des terres apricoles. En outre. la situation concurrentielle de nos produits wr les marches peut dépendre des politiques interieures et étrangères de soutien. mème si du strict point de vue des coûts. les subventions ne son peut-être pas un reflet de la competétivilé.     

The 1971 Census Of Agriculture

integration of the Census of Agriculture with the current estimating program of D.B.S. has reduced the number of census questions and improved current agriculture estimates. The 1971 census will include new questions relating to labour, machinery, crop spraying, fertilizing and irrigation. Questions on part-time work and a plan to link the agriculture and population questionnaires will provide additional data on farm people. A sample post-census agriculture survey will check quality and produce supplementary information. Farm definition and classification are different problems which are under study .
LE RECENSEMENT DE L'AGRICULTURE:
L'intégration du recensement de l'agriculture avec le programme courant d'estimation du B.F.S. a permis de réduire le nombre de questions touchant le recensement et d'améliorer les estimations courantes dans le domaine de l'agriculture. Le recensement de 1971 comprendra de nouvelles questions sur la main-d'oeuvre, les machines, la pulvérisation des cultures, les engrais et l'irrigation. Des questions sur le travail à temps partiel et un projet en vue d'établir un lien entre le questionnaire de l'agriculture et celui de la population fourniront des renseignements supplémentaires sur la population agricole. Une enquête fragmentaire post-censale servira à vérifier la qualité et donnera des renseignements supplémentaires. La définition et la classification des fermes sont des problèmes difficiles qui sont à l'étude .     

退耕还林的外部性及政府行为

分析退耕还林公共物品的性质和外部性,阐明政府对退耕还林农户进行补偿的经济学依据,并对当前实施退耕还林补偿政策存在的问题进行了分析,提出了可行的对策建议。     

Decomposing the Value of Agricultural Multifunctionality: Combining Contingent Valuation and the Analytical Hierarchy Process

Agricultural multifunctionality is the recognition of the joint exercise of economic, environmental and social functions by this sector. Nevertheless, not all these contributions to society are valued in markets, moreover a large share of them are public goods. For this reason, in order to make this concept of multifunctionality operative for the design of public policies, it is necessary to estimate the social demand of such functions. The objective of this article was to implement an empirical application along these lines. For this purpose, the agricultural system of cereal steppes in Tierra de Campos in Spain is taken as a case study. The economic valuation technique used relies on a combined implementation of contingent valuation and the analytical hierarchy process. The results obtained demonstrate the existence of a significant demand for the different attributes included in the multifunctionality concept, although this demand is heterogeneous and is based on the socioeconomic characteristics of individual persons.     

对特色农业、产业化经营与农业竞争力的理论分析

提高农业竞争力是市场农业发展的主要目标和我国农业应对入世挑战的迫切需要。理论分析表明，发展特色农业可以显著地提高农业竞争力，而特色农业要做大做强做优离不开产业化经营。本文通过对特色农业、产业化经营与农业竞争力关系的理论分析，得出了这样的结论：特色农业 产业化经营=农业竞争力。