The 2002 Farm Bill: Revitalizing the Farm Economy Through Renewable Energy Development

2002 Policy Report.Reduced profit margins and low commodity prices have forced many to leave farming in the past decade, or rely increasingly on off-farm income, while more attractive opportunities in less volatile industries have deterred many young people from entering the farming profession. Currently, less than half of American farmers list farming as their primary source of income and the average American farmer is now 54.3 years old. The agricultural economy has always been volatile when compared to other industries due to (1) the inability of farmers to readily change production levels, (2) a fixed demand for food regardless of price, and (3) the unpredictability of climate events. But many uniquely modern challenges face U.S. agriculture as well, such as competition from foreign producers in an increasingly global economy, the proliferation of large-scale industrial agriculture, and the rising cost of energy inputs. Naturally, the economic hardships within the agricultural sector have had repercussions throughout Rural America. U.S. agriculture is at a crossroads. The decisions that shape this Farm Bill will determine the course of the agricultural sector for years to come. Although many challenges lie ahead, many new opportunities present themselves as well. Our fossil fuel-based economy, which heats our homes, powers our automobiles, and provides us with an array of products, is ultimately unsustainable in the long-term. But a new sustainable economy is slowly emerging, an economy which will rely increasingly on renewable sources of energy such as wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass. Farmers can be at the forefront of this revolution; utilizing the commodities they grow, and even the waste streams they now must dispose of, in innovative new ways to produce power, transportation fuels, and a new generation of biobased products and chemicals. Linking agriculture and renewable energy is key to diversifying our energy market, protecting our environment, and revitalizing rural America ñ truly a ìwin-win-winî opportunity that is good for American farmers and good for the country

Environment, Development and Change in Rural Asia-Pacific

This volume examines the economic, political, social and environmental challenges facing rural communities in the Asia-Pacific region, as global issues intersect with local contexts. Such challenges, from climatic change and volcanic eruption to population growth and violent civil unrest, have stimulated local resilience amongst communities and led to evolving regional institutions and environment management practices, changing social relationships and producing new forms of stratification. Bringing together case studies from across mainland Southeast Asia and the Island Pacific, an expert team of international contributors reveal how communities at the periphery take charge of their lives, champion the virtues of their own local systems of production and consumption, and engage in the complexities of new structures of development that demand a response to the vacillations of global politics, economy and society. Inherent in this is the recognition that 'development' as we have come to know it is far from over. Each chapter emphasizes the growing recognition that ecological and environmental issues are key to any understanding and analysis of structures of sustainable development. Providing diverse multidisciplinary theoretical and empirical perspectives, Environment, Development and Change in Rural Asia-Pacific makes an important contribution to the revitalization of development studies and as such will be essential reading for scholars in the field, as well as those with an interest in Asia-Pacific studies, economic geography and political economy

Reframing place-based economic development in South Africa: the example of local economic development

Local Economic Development (LED) planning is a place-based approach to development planning and increasingly significant across much of the global South. One of the key challenges facing LED planning is the necessity to adjust planning in relation to the dynamic nature of both international and national framework conditions. The purpose of this article is to show this challenge by examining the dynamic nature of the national policy environment impacting upon LED planning in South Africa, a country which has a relatively long history of LED planning. Five dimensions of the changing landscape of national economic development planning in South Africa are identified. These relate to (a) LED within the context of new national economic and development plans; (b) initiatives for reindustrialising the South African economy, the associated importance of localisation and promotion of the green economy; (c) changing programmes around small business development; (d) shifts in rural development interventions; and (e) the fluid spatial context within which LED planning as a form of placebased economic development is embedded

Don’t Talk To Me Until I’ve Had My Coffee: An Analysis of Colombia’s Changing Coffee and Agricultural Sector in the Face of Climate Change

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College. Abstract “With each year that passes, Atlantic and Pacific cyclone generating areas have experienced higher sea surface temperatures and increases in the intensity and duration of tropical storms.” (Sherbinin et al., 2007) While climate change remains a myth to some, it has become a reality for many, especially those whose livelihoods depend on climate-vulnerable fields and occupations. Latin American countries are especially subjected to climate change consequences because of their vast agricultural sectors and their reliance on ENSO (El Nino Southern Oscillation) patterns, “There is a clear relationship between the dynamics of weather and climate transformation in welfare and economic prosperity.” (Acevedo et al., 2020) Additionally, many South American countries are going through (or recently underwent) periods of intense political turmoil and economic crisis, leaving their economies in vulnerable states, thus diminishing their ability to recover from climate disasters and adequately adjust to potential climate change problems. Standing 10th in the world for “climate risk linked to natural hazards, Colombia faces various climate-driven socioeconomic stressors.” (Climate Centre, 2020). A large part of Colombia’s rural economy and culture is sustained by its coffee sector and abundant natural resources suitable for many other tropical farming and tourism types. These enterprises do not perform well under the stresses of extreme weather variations caused by global warming. Besides being subjected to the increasing effects of climate change, Colombia’s agricultural sector faces several other challenges, such as internal violence (and its aftermath), land distribution inequality, a diminishing labor pool due to urbanization, increasing input costs, and a rise in international competition due to open trade market agreements. As a result of these issues, agricultural practices have been altered or abandoned altogether, and the rural economy has also undergone significant restructuring in the past three decades. Although many changes in rural Colombia have been consequences of an urbanizing economy and other socio-political problems, the move away from agricultural reliance and reorganization of the rural economy has largely been exacerbated by climate change, ultimately destabilizing the rural portion of the economy. Without proper government support and understanding of how complex rural political issues interact with the environment, the lowest income populations are affected most by these changes, hindering Colombia’s ability to progress towards development fully. As Colombia embarks on a new political chapter with the inauguration of its new left-leaning President, Gustavo Petro, now more than ever is the time to research and enact change

No. 01: Hungry Cities of the Global South

The recent inclusion of an urban Sustainable Development Goal in the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda represents an important acknowledgement of the reality of global urbanization and the many social, economic, infrastructural and political challenges posed by the human transition to a predominantly urban world. However, while the SDG provides goals for housing, transportation, land use, cultural heritage and disaster risk prevention, food is not mentioned at all. This discussion paper aims to correct this unfortunate omission by reviewing the current evidence on the challenges of feeding rapidly-growing cities in the Global South. The paper first documents the magnitude of the urban transition and the variety of indicators that have been deployed to measure the extent of food insecurity amongst urban populations. It then looks at the way in which urban food systems are being transformed by the advent of supermarkets (the so-called “supermarket revolution”) and the growth of the informal food economy. The final section of the paper examines the relationship between formal and informal food retail and asks whether the one is undermining the other or whether they co-exist in an uneasy, though symbiotic, relationship. Against this backdrop, the secondary purpose of the paper is to lay out a research agenda which will guide the Hungry Cities Partnership as it attempts to give greater global prominence to the critical but neglected issue of urban food systems and food insecurity

East Midlands regional economic strategy 'creating a flourishing region together' - consultation document 2005.

This consultation document supports the development of the RES: A flourishing Region published in 2006

Towards a More Equal City: Framing the Challenges and Opportunities

Cities are growing differently today than before. As much as 70 percent of people in emerging cities in Asia, Africa and Latin America is under-served. Furthermore, cities face challenges in four areas:Highest rates of urbanization are in sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast AsiaUrbanization is now happening in more low-income countries than in the pastThe share of poor people living in urban areas is on the rise worldwideCities in the Global South have the fewest public resources per capitaWe need a new approach that will benefit all urban residents and create sustainable, productive cities for the 21st century. The World Resources Report (WRR) examines if prioritizing access to core urban services, we can create cities that are prosperous and sustainable for all people.This first installment of the WRR developed a new categorization of cities into emerging, struggling, thriving, and stabilizing cities. It focuses on solutions for struggling and emerging cities—over half the cities included in the analysis—because they have the greatest opportunity to alter their development trajectory

Institutional Environments for Certified Organic Agriculture: Enabling Development, Smallholders Livelihood and Public Goods for Southern Environments?

This paper presents the case for research on institutional environments for organically certified agriculture in developing countries. Observing that some analyses hold Southern organic agriculture as pro-poor and perhaps also more energy efficient than fossil fuel dependent industrialized agriculture, the paper explores differences and similarities in the policy rationale of promoting certified organics in North and South. Based on analysis of institutional environments for COA in Brazil and China, the paper proceed to identify some challenges, opportunities and policy options for strengthening not only certified organic agriculture per se, but an environmentally and socially sustainable food system, providing smallholder livelihoods and rural development