Assessing the Impacts of Single Farm Payments on Farm Investment and Output in French Arable Farms: a Dynamic Stochastic Farm Household Model with Debt Constraints

The Common Agricultural Policy has radically been reformed in 2003 with the introduction of “decoupled” direct payments. Economic theory suggests that direct payments are expected to have no impact on production in a static deterministic environment with perfect markets for capital and labour. But if factor market imperfections or uncertainty are taken into account, this is no longer true. Taking into account these potential impacts, the empirical literature has studied the impacts of farm payments. However, most studies are based on assumptions such as perfect markets, risk neutrality or static environment. Recent researches have also often neglected the role of debt constraints. The paper develops and numerically solves a dynamic stochastic farm household model with occasionally binding debt constraints and investment adjustment costs. The impacts of direct and counter-cyclical payments are explored and compared to an increase in the intervention price. Results show that both types of payments will positively impact on investment, but the impacts on output will not be as significant as it is with an increase in intervention price. Further, the degree of decoupling of Single Farm Payments in the French crops sector is found to be significantly linked to the degree of capital market imperfections.Single Farm Payment, farm investment, dynamic stochastic farm household model, debt constraints., Agricultural and Food Policy, Q12, Q18,

A Monte Carlo filtering application for systematic sensitivity analysis of computable general equilibrium results

The views expressed are purely those of the authors and may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the European Commission or the University of Aberdeen. The authors would like to thank Maria Espinosa, Sergio Gomez y Paloma, three reviewers and the editor for valuable comments, and Javier Alba (and the IPTS-IT department) for technical assistance.Peer reviewedPostprin

Crop-Specific EU Aid and Smallholder Food Security in Sierra Leone

The article analyses the viability of promoting crop-specific programs as a mean to improve smallholder net farm income and food security. The case study explores the relevance of European Union Stabilisation of Export Earnings (STABEX) funds in supporting Sierra Leone’s agricultural development agenda. By analysing the drivers of food security for a number of targeted smallholders in the two most important agricultural zones of Sierra Leone, it is possible to compare the suitability of crop-specific support (in rice, cocoa and coffee) versus general aid programs (public infrastructure, on and off farm diversification opportunities, sustainable practices, access to productive assets, etc.). The results indicate that crop diversification strategies are widespread and closely related to risk minimisation and enhanced food security among smallholders. Similarly, crop-specific programs mainly focusing on commercialisation tend to overlook important constraints associated to self-consumption and productivity

An Ex-ante Rural/Urban Analysis of Common Agricultural Policy Options

Agricultural and Food Policy,

Plasmons Enhancing Sub-Bandgap Photoconductivity in TiO<inf>2</inf> Nanoparticles Film

The coupling between sub-bandgap defect states and surface plasmon resonances in Au nanoparticles and its effects on the photoconductivity performance of TiO2 are investigated in both the ultraviolet (UV) and visible spectrum. Incorporating a 2 nm gold nanoparticle layer in the photodetector device architecture creates additional trapping pathways, resulting in a faster current decay under UV illumination and a significant enhancement in the visible photocurrent of TiO2, with an 8-fold enhancement of the defects-related photocurrent. We show that hot electron injection (HEI) and plasmonic resonance energy transfer (PRET) jointly contribute to the observed photoconductivity enhancement. In addition to shedding light on the below-band-edge photoconductivity of TiO2, our work provides insight into new methods to probe and examine the surface defects of metal oxide semiconductors using plasmonic resonances

Influence of body mass index on the choice of therapy for depression and follow-up care

Overweight and obese patients commonly suffer from depression and choice of depression therapy may alter weight. We conducted a cohort study to investigate whether obesity is associated with treatment choices for depression; and whether obesity is associated with appropriate duration of depression treatment and receipt of follow-up visits. Adults with a diagnosis of depression between January 1, 2006 and March 31, 2010 who had 1+ new episodes of an antidepressant medication and/or psychotherapy were eligible. Medication use, encounters, diagnoses, height, and weight were collected from health plan databases. We modeled receipt of the different therapies (medication and psychotherapy) by BMI and BMI trajectory during the 9-months prior to initiation of therapy using logistic regression models that accommodated correlation within provider and adjusted for covariates. We modeled BMI via a restricted cubic spline. Fluoxetine was the reference treatment option in the medication models. Lower BMI was associated with greater use of mirtazapine, and a declining BMI prior to treatment was associated with greater odds of initiating mirtazapine and paroxetine. Higher BMI was associated with greater odds of initiating bupropion even after adjustment for smoking status. Obese patients were less likely to receive psychotherapy and less likely to receive appropriate duration (180-days) of depression treatment compared to normal weight subjects. Our study provides evidence that BMI is considered when choosing therapy but associations were weak. Our results should prompt discussion about recommending and choosing depression treatment plans that optimize depression care and weight management concurrently. Differences in care and follow-up by BMI warrant additional research

Income Elasticities of Food Demand in Africa: A Meta-Analysis

In order to combat malnutrition, economists and policymakers need to understand how food demand will change, as the continent further develops. Especially, a better understanding of, first, the factors underlying the relation between income and food demand, and, second, how this relation is changing according to the income level and/or characteristics of the country under study, may help improve the design and implementation of nutrition policies. There are a number of studies that have estimated the relation between income growth and food demand in Africa, but the resulting estimates are highly heterogeneous. This report provides a systematic review of the existing literature on income elasticities of food demand in Africa. Using a meta-analysis approach, this report identifies the factors determining the relation between food demand and income. Further research could usefully explore in greater detail some of the patterns identified and, in doing so, contribute to the design of policies aimed at addressing malnutrition.JRC.J.4-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Econom

Bypassing Iron Storage in Endodermal Vacuoles Rescues the Iron Mobilization Defect in the Natural Resistance Associated-Macrophage Protein3natural Resistance Associated-Macrophage Protein4 Double Mutant

To improve seed iron (Fe) content and bioavailability, it is crucial to decipher the mechanisms that control Fe storage during seed development. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seeds, most Fe is concentrated in insoluble precipitates, with phytate in the vacuoles of cells surrounding the vasculature of the embryo. NATURAL RESISTANCE ASSOCIATED-MACROPHAGE PROTEIN3 (AtNRAMP3) and AtNRAMP4 function redundantly in Fe retrieval from vacuoles during germination. When germinated under Fe-deficient conditions, development of the nramp3nramp4 double mutant is arrested as a consequence of impaired Fe mobilization. To identify novel genes involved in seed Fe homeostasis, we screened an ethyl methanesulfonate-mutagenized population of nramp3nramp4 seedlings for mutations suppressing their phenotypes on low Fe. Here, we report that, among the suppressors, two independent mutations in the VACUOLAR IRON TRANSPORTER1 (AtVIT1) gene caused the suppressor phenotype. The AtVIT1 transporter is involved in Fe influx into vacuoles of endodermal and bundle sheath cells. This result establishes a functional link between Fe loading in vacuoles by AtVIT1 and its remobilization by AtNRAMP3 and AtNRAMP4. Moreover, analysis of subcellular Fe localization indicates that simultaneous disruption of AtVIT1, AtNRAMP3, and AtNRAMP4 limits Fe accumulation in vacuolar globoids

Rural-urban social accounting matrixes for modelling the impact of rural development policies in the EU

This report complements previous work and builds NUTS3 SAMs for twelve regions, following a careful approach, that we call the expert approach. This report investigates the results of this approach by running some simple policy simulations and providing the structural descriptions of these regions. Further, this report aims at producing testing a more automatic approach to the construction of NUTS3 SAMs, to a view of reducing the necessary time and data requirements. Using several examples, this report examines whether such automatic approach can provide reliable SAMs at NUTS3 level. It finally draws conclusions as to the usefulness of both approaches in providing tools for further policy analysis in the field of rural development policy analysisJRC.J.4-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Econom

LEO Download Capacity Analysis for a Network of Adaptive Array Ground Stations

To lower costs and reduce latency, a network of adaptive array ground stations, distributed across the United States, is considered for the downlink of a polar-orbiting low earth orbiting (LEO) satellite. Assuming the X-band 105 Mbps transmitter of NASA s Earth Observing 1 (EO-1) satellite with a simple line-of-sight propagation model, the average daily download capacity in bits for a network of adaptive array ground stations is compared to that of a single 11 m dish in Poker Flats, Alaska. Each adaptive array ground station is assumed to have multiple steerable antennas, either mechanically steered dishes or phased arrays that are mechanically steered in azimuth and electronically steered in elevation. Phased array technologies that are being developed for this application are the space-fed lens (SFL) and the reflectarray. Optimization of the different boresight directions of the phased arrays within a ground station is shown to significantly increase capacity; for example, this optimization quadruples the capacity for a ground station with eight SFLs. Several networks comprising only two to three ground stations are shown to meet or exceed the capacity of the big dish, Cutting the data rate by half, which saves modem costs and increases the coverage area of each ground station, is shown to increase the average daily capacity of the network for some configurations