HOW WESTERN HEMISPHERE INTEGRATION AFFECTS THE U.S. ECONOMY IN AN INTERTEMPORAL GLOBAL MODEL

In a global general equilibrium analysis, an FTAA excluding the United States erodes U.S. agricultural trade preferences and export gains achieved under NAFTA. Participation in an FTAA increases U.S. agriculture exports $740 million, with gains in Central American and Caribbean Markets more than offsetting declines in NAFTA, Asia, and Europe.International Relations/Trade,

"International workshop on socio-economic impacts of genetically modified crops co-organised by JRC-IPTS and FAO"

This JRC Scientific and Technical report provides proceedings of the "International workshop on socio-economic impacts of genetically modified (GM) crops" which was co-organised by JRC-IPTS and FAO in Seville on 23-24 November 2011. JRC-IPTS has been requested to review for policy makers the main findings of scientists active in this field world-wide in co-operation with FAO. The objective of this workshop, which was directed at socio-economic experts from the Competent Authorities of the EU Member States and staff from the EC, was to start the technical discussions between the Member States and the Commission to define factors and indicators allowing a proper capture of the impacts of GMOs in the EU. The workshop covered the following topics: Session 1: Adoption of GM crop varieties and socio-economic impacts on farmers Session 2: Aggregated and global impacts of GM technology in agriculture Session 3: Economics of segregation/coexistence of supply chains Session 4: Socio economic impacts of GM crops: examples of use in decision-making Session 5: Economic compensation, liability issues and institutional framework influencing adoption of GM crops Session 6: Research on consumer attitudes, direct/indirect impacts of GM crops on consumers including health issues Session 7: Looking forward: New GM crops in the pipeline and their possible economic and social impactsJRC.J.4-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Econom

When One Library Door Closes, Another Virtual One Opens: A Team Response to the Remote Library

The University of Central Florida Health Sciences Library is a digital library with 98% of resources being electronic and available online. Though almost all aspects of the library’s operations were impacted by the closing of the physical space during the coronavirus pandemic, being a digital library helped the library team transition quickly to remote reference, programming and instruction services

Miscellaneous topics- AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in "The State of Food and Agriculture 2003-04", examines the potential of agricultural biotechnology to address the current and future needs of the world's poor and food insecure. Critics of biotechnology claim that technology is not the answer to the problems of poverty and hunger. They argue - correctly - that the world produces enough food to provide everyone with an adequate diet and that what is required is more equitable access by the poor. They extrapolate from these sensible observations to the mistaken conclusion that technological innovation is unimportant or even counter-productive in the fight against poverty and hunger (GRAIN, 2004) . This paper summarizes the findings of The State of Food and Agriculture and argues that technological innovation in agriculture, based on the best of modern science, is a necessary condition for sustainable economic growth and poverty alleviation. Biotechnology is not a panacea, but it is an essential part of the solution. This paper briefly reviews the range of biotechnology applications that can address problems of the poor. It also describes the role of technological innovation in promoting agricultural and economic growth and examines the key differences between the Green Revolution and the Gene Revolution. These differences - private sector dominance and safety and regulatory concerns - influence both the technologies being developed and their capacity to reach the poor. The economic evidence on the experience of developing countries so far with GM crops is reviewed, followed by policy recommendations to enhance the likelihood that the Gene Revolution will meet the needs of the poo

South Korea: Determinants of Corn Import Demand

The Korean feed grain market is almost totally dependent on imports of feed grains, chiefly corn, for feed manufacturing and industrial production of starch and high-fructose corn syrup. While the United States has historically dominated the Korean corn import market, the U.S. share of Korean corn imports dropped to less than 20 percent in 1992/93. U.S. corn is increasingly competing with competitively priced feed wheat and lower priced Chinese corn. While U.S. corn is generally preferred due to its higher yielding characteristics, its kernel uniformity, and the general reliability of the United States as a supplier, corn prices from China are consistently lower than U.S. prices and the shipping time is shorter

GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: BACK TO THE FUTURE

World agriculture faces enormous challenges in the coming decades. To feed the world adequately in 2050, agricultural production in developing economies will need to nearly double. Incremental production will mainly come from increases in yields or cropping intensities. This paper focuses on the potential of genetically modified (GM) crops to contribute to agricultural productivity growth and poverty reduction in developing economies. Based on a comprehensive literature review, we aim to shed light on whether GM crops benefit farmers and are able to address their current and future needs. The first part reviews farmlevel impacts of GM crops in developing economies. The second part discusses the GM crop research pipeline. GM crop markets are expected to grow in the future, but not to change dramatically. We conclude that GM crops benefited farmers, including resource-poor farmers, in developing economies, but benefits are location and individual-specific. Addressing such complexities will be required to unlock technology potentials

TRADING BLOCS: Pro or Con for Agriculture?

Over the past year, the United States and Canada, who have already formed a free trade agreement (the CFT A), have begun negotiations with Mexico to create a North America Free Trade Area (NAFTA). The European Community (EC) is pushing ahead with plans to harmonize its internal market by January 1, 1993, and joined with the 7 countries of the European Free Trade Association in October 1991 to create the European Economic Area. Australia and New Zealand have further integrated the ties between their economies under the Closer Economic Relations (CER) agreement. Many Latin American countries are aggressively pursuing regional economic integration, with an eye on eventually forming free trade areas with the United States. In January of this year, the 6-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), until now a primarily political grouping, announced their intention to form a free trade area. At the same time, the Uruguay Round being conducted under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) has experienced great difficulties and delays. It nearly collapsed in December 1990 largely over the question of agriculture and was stalled most of 1991 and into 1992. Such developments lead to this question, "Do regional trading arrangements have a positive effect on liberalizing the trading environment for agricultural products?" Some experts and observers respond yes; others say no. Here Goodloe will summarize the pro arguments and Raney will counter with the con, leaving you to reach your own conclusion

From the green revolution to the gene revolution: how will the poor fare?

The past four decades have seen two waves of agricultural technology development anddiffusion to developing countries. The first wave was initiated by the Green Revolution inwhich an explicit strategy for technology development and diffusion targeting poor farmers in poor countries made improved germplasm freely available as a public good. The second wave was generated by the Gene Revolution in which a global and largely private agricultural research system is creating improved agricultural technologies that flow to developing countries primarily through market transactions. The Green Revolution strategy for food crop productivity growth was based on the premise that, given appropriate institutional mechanisms, technology spillovers across political and agro-climatic boundaries can be captured. A number of significant asymmetries exist between developed and developing, e.g.: agricultural systems, market institutions and research and regulatory capacity. These asymmetries raise doubts as to whether the Gene Revolution has the same capacity to generate spillover benefits for the poor. A strong public sector ' working cooperatively with the private sector ' is essential to ensure that the poor benefit from the Gene Revolution