Potential Contribution of Payments for Ecological Goods and Services to Farm Income

Agri-environmental payments are part of a re-instrumentation of farm support in some developed countries. In general, they are meant to contribute to the cost of meeting regulations, compensate for income lost by adopting certain practices, and reward farmers for providing environmental services. In this context, agri-environmental payments are seen as a vehicle which could potentially contribute to meet the double objectives of providing environmental benefits to society while supporting farm income. Such agri-environmental payments are gaining importance in the policy portfolio of certain countries in response to higher social expectations with respect to the environmental performance of the agricultural sector as well as in response to international agreements constraining the use of trade-distorting support measures. The present study sheds some light on limited international experience by assessing the contribution that payments for ecological goods and services make to farm income in Switzerland, France and the Walloon region of Belgium. Results show that the contribution from agri-environmental payments to farm income differs from country to country, is modest and commensurate with the additional costs incurred by agricultural producers.Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Des quotas aux contrats : perceptions de la filière laitière suisse et analyse contractuelle

La régulation publique par contingents du secteur laitier suisse a été abolie en 2009 pour être remplacée par une régulation d’ordre privé instaurant une contractualisation obligatoire entre transformateurs et producteurs. Cet article présente l’expérience suisse sur la base de la théorie des contrats et d’entrevues semi-dirigées avec des groupes de producteurs, des acheteurs et des représentants institutionnels par une méthode d’évaluation de programmes. Les principaux résultats montrent que l’État et les transformateurs sont les plus satisfaits du changement, alors que les groupes de producteurs sont divisés. Les transformateurs ont été avantagés par ce nouveau mode de coordination qui n’est pas encadré par un environnement institutionnel permettant une contractualisation efficace et équitable.Public regulation of the dairy Swiss sector through quotas has been abolished in 2009 and replaced by a private regulation through mandatory contracts between producers and dairies. This article presents the Swiss experience using a contract theory approach and interviews performed with producer groups, dairies and governmental authorities inside a program evaluation methodology. Our main results show that government and dairy processors are the most satisfied by the new regulation, whereas producer groups are divided. Dairies benefited the most from the new coordination mode, which does not seem to be framed by an institutional environment promoting efficient and fair contracting

Démantèlement et pérennité des offices de commercialisation : une question de paradigme ?

La pérennité des offices de commercialisation agricoles canadiens contraste avec le démantèlement massif de ces organisations partout ailleurs dans le monde. Cet article propose d’analyser les raisons sous-jacentes aux démantèlements des offices laitiers de Grande-Bretagne, Nouvelle-Zélande et Australie afin de mieux comprendre pourquoi les offices canadiens perdurent. L’analyse des divers cas est faite à l’aide d’une grille d’analyse des conditions de changement de paradigme politique. Les résultats montrent que les démantèlements ont tous été effectués au cours ou à la suite d’un changement de paradigme économique. Les offices canadiens n’auraient pas connu le même sort, notamment parce que le paradigme qui soutient ces organisations n’a toujours pas été remis en question pour des raisons de pragmatisme économique et politique.Sustainability of Canadian agricultural marketing boards contrast with the massive dismantlement of these organizations elsewhere in the world. This article aims to analyze the underlying reasons for dismantling dairy boards in Great Britain, New Zealand and Australian in order to better understand why Canadian dairy boards remain. Each case is analysed through an analytical grid constructed from a political paradigm shifts’ perspective. The results show that the dismantlements were all conducted during or after a change in the economic paradigm of the country. Canadian boards have apparently not suffered the same fate since the paradigm that supports these organizations in that country has not been questioned for reasons of economic and political pragmatism

Analyse économique néo-institutionnelle de la mise en marché collective. Application au secteur laitier du Québec

This thesis is devoted to the analysis of the Québec collective milk marketing system and it's marketing board using New Institutional Economics. Marketing boards are mandatory marketing organizations legislatively specified, that achieve various marketing functions on behalf of producers of a specific agricultural product. Generally considered and analyzed in economics as horizontally integrated organizations, marketing boards are examined in this thesis from their institutional and organizational roles, as well as their transactional effectiveness, within the vertical coordination of agricultural products transactions. In order to evaluate the relative effectiveness of this organization, a comparative approach with bilateral contracts between producers and milk purchasers in Great Britain was privileged. The thesis is divided into three parts.After having presented the operation and structure of the collective marketing system of agricultural products, the first part justifies the interest in analyzing this marketing mode in terms of vertical coordination. The second part first examines the question of the determinants of the emergence of the collective marketing system as a hybrid institution. It secondly analyses the organizational nature of the Quebec milk marketing board and proposes to consider this governance structure as a quasi-hierarchical hybrid organizational form. The third part is empirical. An original database collected from 62 English dairy producers and Québec milk board's employees is analyzed to quantitatively evaluate the importance of transaction costs supported by English and Québec dairy producers when they contract with milk purchasers.Cette thèse est consacrée à l'analyse du système demise en marché collective du lait au Québec et de son office de commercialisation sous l'angle de l'économie néoinstitutionnelle. Les offices de commercialisation sont des organisations obligatoires de commercialisation définies et encadrées législativement, qui accomplissent différentes fonctions de commercialisation au nom des producteurs d'un produit agricole spécifique. Généralement considérés et analysés en économie comme des organisations horizontalement intégrées, les offices de commercialisation sont examinés dans cette thèse sous l'angle de leurs rôles institutionnel et organisationnel, ainsi que de leur efficacité transactionnelle, dans la coordination verticale des transactions de produits agricoles. Afin d'évaluer l'efficacité relative de cette organisation, une approche comparative avec les contrats bilatéraux entre producteurs et acheteurs de lait en Grande-Bretagne a été privilégiée. La thèse est divisée en trois parties.Après avoir présenté le fonctionnement et la structure de la mise en marché collective des produits agricoles, la première partie justifie l'intérêt d'une analyse de ce mode de commercialisation en termes de coordination verticale des transactions. La deuxième partie examine dans un premier temps la question des déterminants de l'émergence de la mise en marché collective en tant qu'institution hybride. Dans un deuxième temps, elle analyse la nature organisationnelle de l'office de commercialisation du lait au Québec et propose de considérer cette structure de gouvernance comme une forme hybride quasi-hiérarchique. La troisième partie est empirique. Une base de données originales recueillies auprès de 62 producteurs laitiers anglais et d'employés de l'office de commercialisation du lait au Québec fait l'objet d'une analyse très précise dans laquelle j'évalue quantitativement l'importance des coûts de transaction supportés par les producteurs laitiers anglais et québécois lorsqu'ils contractualisent avec les acheteurs de lait

Huiles et graisses comme agents d’enrobage dans l’industrie agro-alimentaire

Coating is an industrial process whereby a layer of liquid or powder is applied on the surface of a product, whatever its shape, in order to confer organoleptic (glazing agent, etc.), nutritional (add of vitamins, etc.) or functional properties (anti-caking agent, etc.). This paper is focusing on oils and fats used in agri-food industry: what are their main uses? What are the main vegetable fats used as coating agent? Then, some examples are given (wafer cones, dried fruits, pearl sugar, wrapped or covered cheese, IQF frozen products)

Public Private Partnerships in food industries: A road to success?

International audienceRecent food safety crises have led to the development of new collaborations between public authorities and food operators in monitoring food safety. To date, most of the literature has analyzed these collaborations as linked to a regulatory process and as a mean to comply with regulatory standards. In this paper, we take another stand and consider them as specific embedded institutions (meso-institutions) analysing them as Public Private Partnership specific to food safety provision. This new perspective allows us to take into account both information asymmetries and the industry-wide dimension of such programmes. Our overall intention is to provide a general enriched theoretical framework to highlight aligned incentive mechanisms in such partnerships. We then apply our framework to two case studies in order to better understand the main mechanisms at work that could explain their specific functioning and resilience. The two case studies are the cattle traceability system in Quebec (Canada) and monitoring programmes for pesticide residues in the French imports industry of fresh produce

Huiles et cires comme agents de démoulage dans l’industrie agro-alimentaire

To prevent adhesion in the mould, release agents are commonly used in food industry, such as bakery, pastry, meat processing industry, confectionery, or cheese industry. Over the past two decades, petroleum based products such as petroleum jelly and paraffin have been replaced by mixture of vegetable oils (soy, canola, etc.), plant waxes (candelilla wax, carnauba wax), emulsifiers (soy or rape seed lecithin, mono- or diglycerides) and sometimes antioxidants. Here is a short overview of their main characteristic