Challenges in Modeling the Effects of Trade Agreements on the Agricultural Sector

Major issues and challenges encountered in modeling and analyzing agricultural and trade policy reforms are reviewed. We focus on the modeling approach and pay special attention to the type and scope of the models, the calibration of a realistic baseline scenario, the representation of the reform agreement, the use of extra-model information, the choice of metrics to measure reform impacts, and emerging issues in policy modeling. Existing solutions and unresolved issues are examined. We stress the complementarity of various modeling approaches in assessing policy reforms and the importance of helping users understand the limitations of the chosen approach. Keywords: agricultural policy, economic modeling, trade agreements. JEL classification: Q17, Q18, F13

Understanding sports hernia (athletic pubalgia) - The anatomic and pathophysiologic basis for abdominal and groin pain in athletes

Recent publicity and some scientific reports suggest increasing success in treating an entity called “sports hernia” - more accurately named athletic pubalgia. The primary purpose of this article is to portray what we believe to be the key concept for understanding this wide variety of abdominal and groin injuries that afflict high performance athletes. These injuries have been plaguing athletes for a long time, and past treatments, based on concepts of occult hernia or simple strains, have generally failed. The former concepts do not take into account the likely mechanisms of injury or various patterns of pain that these athletes exhibit. The authors believe that the concept of a pubic joint or pubic dynamic complex is fundamental to understanding the anatomy and pertinent pathophysiology in these patients. Many injuries can now be treated successfully. Some of the injuries require surgery and others do not. In most cases, decisions regarding treatment and timing for return to full play require proper identification of the problems and consideration of a wide variety of medical, social, and business factors

Conservation Reserve and Conservation Compliance Programs: Implications for Resource Adjustment

Conservation Titles of the 1985 Food Security Act lead to agricultural market and resource use adjustments. This study explores how the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Conservation Compliance (CC) Program influence land use, commodity markets, input and technology use, production costs, and the environment. In the case of the Conservation Reserve Program, CARD/FAPRI commodity models are used to generate a baseline and to evaluate the impacts of increasing the amount of land in the reserve. In the case of the Conservation Compliance Program, the CARD ARIMS model is used to generate a baseline without the program and then to evaluate the impacts of imposing erosion restrictions consistent with the conservation compliance provisions. Lower stocks and higher commodity prices would be consequences of expanding the CRP. Resource adjustment associated with conservation compliance can be protracted and may be costly. Insofar as CRP reduces production and strengthens prices, it also can have the effect of increasing the intensity of input use in the remaining planted area. Conservation compliance clearly influences cropping patterns and choices of technology, as well as rates of soil erosion. While production cost increases of 2-4 percent seem relatively small, this could mean as much as 6-15 percent decline in net farm income

Challenges of incorporating EU enlargement and CAP reform in the GOLD model framework

Published as part of the 89th Parma European Association of Agricultural Economists seminar “Modelling agricultural policies: state of the art and new challenges” proceedings. Further information may be found at http://www.lei.dlo.nl/EAAE/index.php3?page=en/content/past_seminars/past_seminars.htmThere cannot have been many circumstances that have challenged the modeller of agricultural markets to the extent that the developments in the EU in recent years have. The enlargement of the EU involving a large number of countries, with important agricultural sectors, many emerging from a volatile transition from centrally planning, raises many issues. Moreover this is occurring at a time of radical reform of the CAP, with the substantial decoupling of payments, an area that has attracted some research but provides little concrete guidance for sector level modellers. In this paper the challenges of each of these developments are outlined and their importance to the sector addressed. Some strategies in dealing with the issues and the impact on the model results are evaluated

Non-Operative Management of a Common Bile Duct Injury Sustained During Cholecystectomy in a Morbidly Obese Patient. (Non-Operative Repair of CBD Injury)

A 29 year old morbidly obese patient suffered injury to his common bile duct during cholecystectomy. Subsequent access to the biliary tree was obtained by using a long heavy gauge needle after first opacifying the system with contrast injection through a nasobiliary tube. It is now twenty six months after initial percutaneous biliary drainage placement and eighteen months after removal of all biliary access. The patient is asymptomatic and has normal liver function tests. This technique can be useful in morbidly obese patients who are at increased risk from surgical repair of biliary duct injuries

FAPRI U.S. Crops Model Documentation

The U.S. crops model is one component of the integrated modeling system developed and maintained by the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI), which operates as a joint program at Iowa State University and the University of Missouri-Columbia. The FAPRI system is used to generate medium-term projections of the agricultural economy and to conduct policy analysis. The U.S. crops model determines domestic supply, utilization, and prices for wheat, corn, sorghum, oats, barley, soybeans, soybean meal, soybean oil, rice, and cotton, Other components of the FAPRI system include world trade models for grains and oilseeds, domestic livestock models, and satellite models that determine U.S. net farm income and the government cost of agricultural programs

Senator James O. Eastland, Senator John Stennis, Representative William M. Colmer, Representative Jamie L. Whitten, Representative Thomas G. Abernethy, Representative G.V. \u27Sonny\u27 Montgomery, & Representative Charles H. Griffin to President Richard M. Nixon, 24 July 1969

Copy typed letter dated 24 July 1969 from Eastland, William M. Colmer, John Stennis, Jamie L. Whitten, Thomas G. Abernethy, G.V. \u27Sonny\u27 Montgomery, & Charles H. Griffin to Nixon, re: Mississippi delegation requesting appointment with president to discuss integration of Mississippi public schools.https://egrove.olemiss.edu/joecorr_f/1067/thumbnail.jp

Evaluation of Policy Scenarios for the 1990 Farm Bill

Three alternatives for 1990 farm legislation are examined: (1) a continuation of current legislation; (2) small reductions in producer support levels that are phased in after a two-year delay; and (3) more significant policy reforms that include immediate support reductions for grains and cotton, marketing quotas for dairy products and sugar, and an expanded conservation reserve. Analysis indicates that the alternatives to current policies reduce both government outlays on farm programs and net farm income. The effects on the supply, demand, and prices of most crop and livestock commodities are small. Marketing quotas protect sugar and dairy producer income and allow increased imports without significant budgetary effects, but at considerable cost to consumers

FAPRI U.S. Agricultural Sector Elasticities, Volume I: Crops

This report presents estimates of supply, demand, and price transmission elasticities for the U.S. crops sector. The estimates are derived from the U.S. crops model maintained by the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) and are prepared in accordance with procedures stipulated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The first section of this report provides a general overview and describes the procedures used to perform the elasticity calculations. Each succeeding section provides general information about the elasticity estimates for a particular activity. Specific attention is given to those results that may not be intuitively clear and, in particular, to the elasticities that depend on the interaction of two or more equations in the FAPRI modeling system