Economic impacts of climate change on agrifood markets: A bio-economic approach with a focus on the EU

Projections for world food production and prices play a crucial role to evaluate and tackle future food security challenges. Understanding how these projections will be affected by climate change is the main objective of this study. By means of a bio-economic approach we assess the economic impacts of climate change on agrifood markets, providing both a global analysis and a regionalised evaluation within the EU. To account for uncertainty, we analyse the IPCC emission scenario A1B for the 2030 horizon under several simulation scenarios that differ in (1) the climate projection, from HadleyCM3 (warm) or ECHAM5 (mild) global circulation models; and (2) the influence of CO2 effects. Results of this study indicate that agrifood market projections to 2030 are very sensitive to climate change uncertainties and, in particular to the magnitude of the carbon fertilization effect

Exploring the feasibility of integrating water issues into the CAPRI model

Although numerous modelling efforts have integrated food and water considerations at the farm or river basin level, very few agro-economic models are able to jointly assess water and food policies at the global level. The present report explores the feasibility of integrating water considerations into the CAPRI model. First, a literature review of modelling approaches integrating food and water issues has been conducted. Three agro-economic models, IMPACT, WATERSIM and GLOBIOM, have been analysed in detail. In addition, biophysical and hydrological models estimating agricultural water use have also been studied, in particular the global hydrological model WATERGAP and the LISFLOOD model. Thanks to the programming approach of its supply module, CAPRI shows a high potentiality to integrate environmental indicators as well as to enter new resource constraints (land potentially irrigated, irrigation water) and input-output relationships. At least in theory, the activity-based approach of the regional programming model in CAPRI allows differentiating between rainfed and irrigated activities. The suggested approach to include water into the CAPRI model involves creating an irrigation module and a water use module. The development of the CAPRI water module will enable to provide scientific assessment on agricultural water use within the EU and to analyze agricultural pressures on water resources. The feasibility of the approach has been tested in a pilot case study including two NUTS 2 regions (Andalucia in Spain and Midi-Pyrenees in France). Preliminary results are presented, highlighting the interrelations between water and agricultural developments in Europe. As a next step, it is foreseen to further develop the CAPRI water module to account for competition between agricultural and non-agricultural water use. This will imply building a water use sub-module to compute water use balances

Exploring the feasibility of integrating water issues into the CAPRI model

Although numerous modelling efforts have integrated food and water considerations at the farm or river basin level, very few agro-economic models are able to jointly assess water and food policies at the global level. The present report explores the feasibility of integrating water considerations into the CAPRI model. First, a literature review of modelling approaches integrating food and water issues has been conducted. Three agro-economic models, IMPACT, WATERSIM and GLOBIOM, have been analysed in detail. In addition, biophysical and hydrological models estimating agricultural water use have also been studied, in particular the global hydrological model WATERGAP and the LISFLOOD model. Thanks to the programming approach of its supply module, CAPRI shows a high potentiality to integrate environmental indicators as well as to enter new resource constraints (land potentially irrigated, irrigation water) and input-output relationships. At least in theory, the activity-based approach of the regional programming model in CAPRI allows differentiating between rainfed and irrigated activities. The suggested approach to include water into the CAPRI model involves creating an irrigation module and a water use module. The development of the CAPRI water module will enable to provide scientific assessment on agricultural water use within the EU and to analyze agricultural pressures on water resources. The feasibility of the approach has been tested in a pilot case study including two NUTS 2 regions (Andalucia in Spain and Midi-Pyrenees in France). Preliminary results are presented, highlighting the interrelations between water and agricultural developments in Europe. As a next step, it is foreseen to further develop the CAPRI water module to account for competition between agricultural and non-agricultural water use. This will imply building a water use sub-module to compute water use balances.JRC.J.4-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Econom

EU sugar policy : a sweet transition after 2015 ?

This report compares the production, market and trade outcomes of two alternative policy scenarios, namely expiry of EU sugar quotas in 2015/16 and extension of the current sugar quota scheme. All other EU policy measures pertaining to the sugar sector, and to agriculture more generally, are assumed the same in both scenarios. The year of comparison is 2020. The CAPRI model was used for the simulations. The report begins with a description of beet and sugar production within the EU, and outlines the policies applied in the sugar sector within the EU’s Common Agricultural policy. This is followed by a description of the workings of the EU market for sugar. A theoretical model is used to summarise the main functional relationships in the EU sugar market and related markets, and the EU’s trade in sugar, from which a number of theory-based predictions about the impacts of quota expiry are derived. There is then a very brief overview of the CAPRI model and the way it has been used in this study. Isoglucose quotas will expire along with sugar quotas, and there is much speculation about the extent of potential competitive substitution between the two sweeteners, which has until now been neutralised by the quota arrangements. Sensitivity analysis was performed to obtain greater insight into this issue. Two additional quota-expiry scenarios were run, in which isoglucose was assumed to take a 10% and a 20% share of the sweetener market at the expense of sugar. The main findings are: • production of sugar beet and white sugar increases by around 4%,. • there is little net impact on the production of cereals, • total ethanol production hardly changes, but the importance of sugar as an ethanol feedstock declines by a few percentage points, • raw sugar imports from high-cost third countries decline very substantially, but those from the low-cost producer Brazil decrease only slightly, • EU sugar exports fall, • EU human consumption of sugar increases only marginally, despite a fall of 15-16% in beet prices for sugar for internal human consumption, • there is a very small positive welfare change, although income accruing to sugar beet producers falls by over 17%,JRC.J.4-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Econom

What role does climate change play in agricultural market uncertainty? An integrated assessment taking into account market-driven adjustments

Recent studies point to climate change being one of the long-term drivers of agricultural market uncertainty. To advance in the understanding of the influence of climate change on future agricultural market developments, we compare a reference scenario for 2030 with alternative simulation scenarios that differ regarding: (1) emission scenarios; (2) climate projections; and (3) the consideration of carbon fertilization effects. For each simulation scenario, the CAPRI model provides global and EU-wide impacts of climate change on agricultural markets. Results show that climate change would considerably affect agrifood markets up to 2030. Nevertheless, market-driven adaptation strategies (production intensification, trade adjustments) would soften the impact of yield shocks on supply and demand. As a result, regional changes in production would be lower than foreseen by other studies focused on supply effects

Prospects for Agricultural Markets and Income in the EU 2012-2022

The outlook presented herein consists of a set of market and sector income prospects elaborated on the basis of specific assumptions regarding macroeconomic conditions, the agricultural and trade policy environment, weather conditions and international market developments. As in previous years, these are not intended to constitute a forecast of what the future will hold, rather they describe what may happen under a specific set of assumptions and circumstances, which at the time of projections were judged plausible. Thus, they should be seen as an analytical tool for medium term market and policy issues, not as a forecasting tool for monitoring short term market developments. These projections and analyses have been carried out on the basis of economic models available in the European Commission (at the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development and in the Joint Research Centre – Institute for Perspective Technological Studies (JRC-IPTS)). This report is based on the information available at the end of September 2012, except for macroeconomic assumptions, which are from November 2012. The changes in legislation proposed or adopted since that date have not been taken into account. Moreover the projections do not take account of any potential outcome of ongoing bilateral/regional/multilateral trade negotiations. The analysis covers the period between 2012 and 2022.JRC.J.4-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Econom

Joint assessment of water and agricultural policies: a Pan-European multidimensional modelling approach.

Sustainability and the food-water-environment nexus. Food-water linkages in global agro-economic models. The CAPRI water module. Potential to jointly assess food and water policies. Pilot case study. Further development

Integrating the Agricultural Sector into the New EU Climate Policy Framework for 2030: A Scenario Analysis to Highlight Potential Impacts and Challenges

According to the European Council's recent agreement on domestic climate and energy goals, greenhouse gas emissions from sectors outside the EU's Emission Trading Scheme have to be cut by 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. So far no decision has been taken on agriculture's specific involvement in mitigation obligations or on how mitigation targets would be distributed between Member States. Based on hypothetical assumptions, we employ the CAPRI model to illustrate and highlight some potential impacts and challenges related to an integration of the agricultural sector into the new EU climate policy framework. Results of the hypothetical mitigation policy scenario show important impacts on EU agriculture, in particular the livestock sector, if the distribution key of the current Effort Sharing Decision would be rigidly applied as in our assumptions. The results highlight the importance of a targeted but flexible implementation of mitigation policy instruments in the EU and its Member States, as well as the need for a wider consideration and adoption of technological mitigation options

An economic assessment of GHG mitigation policy options for EU agriculture

The report presents an overview of the historical and projected development of agricultural GHG emissions in the EU. The major objective of the report is to present the improvements made in the CAPRI modelling system with respect to GHG emission accounting and especially regarding the implementation of endogenous technological mitigation options. Furthermore, the CAPRI model was applied to provide a quantitative assessment of illustrative GHG mitigation policy options in the agricultural sector, and their production and economic implications.JRC.J.4-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Econom

Potential EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement: Impact Assessment

This report presents the simulations made with two different models of two alternative hypothetical versions of a bilateral free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur. The two versions of the agreement are based on the final negotiating positions of each party in the previous unresolved negotiating round. A global CGE model, GLOBE, simulates the economy-wide impacts of the trade policy changes involving all sectors of the two regional blocks. A global partial equilibrium model, CAPRI, simulates only the impacts generated by changes in agricultural trade policy and incurred by the agricultural sectors of the two regions. However, CAPRI considers individual agricultural products in more detail and can generate the territorial distribution of their production within the EU at the NUTS 2 regional level. The simulation results show that the economic losses and the adjustment pressures arising from a bilateral trade agreement between the EU and the countries of Mercosur would, as far as the EU is concerned, fall very heavily on the agricultural sector. The gains to other sectors would be widely diffused and, given the very small magnitude of these gains relative to the EU economy as a whole, would be easily absorbed without imposing an adjustment burden. The aggregate welfare changes for the EU, whether measured across the whole economy or on a partial basis with respect only to the activities agricultural production and food consumption, would be small. However, the trade-off involved in the redistribution of income between agriculture and the rest of the economy is steeper in the scenarios depicting the terms requested by Mercosur than in those involving the terms offered by the EU. The Mercosur request provokes a much greater downward impact on EU agriculture whereas the additional gains elsewhere (to non-agrifood sectors or to consumers in the EU) are relatively smaller.JRC.J.4-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Econom