Chemical and Organic Farming in India: An Overview

India ranks second worldwide in farm outputs. As per 2018, agriculture employed 50% of the Indian work force and contributed 17-18% to country’s GDP. India exported $38 billion worth of agricultural products in 2013, making it the seventh largest agricultural exporter worldwide and the sixth largest net exporter. Chemical fertilizers are major inputs of scientific agriculture. India is one of the major countries in the production and consumption of fertilizers. Fertilizer consumption was less than 1 million tones before the mid-1960s. With the introduction of high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds, there was acceleration in the growth of fertilizer consumption. The Government of India has also implemented the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP). The national programme involves the accreditation programme for Certification Bodies, standards for organic production, promotion of organic farming etc. As on 31st March 2018, total area under organic certification process (registered under National Programme for Organic Production) is 3.56 million Hectare (2017-18). Against this backdrop, the present study is undertaken to present an overview of chemical and organic farming in Ind

Agricultural Markets in Ethiopia

Ethiopia’s agricultural markets are quickly evolving, driven by major contextual changes including high population growth, rapid urbanization, major infrastructure investments, income growth, diet change, and policy reform. Agricultural supply chains are rapidly growing, and they are an increasing source of employment in the country. Agricultural markets are found to be better integrated and marketing margins and seasonal price amplitudes to have become smaller over time, but we also see an increase in prices of nutritious high-value foods, and this is in contrast to staple cereal prices. Although food imports and the number of food aid beneficiaries have not reduced over time, Ethiopia remained a net agricultural exporter, in value terms, for all but one year in the decade before this study, illustrating at the national level the relatively good performance of the agricultural sector.

US farm bills and the ‘national interest’: an historical research paper

This paper is an historical analysis of how global pressures and aspirations have affected US farm bill debates over time, from the first farm bill in 1933 to the current debates over a 2018 farm bill. It focuses in particular on how nationalist and patriotic arguments have been used to support the USA's desired place in global agricultural markets over time. For example, debates over the 2008 farm bill reflected strong international concerns around both trade and energy, with early discussion focusing on keeping the USA ‘competitive’ as an agricultural exporter alongside emerging agricultural powerhouses, and later debates focusing on increasing domestic bioenergy production to ‘protect’ the USA from what were seen as risky energy imports. In other words, debates over trade and energy in 2008 provide insight into how stakeholders positioned the USA with respect to the rest of the world and how that positioning changed over the course of debates. But such questions about the USA's global aspirations—whether to maximize US production for export or protect US agriculture from global rivals—have been part of the farm bill since its earliest days. This analysis will examine how concerns over such national agricultural prominence in a globalizing context have played into and influenced the contours of domestic farm policy over time, with implications for the 2018 farm bill debates.

Measuring market risk for an agricultural exporter firm: a Copula approach

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effect of market risk on the revenues perceived by an agricultural producer, namely, a coffee exporter firm. Design/methodology/approach To model this risk, copula models and extreme value theory are used to perform more robust estimations, which take into account the multivariate dependence between the risk factors. As a final point, different quantitative measures of risk, such as the value at risk and the expected shortfall, are estimated as an indicator of the maximum expected loss. Findings One of the principal findings is that for an agricultural exporter firm, there is an optimal decision between exporting to another country and selling the commodity in the national market. The choice regarding the levels exported will determine the firm’s amount of risk and expected return. Research limitations/implications One of the limitations found in modelling the risk/return of the firm is the data. Not much data on the structure of the firm can be found, and many of the firms are averse to providing such information. Practical implications The purpose of the paper is to create a measure of risk to analyse the future of the firm, generating a measure of expected risk and return that takes into account the uncertainty of the future. The applications can be applied to measure the risk of a potential investment and real option valuation. Originality/value This paper applied multiple coherent measures of financial risk to an agricultural commodity exporter firm. This can be novel, especially in the context of a non-financial firm.

Japan's New Regionalism: The Politics of Free Trade Talks with Mexico

Since late 1998, Japan reversed its exclusive support for the multilateral trade regime and endorsed for the first time bilateral and preferential trade pacts, signing one with Singapore, negotiating another with Mexico, and announcing free trade talks with South Korea. The newfound Japanese interest in pursuing free trade agreements (FTAs) therefore represents one of the most significant departures in Japanese trade diplomacy of the past half-century. This article seeks to explain the birth of a preferential trading policy in a country that until recently had been a staunch multilateralist, and to analyze the reasons for the launch of FTA negotiations between Japan and Mexico. Indeed, one of the most remarkable aspects of Japan's new trade bilateralism is its cross-regional orientation, seeking preferential trade with a Latin American nation. Trade negotiations with Mexico are of great consequence to the development of Japan's FTA strategy for one more reason. Japan has embarked on this new regionalism to offset the negative effects of competing FTAs, but at the same time it has tried to minimize agricultural concessions to bilateral trade partners. Mexico is the first large agricultural exporter that Japan has approached for trade negotiations and is therefore an important test for the success of the Japanese FTA strategy.