摘要:

The paper begins by recording Journal articles since 1952 of relevance to farming incomes and efficiency, and follows by reviewing the literature on measuring farmers' incomes and the problems entailed, including consideration of non‐farming incomes and capital gains and their relevance to agricultural policy. Definitions of ‘profit’ in selected economic texts are then compared, together with attempts to measure ‘pure profit’ from farming. Suitable charges for management and interest are then determined and estimates made of net profits and losses from different types of farming in 1986/7 and 1987/8 for both average and ‘top’ farms. Real farming incomes and capital gains from land from 1938 to 1988 are then discussed. The paper concludes by summarising why the concept of profitability from farming has now largely lost its significance—though not

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1990.tb00646.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Market disequilibria, the economic costs involved and the resulting international tensions have led to a political agreement on the need to reform agricultural policies in the direction of market orientation. However, progress has been limited so far. The present period is decisive in requiring the concrete implementation of the agreed reform principles, through a combination of domestic and international actions. In this process of reform, agriculture will be faced with new issues, reflecting the overall structural adjustment of economies and their growing internationalisation.

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1990.tb00647.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This article examines the experience of seven countries in East and Southern Africa with contract farming and outgrower schemes. In such schemes, farmers sell their crops under contract to private or public enterprises for processing or export in return for various price guarantees, inputs and services. The article identifies some of the key determinants of success or failure, evaluates performance and examines the constraints to replication. In most cases, performance in delivering services and providing income increases to farmers has been quite good, although high management costs limit the extent to which this form of organisation could be more widely applied. Looser control, relying more on price incentives and farmer participation, might lower overhead costs while developing management capability among growers.

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1990.tb00648.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Although some aspects of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are intended to improve the welfare of European society in general, its income support objective is aimed specifically at the ‘agricultural community’. This community has never been defined precisely. In consequence, it is difficult to assess the success of the CAP. Alternative ways of defining the agricultural community are considered and their implications for policy discussed. Existing data sources are used to illustrate the numbers of households and household members which various definitions prod

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1990.tb00649.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper examines the agrarian decline in Burkina Faso that prompted structural adjustment reforms by the World Bank and the IMF in the early 1980s. Official interventions in the cereals, cotton and fertiliser sectors are examined, and an analysis made of regional impacts of the proposed reforms on producers and consumers. Counter‐factual simulations with a multi‐region, multi‐commodity agricultural sector model are used to evaluate three policies: eliminating input subsidies, increasing official market commodity prices, and reducing food aid imports. Model results show that these reforms would improve agricultural‐sector performance, but depend on cotton exports to pay for fertiliser, contrary to government self‐sufficiency objectives. Relaxing capacity constraints on official marketing operations would also need to be eliminated to achieve reform o

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1990.tb00650.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

It is hypothesised that the mechanics of the agri‐monetary system impose shocks on EC agricultural markets which influence the Community's agricultural trade flows. A model illustrating links between agri‐monetary changes and trade flows of sugar is presented. Empirical tests suggest that agri‐monetary changes influence the volume and timing of sugar trade. Hypotheses relating the strength of this influence to self‐sufficiency and other factors specific to Member States are discussed, as are the welfare costs of agri‐monetary trade distortions. Although these welfare costs are unlikely to spark agrimonetary reform, they could be given consideration in the reform made inevitable by the Single Europe

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1990.tb00651.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper extends the conjectural approach in industrial organisation to the analysis of imperfections in output and factor markets. Starting from the specification of a production function, the econometric analysis is based on the formulation and estimation of a simultaneous‐equation model consisting of a production function, first‐order conditions associated with factor employment, and two conjectural elasticities to parameterise the industry's oligopoly and oligopsony equilibria. As an example, we provide an application to the US meat‐packing industry. Our results suggest that the industry exercises market power in both the output (meat) market and the factor (live animal) m

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1990.tb00652.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper discusses the results of a survey of farmers aimed at establishing a contemporary view of both the use of information and advice by farmers and their attitudes towards the various sources through which agricultural information and advice is channelled. The results of the survey suggest that farmers are generally satisfied with the provision of agricultural information and advice. The Agricultural Development and Advisory Services (ADAS), commercial representatives and the farming press continue to play an important role in communicating information and advice to farmers, but the wider uptake of on‐farm information technology is yet to be achieve

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1990.tb00653.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

In recent years, new prominence has been assigned to the effects of non‐price measures on the performance of the agricultural sector in developing countries. Nevertheless, the contribution of government expenditure to agricultural output growth has not received its due attention. This paper endeavours to estimate the impact of government expenditure (on agriculture) on the performance of the agricultural sector. An inter‐country production function is estimated for a sample of thirty‐five developing countries, pooling cross‐section and time‐series data over the 1974‐84 period. The influence of instability in government expenditure on agriculture and on agricultural growth is also assessed. The results show that government expenditure policies are of vital importance in influencing the performance of the agricultural sector. It was also found that instability in government expenditure is a deterrent to agricultural ou

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1990.tb00654.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Risk is an important characteristic of decisions about weed control in crops. In this paper it is shown that risk can affect weed control decisions even if the objective of the decision maker is to maximise expected profits: that is, even if the decision maker is ‘risk‐neutral’ in the usual economic sense. This is shown for two decision frameworks: the optimal rate approach and the economic threshold approach. Empirical results are presented for control of ryegrass in wheat in Western Australia. It is found that, in general, risk reduces the optimal level of herbicide use under expected profit maximisation. Although individual sources of risk have a small impact on the optimal decision rules, combinations of uncertain variables can have a relatively large e

ISSN:0021-857X    

DOI:10.1111/j.1477-9552.1990.tb00655.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY