Economic development and biotechnology: Public policy response to the farm crisis in Iowa

In periods of social crisis, policymakers become particularly vulnerable to interest groups mobilizing to compete for scarce funds. At this point, legislators are no longer able to address the specific needs of their primary constituency directly, but rather are forced to do so in pretext only. New, unfamiliar technologies provide ample ammunition for astute interest groups to take advantage of times of economic turmoil and maneuver for policy support through dramatic campaigns of “salesmanship.” By publicizing a crisis situation, dramatizing it effectively, and advertising an innovation as the solution to the crisis, legislators may be effectively persuaded to give priority to interest group pressures above and beyond those of the local constituency. Iowa's attempts to address the farm crisis through economic development strategies relying on biotechnology is examined in this paper. The results of extensive surveys of Iowa's legislators and farmers are examined and the consequences for Iowa's policy process of using biotechnology under the auspices of economic development are discussed.     

试论新政时期美国联邦政府的西部农业政策

新政时期美国联邦政府的西部农业政策是联邦政府应对西部的农业经济危机和自然灾害而采取的应急改革和措施,同时也体现了联邦政府对西部农业长远发展的规划.这一政策总体来说较为成功,它有效地帮助了西部地区的农民,维护了西部地区社会的稳定,为西部地区农业的长远发展打下了坚实的基础,因而赢得了西部地区农民的充分肯定和支持.     

Engaging farmers in environmental management through a better understanding of behaviour

The United Kingdom’s approach to encouraging environmentally positive behaviour has been three-pronged, through voluntarism, incentives and regulation, and the balance between the approaches has fluctuated over time. Whilst financial incentives and regulatory approaches have been effective in achieving some environmental management behavioural change amongst farmers, ultimately these can be viewed as transient drivers without long-term sustainability. Increasingly, there is interest in ‘nudging’ managers towards voluntary environmentally friendly actions. This approach requires a good understanding of farmers’ willingness and ability to take up environmental activities and the influences on farmer behavioural change. The paper aims to provide insights from 60 qualitative farmer interviews undertaken for a research project into farmers’ willingness and ability to undertake environmental management, particularly focusing on social psychological insights. Furthermore, it explores farmers’ level of engagement with advice and support networks that foster a genuine interest, responsibility and a sense of personal and social norm to sustain high quality environmental outcomes. Two conceptual frameworks are presented for usefully exploring the complex set of inter-relationships that can influence farmers’ willingness to undertake environmental management practices. The research findings show how an in-depth understanding of farmer’s willingness and ability to adopt environmental management practices and their existing level of engagement with advice and support are necessary to develop appropriate engagement approaches to achieve sustained and durable environmental management.     

Agricultural debt restructuring,accounting, and public policy: A study of the Farmers Home Administration

Federal credit policies toward agriculture reflect the human values of maintaining the farm production sector largely as an industry characterized by small-scale, family farms. The Farmers Home Administration has implemented various credit programs designed to carry out this policy objective. As a result of the prolonged financial crisis in the farm economy, the agricultural community is becoming more aware of the controversies surrounding the mission of FmHA and its debt restructuring program. This paper discusses the debt restructuring program administered by the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA), as authorized by the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987, and amended by the recently enacted Farm Bill of 1990. It discusses the key provisions of the Agricultural Credit Act authorizing FmHA to establish a debt restructuring and debt forgiveness program aimed at achieving the public policy objective of keeping financially stressed farmers in business, whenever possible.In the course of reviewing the restructuring program, FmHA officials and congressional committees reviewed the FmHA's mission and its program implementation. This review indicated that several unintended negative consequences resulted from several abuses stemming from inadequate administrative mechanisms and controls and conflicting legislative objectives of debt forgiveness and federal tax policy. In enacting the 1990 Farm Bill, Congress sought to reorient FmHA's mission to a temporary source of credit and to eliminate various abuses associated with the implementation of FmHA's debt restructuring program. The 1990 Farm Bill reflects an effort by Congress to address some the controversies surrounding federal credit policies toward agriculture. Although Congress placed limits on debt restructuring, the overall public policy objective of maintaining a family-farm posture in the agricultural sector continues to be an important social value.     

黑龙江省农机购置补贴政策效果实证分析

黑龙江省是全国重要的商品粮生产基地,黑龙江省粮食生产直接关系国家粮食储备及战略安全。农机购置补贴政策可以推进黑龙江省农业机械化、现代化,进而有效地增加粮食生产、农民收入。为研究黑龙江农机购置补贴政策的实施效果,基于面板数据,借助Eviews 7.0计量软件,对农机购置补贴政策拉动黑龙江省农业经济发展的影响程度进行了定量分析。结果表明:农机购置补贴政策对黑龙江省农户购机投入、粮食产量、农民收入均具有积极的正向影响,从而带动了全省农机总动力的提升、促进了农村劳动力的有效转移、刺激了农业生产消费。     

政策激励对稻农重金属污染治理意愿的影响——基于中国南方水稻主产省耕地地力保护补贴的考察

为探究政策激励对稻农重金属污染治理意愿的影响,基于南方重金属污染典型地区的调研数据,利用二元选择模型和中介效应模型,对中国南方水稻主产省稻农的重金属污染治理意愿进行研究。结果表明:1)耕地地力保护补贴的政策激励对于稻农的重金属污染治理意愿具有显著促进作用,补贴资金可以直接改善稻农的预算约束;2)耕地地力保护补贴的主观规范可以改变稻农的收入预期,进而影响稻农的重金属污染治理意愿;3)耕地地力补贴政策的激励效果因农户类型而异,纯农户更容易受到耕地地力保护补贴金额的影响,兼业户更容易受到政策主观规范的影响。据此,提出以下对策建议,首先,完善补贴的推广模式和增强补贴力度;其次,根据群体特点差异化实施耕地地力保护补贴政策;最后,创造条件促进稻农治理意愿向行为转化。     

Characteristics and conflicts in Norwegian agriculture

This article raises the issue of the extent to which a single nation can develop a “national agricultural policy,” pursuing internal goals in agrarian development, goals that vary significantly from those of other industrialized countries. What are the conflicts arising from such a policy and how do these conflicts interfere with the general agricultural crisis of these countries? The Norwegian case is explored as an example of a blend of social-democratic and center-populist agricultural policies. The decision in 1975 by the Norwegian Parliament to establish the income level of farmers at the same level as workers is seen as an experiment. As agricultural policy, this new departure represented a deviation from the earlier policies of rationalization. The Social Democrats developed their new position as a result of internal and external pressure. A series of reforms financed by the new state incomes from oil production were undertaken, of which income equalization and a farm relief service were the most important. Most Norwegian farmers speak of the reform years as “the good years of escalation.” Equity was reached in 1982, but nevertheless several problems emerged: 1) the escalation of subsidized incomes led to overproduction and decreasing incomes from the market (after 1982), 2) the large budgetary transfers to agriculture caused a legitimation crisis, fueling the constituency of the right-wing Progress Party, 3) the large subsidies to agriculture contributed to the fiscal crisis of the state, 4) the problems mentioned above, contributed to the general crisis of the Norwegian Social Democracy which finds itself with dwindling support. The likely outcome of the present Norwegian farm crisis is the implementation of an agricultural policy that will protect the most vulnerable sector and open the more competitive sector to market forces.     

Participatory research in integrated pest management: Lessons from the IPM CRSP

Integrated pest management has emerged as an important means of managing agricultural pests. Since the mid-1980s, the emphasis in IPM has shifted toward biologically-intensive and participatory research and extension approaches. Finding better means for solving pest problems is high on the agenda for most farmers, and farmers often have significant pest management knowledge and interest in IPM experimentation. This paper describes an approach to participatory IPM research that is being implemented by the IPM Collaborative Research Support Program (IPM CSRP). The approach emphasizes on-farm research with an extrapolation domain beyond the single farm, and in some cases beyond the local region or country. It considers many factors beyond the farm and research station that influence the generation and adoption of IPM technologies and strategies. It emphasizes linkages among farmers, scientists, consumers, bankers, marketers/processors, and policy makers in IPM research priority setting, conduct, and evaluation. The interdisciplinary approach described in the paper is illustrated with a case study from the Philippines. Lessons and conclusions draw on its recent application in other sites as well.     

家庭农场对农地经营权抵押贷款的需求及影响因素研究——以江苏省南京市高淳区及其周边地区为例

着眼于江苏省南京市试点区(高淳区)与非试点区,从家庭农场基本情况、家庭农场主贷款意愿及其影响因素3方面进行,通过问卷调查、访谈、实地考察等方式,结合Logistic模型分析进行实证检验,探讨家庭农场对农地经营权抵押贷款的意愿需求及其影响因素。结果表明,受教育程度、家庭农场的年毛收入水平、家庭农场的耕地面积、贷款利率、贷款期限以及其他贷款满足程度对于家庭农场农地经营权抵押贷款的意愿需求有着显著的影响。提出了相应的政策建议:政府要加大对农地经营权抵押贷款政策的宣传和普及力度,银行、农村合作社等金融机构要结合现阶段家庭农场的实际需求调整农地经营权贷款的利率和期限,同时要增加家庭农场主教育年限以及鼓励更多知识分子进入家庭农场的经营管理。     

How knowledge deficit interventions fail to resolve beginning farmer challenges

Beginning farmer initiatives like the USDA’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP), farm incubators, and small-scale marketing innovations offer new entrant farmers agricultural training, marketing and business assistance, and farmland loans. These programs align with alternative food movement goals to revitalize the anemic U.S. small farm sector and repopulate landscapes with socially and environmentally diversified farms. Yet even as these initiatives seek to support prospective farmers with tools for success through a knowledge dissemination model, they remain mostly individualistic and entrepreneurial measures that overlook structural barriers to productive and economic success within U.S. agriculture. Analysis of the BFRDP’s funding history and discourse reveals a “knowledge deficit” based program focused on the technical rather than the structural aspects of beginning farming. This is contrasted with qualitative analysis of beginning farmer experiences in California’s Central Coast region. The discrepancies between the farmer experiences and national structure of the BFRDP program ultimately reveal a policy mismatch between the needs of some beginning farmers and the programs intended to support them.     

A journey in and out of American agriculture. Reflections on Debt and Dispossession by Kathryn Marie Dudley (University of Chicago Press, 2000)

I was optimistic of a new beginning in an open society when I came to America in 1999. Since then, I have indeed benefited from many aspects of American life. I have learned a lot – especially through my experience with small farms and farmers. But now, it's time to move on. And it was reading Debt and Dispossession, a book about American agriculture and human values, that crystallized in me why I wanted to leave. By telling the story of the 1980s farm crisis through the words of the residents of a Minnesota town, the book prizes open many of the contradictions of American society. The 1970s were boom times for mid-western farms; farmers took advantage of easy farm credit to finance expansion. By the 1980s, the boom burst and slump loomed. Lenders wanted their money back and thousands of farmers were dispossessed. Debt and Dispossession probes beneath the surface of a community apparently united in protest against the dispossessions. Underneath, it finds a tangled picture of a society at war with itself, pitting farmer against farmer in a fratricidal struggle. The book let me glimpse the paradox of American individualism, all-American contradictions centering on government and consumerism, frugality and morality. Just like my experience of American agriculture and farmers as a whole, Debt and Dispossession helped me see the best side of America, but also revealed the fragility of life in a one-on-one society.     

河长制背景下制度能力对村民水环境治理决策行为的影响——基于Double-Hurdle模型

为研究在河长制全面推行背景下,制度能力对村民水环境治理决策行为的影响,采用陕西、河南两省610个村民的微观调查数据,利用Double-Hurdle模型,以知识资源、关系资源、动员能力3个制度能力维度进行实证分析.结果 表明:1)村民对水环境治理有较强的参与意愿,有78％的样本村民愿意参与,其支付意愿区间为200.08～...     

内蒙古赤峰市农户小额贷款实施现状分析——基于大兴农场的调查

中央[2014]1号文件继续强调通过金融手段解决"三农"问题。以内蒙古赤峰地区农户小额贷款为例,选取该地区经济发展水平中等的大兴农场为代表,随机抽取了100户农户,通过发放调查问卷,获得实地调研数据,以此来分析小额贷款实施现状、存在的问题及其对农户收入的影响,从而寻求提高小额贷款实施绩效的路径。     

基于进化博弈的农户储备粮食行为研究

针对多年来我国农户粮食储备量连续下降的问题,以及农户群体储粮行为常表现出的"共振效应"现象,利用进化博弈分析方法,对农户群体粮食储备行为进行研究。结果表明:1)农户群体的储粮行为存在3个进化稳定策略。2)在预期粮价与粮食产储成本满足一定关系时,农户群体粮食储备行为常表现出趋同性,出现"共振效应"。3)可以通过调整未来预期粮价与改变农户粮食产储成本的方式,影响农户群体的粮食储备策略,进而将农户群体的储粮行为保持在可调控的合理状态。     

Values and the agricultural crisis: Differential problems,solutions, and value constraints

Policies are set by governments in an attempt to bring about desired ends within a society. These ends are often vaguely put and phrased in terms of values. Agrarianism, as a value, has been used to justify current farm policy. Yet, that policy has also been used as a mechanism to solve a variety of problems for the United States: those of the rural sector, farmers themselves, and even the land upon which they farm. This paper tries to separate the problems that are part of the farm crisis and to show how policies designed to solve one of the problems for one set of actors, and frequently defended in the name of agrarianism, may actually exacerbate the problems for other actors. An overarching value, however, that may further inhibit problem solution and lead us further into an expensive and ineffectual farm program is the basic value that planning is somehow bad. Agrarianism and the value of spontaneity underlie some of the current decision-making or lack thereof in the farm program.     

The state,hog hotels,and the "right to farm": A curious relationship

A grassroots protest against a large-scale confinement swine facility in Jackson Country, Michigan resulted in an out-of-court settlement that redressed the concerns of local residents. At the same time, the protest was instrumental in modifying state-level legislation to secure greater legal protection for intensive animal agriculture. The paper traces this ironic turn of events. Original efforts to regulate industrial agriculture were publicly reinterpreted by agribusiness as an assault on the "right to farm" of all farmers, regardless of scale and organizational management. Responding to this perception and informed by agricultural science, the state instituted voluntary "right to farm" guidelines. These guidelines based on state-of-the-art techniques and technologies now shield conforming operations from local complaints and "nuisance suits." By contrast, the rights of smaller farmers and rural residents are selectively disadvantaged.     

Community digester operations and dairy farmer perspectives

Rising energy costs, increasing herd sizes, and other structural changes affecting the New York dairy industry may make farmers receptive to new energy production technologies. Anaerobic digestion represents a possible benefit to farmers by reducing odor while producing methane for electricity. However, current digester designs are for herd sizes of 300 or more cows, with significant economies of scale, so smaller operators may have little interest in the technology. Moreover, without a favorable policy environment and reliable grant programs, the initial investments required for digester installation might deter operators. One solution to these issues may be community digesters, which are centrally located facilities that accept manure from multiple farms. Data from a survey of New York dairy farmers were used to assess farmers’ interest in community digesters. In general, interest was associated with power generation outcomes and reservations about organic farming practices; advocates might encourage their use among smaller conventional farm operators looking for new sources of profit and diversification.     

Agricultural real estate loans and secondary markets

As a result of financial difficulties confronting American agriculture, public debate is focusing on longterm options for restoring economic stability and growth to the agricultural economy. Many believe that just as homeowners in small communities throughout the nation have been served by the development of a secondary market for residential mortgages sponsored by the federal government, farmers throughout the country would similarly benefit from the development of a secondary market for farm real estate mortgages. This paper discusses issues relating to the development of a secondary market for agricultural real estate loans. The concept of a secondary market for agriculture is of considerable interest to Congress, as evidenced by recent enactment of the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987 which established the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (“Farmer Mac”) to create a secondary market for farm real estate loans. The first section discusses the general nature of secondary markets and their purposes, with particular attention given to the secondary market for home mortgages because it served as a model for a secondary market for farm loans. Section two discusses basic differences between agriculture and housing, and section three provides a brief discussion of federal credit subsidies designed to help meet social and economic goals by influencing the allocation of credit to particular sectors of the economy such as housing and agriculture. Potential benefits and costs associated with the development of a secondary market for agriculture are discussed in section four.     

欠发达地区农户土地流转行为调查及影响因素分析——以宁夏回族自治区6村102户农户调查数据为例

基于宁夏土地流转现状的调研,以宁夏回族自治区6个行政样本村102户农户的入户调查数据为例,对农户土地流转行为及其影响因素进行了实证分析。结果表明:农户家庭人口规模、非农化程度、农户所处区域差异性、农户对土地租金的满意度以及风险预知对农户是否满意土地流转行为都有显著影响。并根据实证分析结果,提出了以下政策建议:构建农户土地流转利益保障机制,完善农村土地流转的组织化程度,加强政府土地流转政策的宣传,从而引导农户明晰其土地产权,提高农户对土地流转的满意程度,使得土地流转稳定有序进行。     

The rural crisis in Minnesota: Identifying social and economic vulnerability and new directions for the future

The rural crisis of the 1980s is described in terms of the economic and social vulnerability of rural farm areas. The crisis is shown spreading from farms through families to rural communities, schools, churches, counties and beyond. Rural communities are shown to be undergoing dramatic and non-cyclical change. Criteria are defined to identify rural counties vulnerable to further economic losses and include: dependence on agriculture for jobs, inadequate off farm income, population losses, declines in residential and commercial property value, and county fiscal crises due to loss of the tax base, delinquincies, and additional federal and state program changes and cutbacks. Social and economic distress are so extensive as to overwhelm conventional emergency intervention efforts to provide food, shelter, access to health care, and professional counseling. Peer support programs have been found to be effective at reaching farm families and helping them seek out the assistance of farm financial advisors, counselors, food shelves, and public assistance. Emerging attempts to link politically contending parties are discussed, specifically the Reinvest in Minnesota Coalition and the Rural Strategy Task Force consisting of major farm, church, and lending organizations. A strategy process and stakeholder analysis for local communities are presented together with recommendations for action that include creating a rural trend watch capability.