Suchergebnisse

Abstract
This study uses data from a special subsample of the National Agricultural, Food, and Public Policy Preference Survey to assess use of weather data for agricultural decision making. Responses from 284 Arizona farmers and ranchers were used to examine (i) the importance producers placed on different types of weather data for production and marketing decisions; (ii) which producer characteristics accounted for differences in the importance they placed on weather data; (iii) producer use of weather data for specific production and marketing decisions; and (iv) which factors distinguish weather data users from nonusers. A model of demand for weather information was developed and used to specify count data and discrete choice multivariate regression models. The intensity of weather data use was greater among producers with diversified agricultural production. Diversified producers were more likely to use data for timing of planting, cultivation, and harvest. Weather data use was lower among producers with greater reliance on off-farm income. Producers who rated government risk-management programs as important also found more weather data types important and used weather data for more decisions. Access to satellite TV increased data use but access to the Internet did not.

This paper assesses the role of Biotechnology Development Agreements (BDAs) in creating incentives to conserve biodiversity. A major cause of species loss is the conversion of tropical forests to crop and pasture land. Biodiversity conservation, therefore, fundamentally depends on the economics of agricultural land use in developing countries. BDAs can play only a limited role in a comprehensive strategy to increase incentives for biodiversity conservation. Policymakers must examine biodiversity policies in the broader context of land tenure, rural poverty, and agricultural development in tropical countries.

Commercial development of the anti‐cancer drug taxol has involved a complex set of interlocking research agreements. This paper explores the implications of such agreements and discusses diverse policy issues surrounding taxol development. Among these are forest management, species preservation, intellectual property rights, and the economics of biomedical research. Advances in genetic research increasingly have linked natural resource and technology policy issues. Institutional innovations in public/private research arrangements play a vital role in biotechnology development but are poorly understood. Policymakers need formal analyses of such agreements in order to evaluate complex research programs.

Global Environmental Change and Agriculture offers a comprehensive perspective on the causes, consequences and possible policy solutions for climatic change as we move into the twenty-first century. It assesses the impact of potential future global climate change on agriculture and the need to sustain agricultural growth for economic development. The book begins by examining the role of international research institutions in overcoming environmental constraints on sustainable agricultural growth and economic development. The authors then discuss how agricultural research systems may be restructured to respond to global environmental problems such as climate change and loss of genetic diversity. The discussion then extends to consider environmental accounting and indexing, to illustrate how environmental quality can be included formally in measures of national income, social welfare and sustainability. The third part of the book focuses on the effects of and policy responses to climate change. Chapters examine the effect of climate change on production, trade, land use patterns and livelihoods. They consider impacts on the distribution of income between developed and developing countries and between different social classes within the developing world, where agriculture remains a major economic activity. Authors take on an economy-wide perspective to draw lessons for agricultural, trade, land use and tax policy. This book will be of special interest to agricultural, development and environmental economists as well as policy analysts in government and at international agencies confronting practical problems of environmental and economic assessment