Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 148 Document Number: C23658
Notes:
Presented at a symposium sponsored by the Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Farm Foundation January 27-28, 2003. 11 pages., Suggests that biotechnology, environmental regulaton and product traceability act like pull-factors, increasing the benefits that would accrue from being better able to track food additive throughout the food system. The technologies associated with precision agriculture and internet communications act as push factors, making it less costly to provide those system tracking capabilities.
17 pages., Online via UI electronic subscription, Case study assessing the effects of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines published jointly by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture. Findings suggested that release of the guidelines and related media attention increased availability and sales of whole-grain foods. Emphasized the key role of product reformulation, induced by competition among food suppliers.
9 pages, via online journal, Grain marketing arrangements in modern Russia are far from what they were in the 1990s. Given that grain marketing is crucial for farm revenues and an adequate functioning of the agri-food system, this paper examines why different grain marketing contracts co-exist and how well they fit the local agri-food context. Semi-structured interviews with farmers, grain buyers and regional authorities were conducted in the region of Tyumen in 2013-2014. The analysis, grounded in new institutional economics, found that the traders’ contracts, compared to those offered by grain elevators, are often better suited to account for uncertainty as a salient property of marketing transactions, but discourage quality improvements and differentiation of grain. Furthermore, both contract types encourage strategic behaviour on the part of grain buyers. The paper also discusses the case in a broader theoretical and international context and offers a number of policy implications, such as those related to independent grain quality assessments and extension.
