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This brochure is published within the framework of the activities of the Scheme for the Application of International Standards for Fruit and Vegetables set up by OECD in 1962. It comprises comments and illustrations to facilitate the common interpretation of standards in force and is therefore a valuable tool for both the Inspection Authorities and professional bodies responsible for the application of standards or interested in the international trade in these products.
This book discusses the often diverging risks and opportunities associated with genetically engineered organisms in terms of the environment, food safety, and economics and trade. These issues were raised at the OECD Workshop on Challenges and Risks of GMOs - What Risk Analysis is Appropriate? Options for Future Policy Making Towards Integrated Agro-Food Systems, held in Maastricht, Netherlands, in July 2003. Discussions also covered the relevant WTO Agreements and their relationship with other multilateral accords as well as regional and national approaches.
As the world has changed during the past 50 years, so has agriculture. And so has agricultural research, which continues to confront new challenges, from food security to ecological concerns to land use issues. Indeed, as Guy Paillotin, the former president of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) has noted, agricultural research “has reached new heights in biology and is exploring other disciplines. It is forever changing, as are the needs of the society”.
The changing challenges faced by agricultural research were examined in depth at a conference organised by the OECD’s Co-operative Research Programme on Biological Resource Management for Sustainable Agricultural Systems, together with the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Agriculture. Participants came from all agricultural sectors and included farmers, industry, scientists and decision makers, as well as other stake holders.
This publication presents the twenty papers delivered at the conference. They highlight recent major progress in agricultural research outcomes and address the challenges that lie ahead.
This brochure is published within the framework of the Scheme for the Application of International Standards for Fruit and Vegetables established by OECD in 1962. It comprises explanatory notes and illustrations to facilitate the uniform interpretation of the Cherries Standard. This brochure illustrates the standard text and demonstrates the quality parameters on high quality photographs. Thus it is a valuable tool for the inspection authorities, professional bodies and traders interested in international trade in Cherries.
This brochure is published within the framework of the Scheme for the Application of International Standards for Fruit and Vegetables established by OECD in 1962. It comprises explanatory notes and high quality photographs to facilitate the uniform interpretation of the Chicory standard. It is thus a valuable tool for the inspection authorities, professional bodies and traders interested in international trade of Chicory.
Chinese decision-makers are grappling with policy choices that will optimise the gains from China’s integration into the international trading system in harmony with social, regional and sustainable development goals. Trade liberalisation can significantly enhance the reform process underway and bring great benefits to China. But the agricultural sector faces the greatest challenges and potential hardships of any economic sector from this process. Significant domestic policy reform and structural adjustment will be critical to enable China to realise its comparative advantage in agriculture and to redeploy an estimated 150 million redundant farmers. To sharpen understanding of the policy options, the OECD invited Chinese and international experts to reflect together upon the likely impacts of freer trade on China’s agricultural sector. Based on the results of China’s WTO negotiations with key trading partners, they assessed the compatibility of China’s WTO commitments with domestic policies and the need for specific changes. They analysed the effects of likely policy changes on cereal, oilseeds and livestock markets in China and OECD countries. And they examined the implications of China’s WTO accession on rural enterprises, regional development and the domestic and international political economy. These proceedings offer the reader the fruits of timely analytical and strategic thinking and joint reflection on some of the most important agricultural policy issues for China and the world.
This brochure is published within the framework of the Scheme for the Application of International Standards for Fruit and Vegetables established by OECD in 1962. It comprises explanatory notes and illustrations to facilitate the uniform interpretation of the Chinese Cabbage. This brochure illustrates the standard text and demonstrates the quality parameters on high quality photographs. Thus it is a valuable tool for the inspection authorities, professional bodies and traders interested in international trade in Chinese Cabbage.
This publication provides comments and illustrations of standards in force regarding the classification, presentation and marking of citrus fruit in international trade under the Scheme for the Application of International Standards for Fruit and Vegetables set up by OECD in 1962. It is a valuable tool for both the Inspection Authorities and professional bodies responsible for the application of standards or interested in trade in citrus fruit.
Climate change is likely to have significant impacts on the agricultural sector to which farmers will have to adapt. While agriculture is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, it is also a source of carbon storage in soils. This report examines the economic and policy issues related to the impacts of climate change on agriculture and adaptation responses and to the mitigation of greenhouse gases from agriculture. It outlines research undertaken and underway in other national and international research agencies. It also highlights some of the knowledge gaps on the impacts of climate change on food production and the uncertainties of those impacts in a global context that warrant further research efforts. In particular, the report analyses marginal abatement cost curves, which show the relative costs of achieving reductions in greenhouse gas emission through the implementation of different actions in the agricultural sector. The aim of the report is to help guide policy makers in the design of policies to address climate change issues in agriculture.
This report reviews the main linkages between climate change, water and agriculture as a means to identifying and discussing adaptation strategies for better use and conservation of water resources. It aims to provide guidance to decision makers on choosing an appropriate mix of policies and market approaches to address the interaction between agriculture and water systems under climate change.
Across the OECD, farmers are voluntarily forming community-based associations to help achieve a more sustainable agriculture. What are the reasons behind this phenomenon? How can it be encouraged? To what extent can such group-based voluntary action substitute for, or complement, existing agri-environmental policy measures? In attempting to answer these questions the study looks at the recent development of landcare groups in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and New Zealand. It also identifies the conditions under which such groups seem to work most effectively, and the types of issues for which they are best suited.
The analysis of the different national experiences leads to a number of general observations and specific policy recommendations. In so doing, the study provides a new perspective on the role of voluntary, collective action in finding local solutions to local environmental issues.
Agriculture is no longer the dominant sector in rural economies in OECD countries. But it is still the key sector in managing the land, and many ancillary industries are dependant on agriculture. Both agricultural and rural policy are changing to respond to society's concerns regarding food safety, food security, animal welfare, environmental protection and the viability of rural areas. These proceedings of the OECD Workshop on Coherence of Agricultural and Rural Development Policies examined these issues through thematic studies and country experiences. They find that rural is not synonymous with agriculture and agriculture is not always rural as much agricultural production occurs in peri-urban areas. The goals of agricultural and rural policies are different, but policy coherence is essential.
Recent mergers in the seed industry have led to concerns about market concentration and its potential effects on prices, product choice, and innovation. This study provides new and detailed empirical evidence on the degree of market concentration in seed and GM technology across a broad range of crops and countries, and analyses the causes and potential effects of concentration. It also explains how competition authorities have responded to mergers, and suggests policy options to help safeguard and stimulate competition and innovation in plant breeding by avoiding unnecessary regulatory barriers, by facilitating access to genetic resources and intellectual property, as well as by stimulating public and private R&D. As this study shows, policy makers have several levers besides competition policy to ensure an innovative and competitive seed industry.
In West Africa, approximately 16 million people depend directly or indirectly on cotton cultivation. But subsidies in the developed world have suppressed cotton prices and have made it difficult for West African producers to compete. Compounding the problem, WTO negotiations on the problem have been suspended. This publication contends that the dialogue between developed and developing countries on this topic must continue. It sets out the regional stakes linked to the economic and social importance of cotton in West Africa. It retraces the consultation process on the West African cotton crisis with the aim of finding a negotiated solution acceptable to all parties. Also discussed are the challenges and the measures that need to be taken over the medium and long term in order to prevent this sub-sector’s sudden collapse.
The publication also records the relevant aid activities reported by DAC members and multilateral institutions to the CRS Aid Activity database (Creditor Reporting System) in 2007. The information is based on individual commitments and disbursements of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to agriculture.
Data presented are unique, comparable and consistent with definitions and methodologies of DAC statistics. The information is designed to meet the needs of development agencies and institutions for information relevant to programming and analysis by country and by sector.
This set of standards is published within the framework of the activities of the Scheme for the Application of International Standards for Fruit and Vegetables set up by OECD in 1962. It comprises comments and illustrations to facilitate the common interpretation of standards in force and is therefore a valuable tool for both the Inspection Authorities and professional bodies responsible for the application of standards or interested in the international trade in these products.
This book provides comments and illustrations to facilitate the common interpretation of the standard in force for grading cultivated mushrooms in international trade under the Scheme for the Application of International Standards for Fruit and Vegetables set up by the OECD in 1962. It therefore is a valuable tool for both the Inspection Authorities and professional bodies responsible for the application of standards or those interested in international trade of cultivated mushrooms.
The future of rural areas is high on the domestic and international policy agenda. Restructuring of the agricultural sector, and accompanying reform of agricultural policies, and the challenge of meeting sustainable development objectives are key preoccupations in OECD countries. In the search for forward-looking and durable policy strategies, building on natural and cultural amenities is emerging as an important area of policy action, one which complements traditional, agriculture-oriented rural policies and places rural policy in the broader territorial development arena.
In most rural areas, the potential of many natural and cultural resources remains untapped. Harnessing such amenities, however, involves striking a balance between use and conservation. In many cases, maintenance of rural amenities depends on a degree of local economic activity -- without it there is a danger of degradation. At the same time, over-exploitation risks spoiling, often irreversibly, the essential value of the amenity. Because many natural and cultural features are public goods, with limited markets and hazy property rights, public policies are needed to strike the delicate balance between supply and demand.
O relatório tem como principal foco a cobrança pelo uso de recursos hídricos no Brasil. Avalia o seu estado atual e os desafios de implementação. Proporciona orientações para o avanço da implementação da cobrança no País como instrumento econômico e financeiro de gestão, visando prevenir e responder a situações de conflito pelo uso da água e de poluição, contribuindo para a segurança hídrica, e, consequentemente, favorecendo o crescimento econômico e o bem-estar social. O relatório evidencia a necessidade de informações, a aproximação da cobrança ao planejamento da bacia e a aplicação eficiente dos recursos arrecadados. O relatório inclui uma avaliação de três estudos de caso: o Estado do Rio de Janeiro, a Bacia do rio Paraíba do Sul e a Bacia do rio Piancó-Piranhas-Açu. Conclui com um plano de ação com etapas de implementação prática e delimitação de funções: quem pode fazer o quê para implementar as recomendações a curto, médio e longo prazo.
O relatório tem como principal foco a cobrança pelo uso de recursos hídricos no Brasil. Avalia o seu estado atual e os desafios de implementação. Proporciona orientações para o avanço da implementação da cobrança no País como instrumento econômico e financeiro de gestão, visando prevenir e responder a situações de conflito pelo uso da água e de poluição, contribuindo para a segurança hídrica, e, consequentemente, favorecendo o crescimento econômico e o bem-estar social. O relatório evidencia a necessidade de informações, a aproximação da cobrança ao planejamento da bacia e a aplicação eficiente dos recursos arrecadados. O relatório inclui uma avaliação de três estudos de caso: o Estado do Rio de Janeiro, a Bacia do rio Paraíba do Sul e a Bacia do rio Piancó-Piranhas-Açu. Conclui com um plano de ação com etapas de implementação prática e delimitação de funções: quem pode fazer o quê para implementar as recomendações a curto, médio e longo prazo.