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This book, the result of the OECD York Workshop in the United Kingdom attended by some of the leading experts in the field, examines two key aspects of developing environmental indicators for agriculture. One discusses the identification and design of suitable indicators, the methodology to be used in their measurement and issues relating to interpretation. The other looks at how governments and other users would use indicators for policy purposes.
This first volume, of the series Environmental Indicators for Agriculture, outlines an analytical framework to further the analysis of agri-environmental linkages and sustainable agriculture. It describes the main environmental concepts in agriculture of relevance to OECD policy-makers and the indicators that need to be calculated: the use of nutrients, pesticides, and water; land conservation; water and soil quality; greenhouse gases; biodiversity; wildlife habitats; landscape; and environmental impacts related to farm management practices, the availability of farm financial resources, and rural socio-cultural issues.
Economic Accounts for Agriculture provides detailed information on the place of agriculture in terms of its contribution to a nation's wealth and share in employment; the amount, structure and composition of agricultural production and inputs; the remuneration of production factors; and incomes derived from this activity for the great majority of OECD countries.
This data set provides a coherent and detailed framework for quantifying agricultural output and its components, intermediate consumption, different value added and income measures, and capital formation. For easy access and data comparability, this publication is divided into two parts:
-international tables, presenting data from 1985 up to 1998 for key variables;
-national tables, providing agricultural accounts in US dollars (converted using Purchasing Power Parities), at current prices and constant 1990 prices, covering the period 1991 to 1997, as well as accounts in the national currency of countries, at current prices, covering the period 1984 to 1997.
This book is the first comprehensive study to review and take stock in OECD countries of progress in developing indicators to measure the environmental performance of agriculture. Using standard indicator definitions and methods of calculation, the book provides results of the state and trends of environmental conditions in agriculture; interprets trends and highlights linkages between indicators; and, outlines the limitations and key challenges for their future development.
Proceedings of the OECD Workshop on Environmentally Harmful Subsidies, November 2002. For the first time, experts from a variety of backgrounds (government, academics, researchers and representatives of international organisations and civil society) had the opportunity to take stock of and share technical knowledge of subsidies and their environmental impacts. They addressed these issues in the context of such diverse areas as agriculture, fisheries, energy, industry, transport, forestry and water resources
Subsidies are pervasive throughout OECD countries and much of this support is potentially harmful environmentally. This report presents sectoral analyses on agriculture, fisheries, water, energy and transport, proposing a checklist approach to identifying and assessing environmentally harmful subsidies. It also identifies the key tensions and conflicts that are likely to influence subsidy policy making. The book concludes with a discussion of politically feasible subsidy reform strategies.
These conference proceedings present a series of evaluations of agri-environmental policies in OECD countries. They examine how effective the policies have been in achieving objectives and what policy makers have learned about the design and implementation of their policies.
These proceedings show that different methods of policy evaluation are complementary. Most countries focus on evaluating the environmental effectiveness rather than the economic efficiency of policies, using physical indicators rather than monetary values. Many policies are achieving their environmental objectives, but are taking longer than originally anticipated. The initiative being taken in many countries to incorporate monitoring and data collection into programme design and implementation is a positive development. But a number of steps need to be taken to improve the quality of evaluations, including the better articulation of policy goals and objectives, improving data quality and establishing baselines for comparison.
China's endowment of water resources is extremely low, poorly distributed, and increasingly polluted. With agriculture being one of the main consumers of water, China's future development depends on initiatives that will raise the efficiency and efficacy of water use. These workshop proceedings examine the current situation in China, look at what is being done in OECD countries to manage water resources, and suggest policy options for China.
Agricultural policies are dominated by broad measures such as market price support and general payments to all land, animals or farmers. As a result, it is often difficult to associate a particular policy with any specific objective. Recognising the challenge facing policy makers who wish to design more precisely targeted policies, this study defines the operational characteristics of targeted policies and illustrates best practice with concrete examples. The relationship between target variables and objectives is explored and practical ways to define targets or actions are also examined.
In OECD countries, agriculture uses on average over 40% of land and water resources, and thus has significant affect on the environment. This report provides the latest and most comprehensive data and analysis on the environmental performance of agriculture in OECD countries since 1990. It covers key environmental themes including soil, water, air and biodiversity and looks at recent policy developments in all 30 countries.
In OECD countries, agriculture uses on average over 40% of land and water resources, and thus has significant affect on the environment. This report provides the latest and most comprehensive data and analysis on the environmental performance of agriculture in OECD countries since 1990. It covers key environmental themes including soil, water, air and biodiversity and looks at recent policy developments in all 30 countries.
Over recent years the environmental performance of agriculture has improved in many countries, largely due to consumer pressure and changing public opinion. Many OECD countries are now tracking the environmental performance of agriculture, which is informing policy makers and society on the trends in agri-environmental conditions, and can provide a valuable aid to policy analysis. The indicators in this report provide crucial information to monitor and analyse the wide range of policy measures used in agriculture today, and how they are affecting the environment.
Did You Know? In OECD countries, agriculture uses on average 40% of land and water resources.
El sector agrícola de Chile juega un papel importante en el desarrollo de la economía del país, ayudando a elevar los ingresos y a reducir la pobreza. El sector se beneficia de un clima macroeconómico estable y de un entorno comercial abierto, asimismo, las exportaciones han crecido rápidamente, en particular para productos de alto valor, tales como el vino y la fruta. La prioridad actual del Gobierno es ampliar la base de crecimiento de la agricultura integrando de manera exitosa a los pequeños agricultores del país en las estructuras comerciales. Este estudio mide el nivel y la magnitud del apoyo que se brinda a la agricultura chilena, y evalúa la eficacia de las medidas actuales en el logro de sus objetivos. El estudio revela que Chile ofrece mucho menos apoyo y protección a su sector agrícola en comparación con la mayoría de los países de la OCDE, a pesar de que los gastos del gobierno en el sector se han triplicado en términos reales durante los últimos diez años. Cerca de la mitad de ese gasto se debe a bienes públicos como infraestructura y riego, mientras que la otra mitad se compone principalmente de las medidas que buscan hacer más competitivos a los agricultores de Chile. Este reporte sugiere formas en las que se puede mejorar la eficacia de esas políticas, incluyendo la evaluación sistemática de la ejecución de las mismas, por medio de una coordinación más estrecha entre los organismos gubernamentales y con la elaboración de políticas para los pequeños agricultores y para los trabajadores agrícolas asalariados en un contexto amplio de la economía, para que las políticas agrícolas puedan centrarse en los agricultores potencialmente competitivos y se distingan de manera efectiva e otros desarrollos y políticas sociales.
The report looks at the evolution of Japanese agricultural policy over the last several decades, but maintains its analytical focus on policies currently in place. In addition to reporting a wide variety of statistics, much of which were provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), use was made of the OECD PSE/CSE database and the OECD Policy Evaluation Model (PEM) for some of the analytical work.
This publication provides comments and illustrations of standards in force regarding the classification, presentation and marking of potatoes 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 potatoes.
The United States is one of the most important agricultural producers in the world. It has a very large domestic market and is the world’s largest exporter of agricultural products. Indeed, the share of US agricultural production exported is more than double that of any other US industry and the trade surplus in agricultural products acts as an important stimulus to the US economy. Thus, US agricultural policies exert a strong influence on world agricultural markets.
The United States maintains an array of agricultural policies with goals that range from the traditional objectives of stabilising agricultural production and supporting farm income to those that have more recently increased in importance, such as assuring adequate nutrition, securing food safety, encouraging environmental protection and facilitating rural development.
This study analyses and evaluates US agricultural policies, focusing on the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, in the context of developments in agricultural policy that have taken place in the United States since 1985. It looks closely at five US Farm Acts: the Food Security Act of 1985; the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990; the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996; the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (2002 Farm Act); and the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008. This study also discusses several emerging issues and challenges for US agricultural policies, and offers key policy recommendations.
Turkey is an important producer and exporter of agricultural commodities on world markets and is estimated to be the world’s 7th-largest agricultural producer. Although the economic importance of agricultural sector relative to the industrial and service sectors has been declining, agriculture still remains a key part of Turkey’s society, employing about one quarter of the workforce and generating most of income and employment in rural areas.
Agricultural policies in Turkey have evolved significantly over time and the new Agricultural Law agreed in 2006 aims to align Turkey’s agricultural policies with those of the European Union. The main purpose of the study is to evaluate recent policy developments in the context of a broader review of policy developments since the implementation of the Agricultural Reform Implementation Project (ARIP) in 2001. This study also discusses several emerging issues and challenges for Turkish agricultural policies, and offers key policy recommendations.
This report provides an overview of the main characteristics and structure of the current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and its developments in the last 25 years in a changing environment within and outside the EU.
Drawing on material presented at the OECD Workshop on the Disaggregated Impacts of CAP Reform, held on 10-11 March 2010, and model-based scenarios, it analyses the impacts of policy changes on production, trade, land use, farm structure, the environment and some aspects of rural development, using changes in the level and composition of OECD indicators of support, notably the Producer Support Estimate (PSE).
This report further suggests improvements in the market orientation, competitiveness and risk management at all levels of the food chain, and pleads for clarifying the link between policy measures and objectives through better targeting, and strengthening evidence on which to base policies.
The repercussions of the 2007–2008 financial crisis have acted as an impetus to improve the quality and availability of statistical information. One such initiative addresses the importance of compiling a complete accounting of a nation’s wealth, and especially the wealth of households. This is of particular importance in view of the housing market’s role in the financial crisis in several countries.
The most valuable item on the households’ balance sheet is usually housing wealth which is composed of the value of the dwelling and its underlying land. Many countries experience difficulties in valuing land and in particular separating the value of the land from the value of the structure. To assist countries, the Eurostat-OECD compilation guide on land estimation represents the first comprehensive overview of conceptual and practical issues related to the compilation of the balance sheet item land in the national accounts, in total and by institutional sector.
The Eurostat-OECD compilation guide on land estimation was prepared by the Task Force on Land and other non-financial assets under the joint leadership of Eurostat and the OECD. Representatives from various European Union (EU) and non-EU OECD countries were represented as well as the European Central Bank.