The chapters that follow elaborate two case studies, each of which demonstrates how market integration in the second half of the nineteenth century caused traditional agricultural practice motivated by subsistence to be supplanted in certain zones of specialization by the new norm of profit-driven, commercial agriculture. This normative shift was made visible in the physical…

Even though commercial agriculture is not important in terms of the country’s GDP or foreign exchange earnings, and has little direct political power, the petro-nature of the state impedes transformation of agrarian relations. What emerges then, is a contradictory process that seeks to consolidate a mixed economy, where an agrarian reform sector coexists alongside a…

Rice yield rates are at doubling levels however only in the Cesar and Tolima departments of Colombia, and isolated municı´pios especially in the states of Para´, Maranha˜o, and Mato Grosso in Brazil and some areas of Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. Decreasing rates of rice yield are found in northeastern Brazil. The overall impact of these subnational…

It should be noted that beta convergence doesn’t imply sigma convergence and that one looks for beta convergence in testing whether poorer regions are catching up with the wealthier regions. In Table 1, we provide some major papers related to convergence test and how different tests have been applied to test for agricultural total factor productivity…

Markets for tradable emissions permits are the economically preferred tool for reducing pollutants such as GHG. Researchers will conduct an assessment of the performance of existing markets of this type with the goal of drawing lessons for their potential application in California water; proposing to synthesize and apply the lessons drawn from this literature to begin practical…

The survey also asked farmers to indicate any local trends in temperature, rainfall, water availability, drought, and flooding that they may have observed over the course of their farming career. In most cases a strong majority of respondents indicated that temperatures have stayed the same over time . However, a close examination of which way farmers tended…

Wheat is successfully adapted to conditions in the southern Central Valley where it is generally warmer in the winter than it is in Yolo County. For alfalfa production, a warmer winter is expected to provide favorable conditions, particularly since alfalfa varieties commonly planted in northern California are either semi‐dormant or non‐dormant . In the Sacramento…

The 85 organizations identified by participants are involved in the transfer of knowledge throughout Malawi’s extension and this network contains 170 unique relationships. Although the average degree of collaboration between organizations is low at 6.2, several organizations and actors were identified as central to network connectedness and the transfer of knowledge within the extension system.…

The randomness and uncertainty that affect agriculture make it unreasonable to assume that the adjustment process will lead to a unique sustainable market equilibria. The equilibria levels of prices and quantities of different commodities depend on many random variables and, thus, are random variables themselves. The introduction as part of the dynamic adjustment rules to…

Spain’s agricultural employment declined at an average annual rate of 4 percent, slightly above the rate for Italy and France. The implication is that if Bulgaria is to follow the development path of these latter countries, then it should be reducing its farm labor force at an even faster rate. The success of such a…