Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T22:21:28.047Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Agricultural Policy: High Commodity and Input Prices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

Andrew Schmitz
Affiliation:
Department of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida
Hartley Furtan
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Troy G. Schmitz
Affiliation:
Department of Management and Agribusiness at Arizona State University in Mesa, Arizona
Get access

Abstract

Because of high commodity prices, beginning in 2006, subsidies to farmers in the United States, the European Union, and Canada have been reduced significantly. However, significant losses have been experienced by the red meat sector, along with escalating food prices. Because of rising input costs, the “farm boom” may not be as great as first thought. Ethanol made from corn and country-of-origin labeling cloud the U.S. policy scene. Higher commodity prices have caused some countries to lower tariff and non-tariff barriers, resulting in freer commodity trade worldwide. Policymakers should attempt to make these trade-barrier cuts permanent and should rethink current policy legislation to deal with the possibility of a collapse of world commodity markets. Agricultural commodity prices have dropped significantly since early 2008.

Type
Invited Papers
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, D.P., Outlaw, J.L., Bryand, H.L., Richardson, J.W., Ernstes, D.P., Raulson, J.M., Welch, J.M., Knapek, G.M., Herbst, B.K., and Allison, M.S. 2008. “The Effects of Ethanol on Texas Food and Feed.” Research Report No. 08–1, Agricultural and Food Policy Center, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.Google Scholar
Benjamin, M., and Drajem, M. 2008. “Global Import Barriers Fall as Food Prices Trump Doha.” Available on Bloomberg.com (April 14) website (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=admKeNIaN5pw&refer=india).Google Scholar
Carter, C.A., and Schmitz, A. 1979. “Import Tariffs and Price Formation in the World Wheat Market.American Journal of Agricultural Economics 61(3): 517552.Google Scholar
Congressional Research Service (CRS). Various years. Selected U.S. commodities for 2002–2005. Congressional Report to Congress. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Elam, T. 2008. “Biofuel Support Policy Costs to the U.S. Economy.” Report for the Coalition for Balanced Food and Fuel Policy, FarmEcon LLC, Carmel, Indiana.Google Scholar
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 2008. “Growing Demand on Agriculture and Rising Prices of Commodities: An Opportunity for Smallholders in Low-Income, Agricultural-Based Countries?” Paper prepared for the roundtable organized during the thirty-first session of the International Fund for Agricultural Development's (IFAD's) Governing Council by the Trade and Markets and Agricultural Development Economics Divisions of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy. Available at http://www.fao.org/es/esc/common/ecg/538/en/Rising-Prices-IFAD.pdf.Google Scholar
Fulton, M.E., Rosaasen, K., and Schmitz, A. 1989. Canadian Agricultural Policy and Prairie Agriculture. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Government Publishing Centre.Google Scholar
Gardner, B. 2002. “U.S. Agricultural Policies Since 1995, With a Focus on Market Effects in Grains and Oilseeds.” Working Paper No. 02–17, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD.Google Scholar
Gardner, B. 2007. “Fuel Ethanol Subsidies and Farm Price Supports.Journal of Agricultural and Food Industrial Organization 5(2) (article 4), Berkeley Electronic Press. Available at http://www.bepress.com/jafio/vol5/iss2/art4.Google Scholar
Grunwald, M. 2008. “The Clean Energy Scam.Time (March 27).Google Scholar
Muirhead, S. 2008. “Policy Blamed for Meat Prices.Feed-stuffs 80(13): 1, 3.Google Scholar
Powell, S.J., and Schmitz, A. 2005. “The Cotton and Sugar Subsidies Decisions: WTO's Dispute Settlement System Rebalances the Agreement on Agriculture.Drake Journal of Agricultural Law 10(2): 287330.Google Scholar
Rossi, F., Schmitz, A., and Schmitz, T.G. 2005. “The Multiplicative Effect of Water Subsidies and Price Support Payments: The Case of U.S. Cotton.Journal of International Agricultural Trade Development 1(1): 5570.Google Scholar
Rossi, F., Schmitz, A., and Schmitz, T.G. 2007. “U.S. Cotton Subsidies: Drawing a Fine Line on the Degree of Decoupling.Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics 39(1): 135149.Google Scholar
Schmitz, A. 2008. “Canadian Agricultural Programs and Policy in Transition.Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics 56(4): 371392.Google Scholar
Schmitz, A., Furtan, H. and Baylis, K. (eds.). 2002. Agricultural Policy, Agribusiness, and Rent-Seeking Behaviour. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Schmitz, T.G., Highmoor, T., and Schmitz, A. 2002. “Termination of the WGTA: An Examination of Factor Market Distortions, Input Subsidies and Compensation.Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics 50(3): 333347.Google Scholar
Schmitz, A., Moss, C.B., and Schmitz, T.G. 2007. “Ethanol: No Free Lunch.Journal of Agricultural and Food Industrial Organization 5(2) (article 3), Berkeley Electronic Press. Available at http://www.bepress.com/jafio/vol5/iss2/art3.Google Scholar
Schmitz, A., Schmitz, T.G., and Rossi, F. 2006. “Agricultural Subsidies in Developed Countries: Impact on Global Welfare.Review of Agricultural Economics 28(3): 416425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sumner, D.A. 2007. “U.S. Farm Policy and the White Commodities: Cotton, Rice, Sugar and Milk.IPC Policy Focus (Farm Bill Series No. 5). Available at http://www.agritrade.org/Publications/PolicyFocus/Farm_Bill_5_white_commodities.pdf.Google Scholar
Swinbank, A. 2008. “Potential WTO Challenge to the CAP.Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics 56(4): 445456.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2008. USDA agricultural projections to 2017, Interagency Agricultural Projections Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. Available at http://www.usda.gov/oce/commodity/archive_projections/USDAAgriculturalProjections2017.pdf.Google Scholar