Food Policy最新文献

We assess the impact of crop commercialization on the resilience to shocks of smallholder farmers and examine which groups of smallholders are more resilient from crop commercialization. We use balanced panel of 1,370 smallholders from Thailand and 1,497 smallholders from Vietnam collected in three survey waves for the empirical analysis. We employ a generalized structural equation model to estimate the (latent) variable of smallholders’ resilience. Then, we apply fixed-effects estimations with an instrumental variable and a control function approach to address the endogeneity concerns of crop commercialization in assessing the impact of commercialization on the resilience of smallholders. The results show that crop commercialization has a positive effect on smallholders’ resilience capacity. To examine which groups of smallholders are more resilient from crop commercialization, we apply an unconditional quantile regression model. The results show that crop commercialization has the highest impact on smallholders in 10th and 25th quantile groups of resilience capacity. Thus, crop commercialization should be stimulated to improve smallholders’ resilience to shocks. Besides, improving infrastructure for transportation and information and communication technology at the village level and the effectiveness of public governance at the national level could lead to a better resilience of smallholders.

Food systems have changed drastically in the last 50 years, are continuously globalizing, and are constantly responding to environmental, social, economic and political challenges. While a primary goal of food systems is to provide food security, food insecurity rates have continued to rise in recent years. To deal with these systemic problems, food systems experts call for food systems literacy. However, there are no common frameworks outlining what people should know about food systems, making it challenging to relay information into education and to the general population. As such, the aim of this research was to identify competencies for food systems literacy for youth in Canada. We conducted a 2-round modified Delphi study to achieve consensus on a list of key competencies for food systems literacy. Delphi studies allow for broad consultation of expert judgements to achieve consensus on complex issues. This resulted in a list of 50 key competencies for food systems literacy (out of 131 tested) across themes for Indigenous food systems, food systems activities (i.e., production to waste as well as some overarching and technology themes), sustainability, food security and governance. This Framework of competencies is the first of its kind and will be useful for directing how food systems can be integrated into education as well as be a guide for food systems literacy evaluation tools.

Child malnutrition remains a widespread public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa. Providing access to nutritious foods for all is key, but it is not clear how this can be achieved in various local contexts. Here, we analyze the role of markets and food environments for child diets and nutrition in Malawi along a rural-urban continuum. We develop a new methodology to characterize food environments in terms of the variety of fresh and processed foods available in local market settings. Geocoded data of market food variety are combined with individual-level child diet and anthropometric data collected through a household survey. We find large differences in food environments, diets, and nutrition outcomes between urban, rural, and remote locations. The spatially-explicit analysis shows that market food variety is positively associated with dietary diversity and negatively associated with stunting, also after controlling for confounding factors. Strikingly, processed food variety has more favorable associations with child nutrition than fresh food variety, suggesting that lightly and moderately processed foods are important sources of nutrients in the local settings. Our findings stress the importance of improving the functioning of markets for nutritious foods, especially in rural areas. Conceptually, we add to the literature on measuring food environments.

In the context of rising food insecurity, food hubs such as food pantries, food banks, community agriculture supported schemes, social supermarkets, community kitchens and cafes, have proliferated both in number and in the roles they perform. Food hubs have a range of benefits in the communities that they serve as well as the wider food system. However, more empirical evidence is required to build a compelling case for policy support. Using the area of Leeds, UK as a case study, and taking a mixed methods approach (i.e. evidence synthesis, mapping, survey and interviews) we present the food hubs’ perspectives on the benefits that they offer to food security, sustainability, resilience and food justice. Food hubs reflect on how their activities enhance sustainability, strengthen local food systems, support local economies, and improve the health, wellbeing and agency of their communities. In doing so, food hubs contribute to regional, national and global priorities on food security, health, sustainability, justice and resilience. However, to scale up or out their positive impact, food hubs require support to transition away from emergency food provision to longer-term, holistic and financially viable models that focus on community wellbeing and empowerment, healthy diets, local economies and environmental sustainability.

Animal disease outbreaks have been extremely disruptive to global livestock industries in recent years. In light of the modern integration of international supply chains, to what extent have these disruptions been experienced by upstream stakeholders? This research investigates the upstream impacts of global animal disease outbreaks in the international soybean market. We employ a two-step procedure to deduce the impacts of animal disease on upstream soybean trade. We first use a standard, econometric gravity model to empirically estimate the relationship between observed trade and livestock production patterns (accounting for each country’s economic masses and trade frictions). We then conduct a counterfactual analysis with our estimated gravity relationships to assess the value of lost soybean trade using a global repository of disease-specific animal mortality data. Our results indicate that between 2005–2020, animal disease outbreaks have cost the international soybean market approximately $5 billion in lost trade. The average exporter loses as much as 2% of its export potential each year. These losses are primarily attributable to cattle disease outbreaks in East Asia and South America. Foot-and-mouth disease alone has cost the soybean trade market approximately $4 billion in lost trade over our sample period.

Agri-food global value chains (GVCs) have transformed food production and trade, fostering efficiency and specialization across international borders and also introducing new challenges. This paper synthesizes insights from a special issue focused on agri-food GVCs, addressing four critical areas essential for enhancing the resilience and sustainability of these chains. We explore how trade connections and specialization can drive economic growth, emphasizing the importance of GVC integration. We also examine the role of transportation and infrastructure in ensuring global trade efficiency, highlighting the need for strategic investments to support robust supply chains. Additionally, we assess the impact of trade policies on sustainability, market disruptions, and overall efficiency, underscoring the importance of regulatory frameworks that promote both economic and environmental goals. Finally, we consider the implications of domestic and trade policies on welfare and equity, particularly in developing regions where inclusive growth remains a pressing concern. By identifying these essential areas for robust policy frameworks, this paper provides actionable insights for enhancing the resilience and sustainability of the global food system, which can inform policies that enhance the benefits of agri-food GVC integration while mitigating their risks.

Outsource agricultural service enterprises emerged a century ago in high-income countries and in the past several decades in developing regions. We contribute by analyzing and illustrating the emergence of these services from the perspective of phases of the Product Cycle. These services help farmers adapt to international and domestic agrifood value chains: (1) in the commoditization phase, e.g., with rice combine harvesting services in China and Myanmar for domestic and export markets; (2) in the early product differentiation phase into quality traits, e.g., with horticultural services to Ethiopian and Indonesian farmers for urban wholesale markets; (3) in the advanced product differentiation phase into environmental traits, e.g., with A-Z services to help French farmers grow eco-labeled vegetables for supermarkets. These services addressed farmers’ shortfalls in information, skills, labor, and equipment. The services are supplied by medium/large farmers with excess capacity say of a combine; by wholesalers who want to reduce search costs and risks; by input “agro-dealers”; and by agribusinesses servicing their outgrowers. In new cases shown in France, outsource firms partner with farm input companies such as Bayer or with robot/drone companies. Governments have – and can do much more to – support the emergence of these services such as in developing regions today through: (1) promotion of a business ecosystem, based on policies of investment in hard and soft infrastructure, favoring the coadaptation of these firms with farmers’ needs; (2) policies facilitating access, such as through import liberalization, of equipment and seeds and chemicals.

Agri-food global value chains (GVCs) are failing to provide healthy and affordable diets within planetary boundaries. Many cutting-edge technologies are being developed to address the sustainability challenges throughout agri-food GVCs. While several studies seek to analyze the impacts of specific innovations on socioeconomic and environmental dimensions, the relationship between industry structure and the process of technological change has not received much attention in the value chain literature. Here, we focus on the entrepreneurial landscape of innovation in agri-food GVCs to 1) identify which technologies have been receiving most support from investors and 2) analyze the corporate strategies of the largest agri-food multinational companies regarding their investments in new technologies. Using Crunchbase as our primary data source and machine learning for natural language processing, we have identified around 15,500 companies developing innovations linked to agri-food GVCs, from farming to last-mile delivery. However, our analyses show an imbalanced scene in which downstream technologies capture most investors’ interest. Then, we use these results to explore the direction of investments by dominant agri-food firms, where we identify three trends: upgrading strategies to improve their core activities, defensive strategies to control technologies competing with their core business, and corporate portfolio strategies to seize profit opportunities.

This paper explores the evolution and resilience of global value chains (GVCs) in the agrifood sector, which intensified since the 1994 Uruguay Round Agreement. Using unique data from the FactSet database, along with Fortune 500 lists, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of approximately 17,500 agribusiness companies worldwide, examining over 150,000 supplier and customer connections from 2014 to 2022. Our findings reveal that large corporations, acting as central nodes, have increased their network centrality in GVCs, particularly through geographic diversification and a concentrated supply strategy. The study also indicates a correlation between the complexity and depth of firm-to-firm linkages and increased resilience, suggesting that firms with greater connectivity are less likely to exit the industry. This analysis not only contributes new insights into the structure and dynamics of agribusiness networks but also highlights the role of firm linkages in navigating recent disruptive global events such as the US-China Trade War, COVID-19 pandemic, extreme weather episodes, and geopolitical tensions.

This study investigates the impacts of product certification and e-commerce on various production and profitability outcomes for grain and cash crop producers in China, using nationally representative survey data. Employing multinomial endogenous switching regression (MESR) estimations, we find that agricultural producers who adopt e-commerce, product certification, or both strategies have significant price premium, increased sales revenue, and greater profitability, despite the increased production costs, with cash crop producer and large-scale producers gaining more benefits. Additionally, we find a synergistic effect: agricultural producers benefit more from adopting both product certification and e-commerce simultaneously than the sum of the effects of adopting two strategies separately. This positive reinforcement between the two strategies is more pronounced among cash crop producers compared to grain crop producers, as well as among larger-scale producers compared to their small-scale counterparts. These findings provide valuable policy implications for assisting agricultural producers in adopting suitable strategies, thereby enhancing their competitiveness and profitability within the global value chains of agri-food.