Agricultural Restructuring Research Articles

Agricultural debt restructuring, accounting, and public policy: A study of the Farmers Home Administration

Federal credit policies toward agriculture reflect the human values of maintaining the farm production sector largely as an industry characterized by small-scale, family farms. The Farmers Home Administration has implemented various credit programs designed to carry out this policy objective. As a result of the prolonged financial crisis in the farm economy, the agricultural community is becoming more aware of the controversies surrounding the mission of FmHA and its debt restructuring program. This paper discusses the debt restructuring program administered by the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA), as authorized by the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987, and amended by the recently enacted Farm Bill of 1990. It discusses the key provisions of the Agricultural Credit Act authorizing FmHA to establish a debt restructuring and debt forgiveness program aimed at achieving the public policy objective of keeping financially stressed farmers in business, whenever possible.

La restructuration agricole soviétique : accélération politique - récession et blocage économique

Restructuring Soviet agriculture : political acceleration — economic freeze and recession. In the spring of 1990, the quasi stagnation of the three previous years developed into characteristic recession, both in the agricultural sector and in the overall economy. The break-up of the old Party State hierarchical pyramid and its replacement by elected regional authorities led to the decomposition of the old system of centralized administrative allocation of food and agricultural produce, at a time when the conditions for the development of an overall regulation through the market are still a long way from being met. The result is a general fall, (drastic in certain of the peripheral republics) in plant and animal procurements and allocations, to the disadvantage of the towns, and of deficit areas. In this climate of general destabilization of the command economy, the relentless pursuit of ever more radical rules of agricultural restructuring seems to come too late. The actual application of these laws and their economic effects continue to be severely inhibited, or nullified, by growing uncertainty about the future, and, while there has been no emergence of market-money relations (the financial crisis is still waiting for a solution), by a still persistant and very marked dependence by the basic producing units on the bodies responsible for allocation of resources and production tasks. It is always possible, however, that under the mounting pressures of the food crisis, the recently-elected republican and regional authorities may actively exploit their new legal powers in the pursuit of totally new policies on structures and distribution. But it seems reasonable to conclude that in the months, and possibly the years, that lie ahead, the negative effects of the general breakdown in the command economy may nullify the productive and economic effects of such regional initiatives, in agriculture, as elsewhere... so long as there is no sign of a logical reconstitution of the system along market-money lines. However, this avenue is still blocked by the monetary and financial crisis to which a solution is yet to be found.

D'un système économique à un autre : la situation du secteur agro-alimentaire en Tchécoslovaquie

From one System to another. The situation of the agro-alimentary sector in Czechoslovakia. Harsb monetary and wage policy, the freeing up of prices of industrial and trade monopolies projected for privatization have brought about in 1991 a fall in the real income of consumers and farmers. In view of international food markets high costs inherited from communist agrarian structures and from obsolete food industry and trade require now import duties and quotas, a minimal support of farm prices, subsidized exports, and above ail agricultural recession. Quick efficient agricultural restructuring is unlikely through the mere privatizing of land and capital. Foreign investment is likely only in downstream processes. Growing risks of social crisis and Slovakian separatism call for an active industrial policy in the agrifood sector.

Evaluation of effectiveness of India's public policy options

India is one of the few developing countries which has consciously adopted several public policy options to guide its actions for social development However, because of the nature of Indian industry and society, these options have only been about 36% effective. Some suitable policies are suggested to improve the indigenous base for S&T, industry and social development: the restructuring of agriculture; elimination of absolute poverty, eradication of illiteracy; reduction of unemployment; industrial development; and strengthening indigenous S&T.

Agricultural restructuring in Southern Africa: IAAE/Agrecona interconference symposium, Swakopmund, 24–27 July 1990∗

Agricultural restructuring in Southern Africa: IAAE/Agrecona interconference symposium, Swakopmund, 24–27 July 1990∗

Farm landscape change: Trends in upland and lowland England

Landscape change data for three lowland and two upland areas of the UK have been used to compare rates of change per annum in various landscape features and land uses. Data from a detailed questionnaire survey have enabled links to be drawn between changes in farm occupancy and the farmed landscape. Results have highlighted þree themes: the diversity of farm occupancy in the UK; the importance of locality and its modification of the agricultural restructuring process; and the often causal relationship between occupancy events on the farm and the propensity to ‘Intensify’ the farmed landscape through the removal of field boundaries, the ‘arablization’ of the lowlands and the Improvement of rough grazing in the uplands.

Marx and the four-hundred metres' contour line: regional responses to the French Revolution in rural Piedmont

The French Revolution of 1789, and the subsequent period of warfare and unrest, were interpreted in a bewildering variety of ways by contemporary observers, both inside France and throughout the rest of Europe. In the years following 1789, a complex and shifting pattern of political allegiances emerged across the continent as each village, town and region developed its own response to these dramatic events, based on particular historical, cultural and economic experience. In Piedmont, the heartland of the Kingdom of Sardinia in north-west Italy under the suzerainty of the Royal House of Savoy, the Revolution had a particular influence. French revolutionary armies invaded the region in 1796 and, except for a short period in 1799–1800, the country was under French rule until the collapse of the Napoleonic First Empire in 1814. This complex area, ranging from the high Alpine peaks of the north, through the rugged upland regions of the Apennines in the south, to the fertile lowlands of the Po valley in the east, was in the midst of a major agrarian upheaval when the Revolution broke out. The unrest caused by this agricultural re-structuring took on a new dimension during the subsequent period of French occupation. The ensuing conflict and violence was regionally-specific, afficting the upland areas of the Apennines and the Alps in particular. The persistent opposition to the French in these valleys was sustained by collective historical experience, reinforced by the environmental conditions and accentuated by socio-economic changes.

Agricultural Restructuring and Rural Settlements

Agricultural restructuring is quite probably of minor concern to subscribers to Urban Policy and Research. Yet the restructuring of farming is part of a broader process of economic change in Australia, one which will have important implications for rural and urban regions alike.

The role of the SAFER in agricultural restructuring: The case of the Languedoc-Roussillon, France

The role of the SAFER in agricultural restructuring: The case of the Languedoc-Roussillon, France

Agricultural Restructuring in Zimbabwe and South Africa

Development and ChangeVolume 20, Issue 3 p. 401-428 Agricultural Restructuring in Zimbabwe and South Africa Daniel Weiner, Daniel Weiner Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toledo, 2801 W. Bancroft Street, Toledo, Ohio 43606, USA. He has published several articles on resources and development in eastern and southern Africa and is co-editor of a forthcoming book, Rethinking Agricultural Transformation in Southern Africa.Search for more papers by this author Daniel Weiner, Daniel Weiner Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toledo, 2801 W. Bancroft Street, Toledo, Ohio 43606, USA. He has published several articles on resources and development in eastern and southern Africa and is co-editor of a forthcoming book, Rethinking Agricultural Transformation in Southern Africa.Search for more papers by this author First published: July 1989 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.1989.tb00353.xCitations: 14 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Citing Literature Volume20, Issue3July 1989Pages 401-428 RelatedInformation

The value content of agricultural technologies and their effect on rural regions and farmers

The premise of this article is that technologies are not neutral in terms of their design objectives, their scale, and the fact that they reflect the physical and social environments in which they have developed. Specific agricultural technologies, the midwestern plow, the California tomato harvester, and various biotechnologies, are evaluated in these terms and shown to have generally predictable impacts upon rural regions and farmers. Finally, the article examines a series of major threats such as climate change that require the rethinking and restructuring of agriculture along more sustainable lines, something the can be accomplished only with a conscious recognition of the non-neutrality of technologies.

Export Agriculture and the Expansion of Urban Slum Areas

Abstract. Many of the richest people have all or a large part of their accumulated wealth in land, yet the men and women who work the land are usually their country's most poverty‐stricken. The landowning elite is very powerful because land has been concentrated in few hands. In the Third World' of less developed countries (LDCs) and in the United States this situation in the last four decades has led to an emphasis on export crops and a restructuring of agriculture to produce them. Brazilis an example of this change, which has led to deforestation and multiplication of the hungry, homeless and alienated, the new “barbarians within the gates.” Comparable developments are seen in the U.S., threatening fiscal and political stability in many countries.

Migration, Remittances, and the Family

Remittances by migrants along with migration itself are elements in a migrant familys intertemporal contractual arrangement. The reasons why the migrant and his family voluntarily enter into a mutually beneficial contractual arrangement with each other rather than with a 3rd party--are discussed and the conditions under which the contractual arrangement is self-enforcing are identified. Both parties can usually benefit from a number of Pareto-efficient mutual contractual arrangements. This gives rise to an indeterminacy problem solved through a bargaining process between the parties who consequently converge to a contractual arrangement implying a specific flow of migrant-to-family remittances. The chosen contractual arrangement reflects the relative bargaining powers of the parties and variables impinging upon these powers thus bear upon remittances. In the light of these arguments tests are conducted on observed remittance behavior across individual migrants in Botswana. (authors)

The Food Problem and the Lessons of Akchi

The journal's editors are publishing this article in the hope of drawing the attention of USSR and Kazakh SSR agro-industrial committees to the great importance that experiments carried out under the guidance of I. N. Khudenko hold for the current restructuring and development of the nation's agriculture. We hope that all the necessary measures will be taken for the study and earliest possible dissemination of the results of these experiments. Too much time has already been lost that more can be spent on fruitless coordination. It seems to us that the organization and execution without delay of numerous experiments of the Iliiskii and Akchi type in different natural and economic zones of the nation will make it possible to prepare the necessary recommendations for the widespread application of the economic mechanism described in the published article. We hope that USSR Academy of Sciences institutes mentioned in the article and VASKhNIL [the All-Union I! I. Lenin Academy of Agricultura1 Sciences] and other scientijc organizations will take a most active part in this effort. It would seem wise now to publish a book giving a more detailed exposition of experiments conducted under the supervision of I. N. Khudenko and a detailed analysis of the results achieved in economics and production democracy.

Farm Diversification and the Restructuring of Agriculture

The intensive farming that has been a feature of western agriculture since the Second World War has led to increased productivity but also to overproduction and a consequent fall in prices. Government-imposed constraints to regulate production have had only limited success and farm incomes, in real terms, have fallen. To retrieve the situation, increasing numbers of farmers have diversified their interests into activities periperhal to the main stream of agriculture.

Uneven development and the restructuring process in British agriculture: a preliminary exploration

The development of a political economy approach to the understanding of agricultural development still remains in its infancy. This paper explores the significance of uneven development as a central concept with which to unify the approach. In the first part of the paper a set of scales are suggested which provide a framework for coping with uneven development in agriculture, both over space and temporally. Attempts to link theory and evidence are crucial in this process, and in the second part of the paper attention focuses upon the restructuring of British agriculture through an analysis of one such scale of uneven development, that of changes in internal production relations for the period 1970–1985.

日本農業の構造再編の課題と方向

日本農業の構造再編の課題と方向

Biotechnology, Seeds, and the Restructuring of Agriculture

Biotechnology, Seeds, and the Restructuring of Agriculture

On Migration and Risk in LDCs

The authors develop the hypothesis that aversion to risk rather than expectations of higher income is the primary motivation for rural-urban migration in developing countries. This hypothesis maintains that an optimizing risk-averse small-farmer family will try to place a family member in the urban sector in order to diversify its income portfolio. An additional hypothesis related to risk is also considered at the individual rather than the family level. (ANNOTATION)

Government and Agriculture Revisited: A Review of Two Decades of Change

It has now been exactly two decades since I last attempted a comprehensive overview of U.S. food and fiber policy; that review was published as Government and Agriculture, Economic Policy in a Democratic Society. Thus, it seems appropriate, as one whose professional life has been spent studying and participating in the policy process, to use this opportunity to examine what has happened in the past two decades and look at where we are headed. I will focus my review on price and income policy, which I believe is more correctly called commodity policy. I will ignore such important areas as resources use, environment, and rural development for two reasons. One is the obvious lack of space. The other is simply that commodity policy has been and continues to be the core of farm politics, despite the attempts of several secretaries of agriculture to make it otherwise. It is still the basis of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's relationships with the agricultural and agribusiness community. I will limit my comments to three related issues that have brought great changes to commodity policy; they are (a) the restructuring of American agriculture, (b) the move to international markets, and (c) the changing politics and players in commodity programs. The period 1961-81 has been one of the most tumultuous in U.S. peacetime history. It opened with the inauguration of the nation's youngest president, who promised to lead the nation toward new frontiers; it closed with the inauguration of the nation's oldest president, who has vowed to return the nation to values