Don F. Hadwiger

Who creates food abundance?: Agricultural policy decision structures and productivity in developing countries

Abstract In answering the question whether agricultural productivity growth is affected by the mix of actors and structures in agricultural policy making, major actors and decision structures were evaluated in each of 42 countries by panels of specialists. Actors associated positively with productivity growth Included ministries of agriculture, international bodies and elections; those negatively associated with growth were the president/prime minister and the national planning agency. Autonomous decision structures were more likely than integrative structures to have experienced rapid growth in agricultural productivity, and were much more likely to be found in developed countries. However, transitional decision structures are available to developing countries.

Agricultural policy making under international pressures: The case of South Korea, a newly industrialized country

Abstract The article examines the hypothesis that domestic farm politics determines the nations trade policy, not vice versa. In the context of South Korea, a newly industrialized country, it is found that the international political economy significantly dictates the formulation of its domestic farm policy. This is due mainly to Koreas export-dependent economy. Koreas dilemma is that while international pressures are mounting for agricultural import liberalization, particularly from the USA, with which it has accumulated a large payment imbalance, its domestic farm interests (which are increasingly independent of government supervision) exert powerful protectionist pressures on government. Caught between the two antagonistic forces, Korean policy makers are seeking ways to scale down their rural economy in order to make it competitive on the one hand, and to make room for increased imports on the other.

US agricultural research politics: Utopians, utilitarians, copians

Abstract Political support for US public agricultural research institutions has come from first users within the industry and from those interested in the long-run consequences of improved agricultural technology. Public funding for agricultural research was initially supported by ‘utopians’, who envisioned technology development as a route to food abundance and reduced labour. Recently, ‘dystopian’ groups have urged reform in the development process and have suggested alternative scenarios for coping with food needs in the twenty-first century. Major contemporary support comes from first users, including regional and commodity producer groups, and also from innovative farmers. These ‘utilitarians’ have also produced a scenario for coping with future food needs. Unsuccessful efforts have been made to reconcile the research agendas of these contrasting scenarios.