Eihab Fathelrahman

Using Response Surface Methodology for Economic and Environmental Trade-offs at the Farm Level

United States farmers typically spend over

Food Policy and Food Security Challenges in the Middle East and North Africa Region

10 billion annually on commercial fertilizer. Chemical inputs such as nitrogen (N) are essential for maintaining crop yields; however, farmers often apply excessive N inputs as an insurance policy. Nitrogen fertilizer consumption in the U.S. quadrupled from 3 million metric tons in 1961 to over 12 million metric tons in 2004, and per ha N fertilizer use quadrupled. Increase in N use has been associated with the impairment of U.S. streams, lakes, and aquifers. The objective of this research study was to develop an integrated farm-level economic/environmental risk framework for trade-off analysis between farm profitability and environmental externalities (impacts). Results indicated that there was no single point of optimal trade-off between farm profitability and the environment. Additionally, trade-offs between farm profit and environmental impacts varied significantly depending on the choice of cropping or tillage system.

ECONOMIC AND STOCHASTIC EFFICIENCY COMPARISON OF EXPERIMENTAL TILLAGE SYSTEMS IN CORN AND SOYABEAN UNDER RISK

Food policy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) focuses on food security challenges in the region. Individuals, households, countries, and the whole region face an alarming level of food insecurity due to the unrest and political instability in the last decade. Due to the large geographical, climatic, economic system, and natural resource base variabilities in the region there is no one policy that fits all the countries in the region. Examples of policies discussed in this article included food self-sufficiency policy, exports support policy (trade openness), and outward looking food policy that consider the four dimensions of food security. These four dimensions are food availability (food supply), access to food (e.g., food distribution), food stability (e.g., price stability and citizen income affordability), and food utilization (e.g., food processing). Successful food policy formulation is the one that considers the multidimensional nature of food security in the region. This article considers both economic indicators as well as nutritional food quality indicators and population access to food quality indicators to analyze MENA region levels of food insecurity and possible ramifications that may be considered by policy makers.