Nicole Ballenger

Globalisation and income growth promote the Mediterranean diet

OBJECTIVE To examine global food demand patterns and how changing diets may stimulate demand for and trade of Mediterranean diet products. DESIGN Literature review. Trends in global and US food consumption patterns are examined and trade data are reviewed to evaluate the impact of changing diets on trade of Mediterranean diet products. Market access issues are also addressed briefly to highlight the role of policy in the trade of Mediterranean diet products. RESULTS Diets are shifting towards higher-value products such as meats, fruits and vegetables, and a wider array of packaged food products. Trade in these products has also grown in the past two decades, with several non-traditional importers and exporters becoming increasingly active in the global market. CONCLUSIONS Income-driven demands for quality and variety are likely to increase the demand for Mediterranean diet products globally. While the middle-income countries appear to be the best growth prospects, the USA remains a potential growth market if these products can meet the growing consumer demand for variety, quality and convenience. Although consumer trends globally indicate growth in demand for Mediterranean diet products, the additional demand may not be reflected by a corresponding growth in trade. Trade in Mediterranean diet products continues to be hampered by higher than average trade barriers and high transportation costs for perishables.

Treating food security and food aid issues at the GATT

Abstract Some food-importing GATT members are concerned that multilateral agricultural policy reform as proposed in the Uruguay Round would endanger their food security, particularly if reform results in higher world commodity prices, lower government stock levels and weaker incentives for food aid supplies. This paper elaborates a set of international policies in support of food security that would be consistent with GATTs main objective of reducing interference by national policies in the free flow of goods. This set includes commitments to maintain global food stocks and food aid, disciplines for stockbuilding and food aid distribution, and support for certain programmes aimed at reducing instability of food production and supply. While a guarantee of food security is beyond GATT control - and depends ultimately on sustained economic development there are food security enhancing mechanisms that the GATT can support without encouraging new trade distortions.

The National Research Council Study of the Colleges of Agriculture at Land Grant Universities: Status and Thoughts for Agricultural Economists

In January 1994, the National Research Council (NRC), the principal operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering, convened a twenty-onemember committee under the auspices of the Board on Agriculture to assess the status and direction of land grant colleges of agriculture (LGCAs). The study is now entering its final phase. The project has produced an interim product (the Profile report) and a series of state forums (NRC 1995). The final report, including recommendations for public policy, will be released in summer 1996. As the NRCs staff, and as agricultural economists, we welcome this opportunity to (a) brief our profession on the status of the land grant study, (b) draw selectively from the basebook to illustrate some trends and relationships of interest to the NRC, and (c) relate these data to issues facing agricultural economists.

Agricultural Trade Liberalization in a Multi­ sector World Model

Impacts of agricultural and nonagricultural trade liberalization on agriculture are assessed in a multi-commodity, multi-country framework. By modeling simultaneously all goods sectors of the economy, we evaluate the importance of: (a) relative price changes between sectors, and (b) income and exchange-rate adjustments that follow trade liberalization in a world of floating rates. Specifically, we compare two cases using a static world policy simulation (SWOPSIM) model: agricultural multilateral liberalization and complete multilateral liberalization with floating exchange rates for all countries/regions. In both cases agricultural commodity prices tend to increase, an effect which is more pronounced when currency values adjust. The developing countries, in particular Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, have the most significant advances in agricultural and total production when exchange rates vary. Moreover, the gains from international trade are extended to all countries/regions explicitly specified in the model.

Trade Agreements and Incentives for Environmental Quality: A Western Hemisphere Example

A simple conceptual model can illustrate the potential for trade and environment agreements to satisfy the objectives of lnorthernr countries concerned with environmental protection and lsouthernr countries pursuing export earnings. In a hypothetical empirical example, the United States offers preferential access to fruit juice imports from three Latin American countries in exchange for enhanced protection of farm workers potentially exposed to pesticides during fruit production. Results for this particular case suggest that the benefits of preferential access to the US market substantially outweigh the costs to Latin American countries of adopting pesticide safety regulations similar to those protecting US farm workers.

15 – Toward Common Ground: Roles of Markets and Policy1

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the roles of market and policy-makers in developing and adapting regulatory principles and processes for biotech demands. At the core of the agricultural biotech debate is a complicated story of the intersection of technological change in agriculture and an increasingly consumer-driven food system. This intersection is reshaping public-sector roles in the agricultural and food system in the US, the EU, and elsewhere. The various ways evolved by the US and EU are a potential source of tensions in an increasingly globalized food system, with implications beyond bilateral relations and the biotech case. But as the food system is increasingly global, there is great impetus to find common ground. It is also important to recognize that there is no single EU viewpoint or single US viewpoint but rather a diverse array of consumer and producer preferences and attitudes in both places. Multinational efforts are underway to build a shared knowledge base that improves the scientific foundation for making difficult social policy decisions and that can enhance the potential for agreeing upon equivalencies and crosswalks between different regulatory frameworks. As farmers and food companies across countries respond to the varying demands of products differentiated by biotech status, the debate will no longer be cast with US interests aligned with biotech crops and EU interests focused on preventing biotech crops. The new US regulatory initiatives on the issue is also working towards reconciling differences with Europe and other trading partners by supporting development of differentiated markets and reviewing scientific assessments of biotechnology.