Agroforestry, or the intentional integration of trees on crop or pastureland, is a sustainable land use system that provides ecosystem services including climate change mitigation and private benefits for smallholders. While existing reviews of agroforestry adoption focus on government policy, there is increasing interest from, and opportunities for, non-state actors to accelerate agroforestry adoption

In 2018, a strategy for Sweden's first National Forest Program was launched. As part of its implementation, County Administrative Boards have initiated dialogue processes for drafting regional forest strategies. Stakeholder deliberation is ascribed the potential to promote trust and mutual understanding, lead to more robust decisions and smoother implementation. We examine the dialogue processes, focusing

Despite the ambitious target to establish 12.7 million ha of social forestry across Indonesia and various government support for smallholder private forests, implementation has been slow and financial returns for smallholders from timber production have been variable. For most smallholders, any motivation to plant trees competes with their interest in planting short term food or cash crops to support

While forests are a primary source of energy for the majority of Tanzanian households, the forest cover is rapidly declining. The Tanzanian government has introduced a tree-planting campaign strategy, aimed at reducing pressure on natural forests. However, the campaign appears not to have contributed significantly to the forest recovery rate. Thus, this study aims at examining household perceptions

Agent-based models are important tools for simulating farmers’ behaviour in response to changing environmental, economic or institutional conditions and policies. This article introduces an agent-based modelling approach that combines behavioural factors with standard bio-economic modelling of agricultural production. More specifically, our framework integrates the cumulative prospect theory and social

AbstractWe examine the dynamics of the margin between retail and international coffee prices from 1980 to 2018. We find no significant trend in the margin using a robust procedure for estimating a trend. Further, we establish that any deviations in the margin are transitory for the full sample as well as the periods prior to and after the demise of the ICA, but with asymmetric adjustment. One of the

Are agricultural economists losing their relevance and significance in research on sustainable food systems? Could the world thrive without the contribution of agricultural economists? How could agricultural economists have more impact in addressing the grand challenges of our time? In this paper we address these questions by reflecting on the field of agricultural economics and re-examining the role

Forest certification has emerged as a market-based tool to safeguard the sustainability of the world's forests. Since media can shape public opinion, this study examines media treatment of forest certification in the United States, the world's largest producer and consumer of forest products. This study utilizes 309 print and digital newspaper articles published in the United States between 1989 and

The livelihoods of poor people in developing countries are increasingly dependent on weather shocks whose effects are exacerbated by the lack of access to adequate insurance markets allowing risk hedging. Index-based insurance underwrites a weather risk as a proxy for economic loss: when the index falls below a certain level, farmers automatically get a payment. The aim of this paper is to study the

Economic growth has brought prosperity for large parts of the growing world population. But it also expanded the use of nature's resources and absorption capacities to a critical extent. The transition to sustainability that policy making therefore tries to promote may, however, have adverse effects on the growth path. If so, how will consumer welfare be affected? How can policy interventions be legitimized

Forest resource management has undergone profound changes in the last decades, including a tendency to apply participatory approach that seeks to involve local communities. However, the success of the participatory approach tends to remain dependent on the historical and societal context in question. To understand how the participation of forest communities has been changing as a result of the enforcement

Production by smallholders in rural Kenya is limited by institutional, technical and investment constraints. Female farmers are the majority among smallholders and have significant roles in agriculture; nonetheless, they face constraints in accessing resources. Recent primary data of 347 farmers (proportional random sampling) was used to examine: (a) factors affecting women’s participation in agriculture;

With the deterioration of China's ecological environment, technological innovation (TI) has become an important method of green transformation and upgrading Chinese steel enterprises (CSEs) under the constraint of environmental regulation (ER). Based on environmental protection panel data of 86 CSEs from 2005 to 2014, this paper first analyzes the direct effects of heterogeneous environmental regulation

Organizations, such as forest management cooperatives (FMCs), are established to support private forest owners to deal with structural and natural challenges that they cannot handle on their own. In 2018, Feil et al. found in a nationwide survey that only 30% of German private forest owners are members of FMCs. This low participation rate of private forest owners in FMCs in Germany poses a problem

Grassland has experienced continuous degradation, resulting in serious ecosystem services loss and unsustainable grazing production. Previous studies have identified the impact of formal environmental institutions or policies on grassland protection. But, little evidence of the effectiveness of informal institutions has been found. Using village grassroots governance as a proxy for informal institutions

The traceability of products has become an ever more important topic in global value chains because governments, producers and consumers wish to have in-depth information on the origin, quality, safety and sustainability of the products they regulate, trade or buy. However, traceability systems come with criticisms and challenges. This article describes how timber traceability is being realized in

According to the economy-environment trade-off, good economic conditions raise citizens' concerns about the environment, while economic recessions reduce the interest. This paper explores this hypothesis in print media and considers the quantitative media coverage of deforestation in three English-language newspapers between 1995 and 2015. The empirical findings reject the economy-environment trade-off

In almost all forms of agriculture and farming practice, land clearing is the initial step. In Indonesia, in general, the most cost effective means of clearing land is through the use of fire. However, this use of fire often results in uncontrolled outbreaks, particularly in lowland areas especially and during prolonged dry seasons. In recent years, these uncontrolled fire outbreaks have had a catastrophic

Micronutrient deficiencies are decisive drivers of malnutrition and persistence of illnesses globally. International food trade is increasingly shaping land and food systems, through virtual trade in land and water, but also through affecting food supply by redistribution of micronutrients. However, trade flows of micronutrients between countries have not been systematically analyzed. In this study

The paper presents the efficiency evaluation of forest districts in Southern Poland carried out using the standard Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) which is a nonparametric mathematical programming technique. The study aims to evaluate the efficiency and identify the external factors affecting the efficiency of forest districts by using the Tobit econometric model. The study was conducted for 113 forest

The adoption of improved crop varieties, such as drought-tolerant varieties, plays a crucial role in addressing climate change. In this study, we explore how and to what extent spatial interactions between farmers and neighboring farmers affect the adoption of drought-tolerant wheat varieties (DTWVs), using data collected from rural households in China. A spatial Durbin probit model is utilized to

Deforestation and land degradation have been occurring across the globe, particularly in developing countries. Over the past 30 years, Indonesia's lowlands have experienced rapid degradation, deforestation and fires. Interventions aimed to achieve sustainable lowlands have been made through the introduction and adoption of commodities that provide sufficient livelihoods and reduce fires. However, these

Although consumer demand plays a key role in the conservation of endangered livestock breeds (also referred to as old, local, rare or heritage breeds), consumer research so far has made only a minor contribution to such conservation. Based on a qualitative consumer study using think-aloud-protocols, this article sheds light on consumers' knowledge and perceptions regarding endangered livestock breeds

The belief that stringent climate policies are very costly is widespread among political decision-makers and the public. The cost argument is often used by governments as a motivation for sluggish policy making. However, such judgements ignore the economic benefits of policy changes and implicitly build on a misguided decomposition of environmental impact into separate population, income, and technology

Despite increasing attention in recent years, only a limited number of studies have investigated the determinants of landowner re-enrollment intentions in conservation incentive programs. However, none of these studies controlled for the potential self-selection of participants. The concern for a self-selection bias is policy relevant because researchers and policymakers investigate the determinants

We consider the effects of protectionist trade policies on international and domestic market integration, using evidence from the long-standing softwood lumber trade dispute between Canada and the United States. The benefits of trade liberalization are widely acknowledged, including better domestic-to-foreign price transmission due to reduced tariffs and lower trade costs between countries. Yet in

Innovation in the forest sector is a growing research interest and within this field, there is a growing attention for institutional, policy and societal dimensions and particular when it comes to the question of how to support innovativeness in the sector. This Special Issue therefore focuses on governance aspects, relating to and bridging business and political-institutional-societal levels. This

UK food-related greenhouse gas emissions have substantially decreased over the last two decades in response to changes in the household food baskets. The evolution of diets depends on a combination of driving forces, not necessarily acting in the same direction. We propose a decomposition of household food choices which separates changes in tastes and consumer preferences from the effects of prices

We use optimization of a structural dynamic model to evaluate the cost of carbon sequestration when afforestation subsidies are used to encourage private landowners to switch from cropland to forestry. Our model allows for the planting of either softwood or hardwood forest types with flexible rotation lengths, in addition to irrigated crops. We apply the model to a portion of the Lower Mississippi

Airline industry CO2 emissions have increased rapidly; air transportation released approximately 2.8% of global fuel-combustion-based CO2 emissions in 2019. Focusing on Japan, this study explored the introduction of new passenger aircraft as a CO2-reduction policy. To this end, the lifetime distribution function for passenger aircraft was specified. Lifecycle CO2 emissions and the associated costs

We formalise a dynamic water pricing model as a tool for increasing social surplus in short-term water allocations and long-term water supply planning and investments. We calculate, in monetary terms, the intertemporal risk that current water uses impose on future water availability, termed as the Risk-Adjusted User Cost (RAUC), given multi-period droughts. Our model is calibrated to the water supply

We examine how nutrient load compensation could help a firm expand its production when production is a source of nutrient loads, threatening the ecological status of a water body. We ask whether compensation is technically feasible and whether it can be made in an ecologically sustainable way. Credits for compensation may be provided by point or nonpoint sources. We apply our approach to the case of

Fortified fruit juice represents a growing segment in the otherwise contracting juice industry. Health concerns and changing food policy have driven US consumers to demand fruit juice fortified with micronutrients. Fruit-juice manufacturers have responded by expanding their portfolio to include juice products fortified with vitamins and minerals. This study is the first to analyze determinants of US

As a large cocoa bean trader, Transmar group ltd. bought millions of dollars’ worth of beans relying on financing from a syndicate of banks. To monitor amounts of eligible collateral, the banks required Transmar prepare periodic borrowing base (BB) reports. At some point, Transmar developed a discrepancy in collateral recorded on the BB report versus the amount of funds borrowed. The case discusses

The recent economic downturn in the agricultural sector that started in 2013 has caused some concerns for farmers’ repayment capacity, which raises the need for precise prediction of financial stress in the agricultural sector. Machine learning has been shown to improve predictions with large financial data, however, its application remains limited in the agricultural sector. In this study, we approximate

The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to cause significant economic hardship and death throughout the world. While governments have many concerns, an affordable and secure food supply remains a top priority. Based on years of a consumer-driven food system, Canadians have come to expect any food in the form, time, and location desired, always available at a reasonable price. Although

This paper assesses the earlier projections made by the authors in March 2020 about the impact of COVID-19 on Canada's food security. First, as measured in the early part of the second quarter of 2020, COVID-19 is associated with an increased prevalence of household food insecurity as measured by Statistics Canada. Also, as we predicted, we did not observe a rapid general increase in food prices that

COVID-19 continues to impose a series of unique challenges on the food retail and food service sectors in Canada. In May 2020, the expectation was that the public health crisis shutdowns of the restaurant sector would be temporary. Although we may still be in a much longer temporary than was originally envisaged, it is becoming clearer that permanent restructuring may also have happened. Grocery stores

In this paper, I explore the economic activities of the food processing industry during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. One of the key lessons from food processing and related industries is that without being designated as an essential service and targeted stimulus packages, the food industry could have fallen victim to the COVID-19 crisis. Although the social and economic impacts

A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper reflects on the changes that occurred in agrifood supply chains in Canada and the United States. The sudden shift in food consumption patterns from food service to food retail required realignment of food supply chains. For the most part, food supply chains have performed remarkably well during the pandemic. Cross-border food supply chains have continued

Brewin (2020) was optimistic about the fate of the Canadian grains and oilseeds sector in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic descended on the world. The sector did generate a large crop and, towards the end of 2020, saw a lift in prices. This contributed to record farm income in Canada in 2020. The pace of grain and oilseed exports in Canada and ethanol demand in the east were affected by COVID-19, but

More than 1 year after the outbreak of COVID-19, Canadian fruit and vegetable markets continue to adjust to the evolving landscape. In this article, we focus on three key measures of input and output market performance that serve as indicators of the stability of fruit and vegetable markets in Canada in the medium-term, and offer some insight for how these markets will continue to adjust in the longer

The dairy and poultry sectors responded quickly to the initial adjustments in the quantity and nature of food products forced by the shuttering of the hospitality sector and the subsequent switch to buying food from grocery stores. In addition, these sectors were less affected by the labor availability and health issues from COVID-19 (coronavirus disease-2019) that plagued others, such as red meat

While COVID-19 had the potential to be extremely disruptive to the Canadian pork supply chain, the sector showed resiliency by adjusting to market changes to ensure industry continuation. Unlike other non-agricultural firms that were mandated to close at times, the pork sector was deemed an essential service and allowed to continue operating throughout the pandemic. Evidence of this resiliency is seen

After a year of adjusting to the shocks associated with COVID-19 the Canadian cattle and beef sector faces a relatively optimistic future. This note examines the past year for this supply chain from the perspective of the consumer up to the cow-calf producer by considering consumer reactions, labor market constraints, and supply responses. In the second quarter of 2020, the sector faced a significant

This article briefly outlines the agrifood market and policy situation in the United States after 1 year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Agrifood markets suffered initial disruptions from both supply-side and demand-side shocks but significant adjustments by farmers, processors, distributors, and government kept these relatively shorty-lived. Substantial support has been provided to farmers as part of $5

In contrast to April 2020 forecasts of the effects of the pandemic on Canada's agricultural trade, we find 1 year later that the recession was deeper, that total trade fell by less than was widely expected, and agricultural trade did not fall but actually increased. This was a general pattern across countries, but Canada's agricultural trade increased by at least 11%, more than the world aggregate

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) initiated shocks to the Canadian agri-food industry moving the sector away from its prepandemic equilibrium. Disequilibrium can mean, postshock, that sectors follow different paths of adjustment. The public and politicians appear to desire that economic activity returns to prepandemic norms—but this is far from assured. In the case of the Canadian agri-food industry

Canada's unemployment rate increased rapidly in the spring of 2020 in response to strict public health measures. Low-wage workers were hit particularly hard, including restaurant workers. The production and distribution of food being essential and agri-food supply chains being resilient, other workers in the agri-food sector were less impacted by public health measures and the pandemic. Employment

One year into the largest economic and health event of the past 70 years, this paper considers how agricultural supply chains and agricultural transportation have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Written as an update to Gray (2020), we are able to show that agricultural transportation systems have proven to be extremely robust and were able to innovate in real-time to address challenges in the

Early evidence suggests that Canadian farmland values increased in 2020. Farming returns were not negatively impacted by COVID-19 and it appears as though farming returns will be strong into 2021. Low interest rates in 2020 contributed to substantial farmland value increases in the last half of 2020. There is some evidence that the development component of farmland values increased in 2020. The future

The unexpected introduction and spread of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has presented significant risks for every aspect of Canadian society, including the food and agricultural sector. The suite of Business Risk Management (BRM) programs, developed decades ago and without any thought to the possibility of a global pandemic, are meant to assist farmers in managing risks. This article discusses

Pirgmaier's paper “The value of value theory for ecological economics” is a plea to ecological economists to take a greater interest in value theory and, in particular, to appreciate the Marxian labour theory of value. This paper first criticises this view and then proceeds to outline an alternative perspective, which suggests that the focus on value should be replaced by a focus on valuation processes

The new EU Organic Regulation 848/2018 allows group certification to be applied to EU organic smallholders. Group certification is endorsed by IFOAM-Organics International and is the dominant approach to certify small organic farmers in many non-EU countries. This study provides a cross-case study evaluation of the future implementation of group certification among organic smallholders in Italy. A

We explore the relationship between precision agriculture (PA) technology adoption and technical efficiency using the 2016 USDA Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS). Efficiency gains from PA are likely cumulative, that is, the true impact of precision farming depends on the integration of complementary tools. To examine the efficiency benefits of different PA bundles, we perform a two-step

The logging quota scheme was established in 1987 to control over-harvesting and promoting forest restoration in China, and it is expected to remain in place for many years to come. But the scheme has rarely been subject to careful empirical scrutiny. In this paper, we develop and estimate an empirical model to disentangle its potential effects on different dimensions of the forest condition, based

More than half of the United States' forestland is owned by millions of private forest landowners with small parcels. The length of forestland ownerships and its determinants are examined using duration analysis on a sample of parcels in Mississippi from 1999 to 2019. Overall, forestland ownership duration is short. About 46% of all the sampled parcels were sold at least once over the 21 years, and

Community forest management (CFM) systems have been implemented in developing countries as forest conservation initiatives with community development objectives. Women are often active in CFM by participating in non-timber forest product harvesting and management. Given the increasing presence of women in CFM, this study assesses whether participating in community forest management gives females more