This volume presents a state-of-the-art overview of the rapidly evolving field of agribusiness, highlighting the most current issues, concepts, trends and themes in research, practice and policy. With a particular emphasis on technology, product and process innovation, the authors cover a wide array of topics relating to such issues as research and development, technology transfer and patents and licensing, with particular respect to the roles of academic institutions, private organizations and public agencies in generating and disseminating knowledge. Featuring case studies of innovative initiatives across the industry, this book will appeal to researchers, business leaders, university administrators and policymakers concerned with the multi-faceted implications of this dynamic and controversial sector.

Since their commercial introduction in 1996, genetically modified (GM) crops have been adopted by farmers around the world at impressive rates. In 2011, 180 million hectares of GM crops were cultivated by more than 15 million farmers in 29 countries. In the next decade, global adoption is expected to grow even faster as the research pipeline for new biotech traits and crops has increased almost fourfold in the last few years. The adoption of GM crops has led to increased productivity, while reducing pesticide use and the emissions of agricultural greenhouse gases, leading to broadly distributed economic benefits across the global food supply chain. Despite the rapid uptake of GM crops, the various social and economic benefits as well as the expanding rate innovation, the use of GM crops remains controversial in parts of the world. Despite the emergence of coexistence between GM, organic and conventional crops as a key policy and practical issue of global scale, there is no coherent literature that addresses it directly. Governments and market stakeholders in many countries are grappling with policy alternatives that settle conflicting property rights, minimize negative market externalities and associated liabilities, maximize the economic benefits of innovation and allow producer and consumer choice. This book intends to fill these needs with contributions from the top theoreticians, legal and economic analysts, policy makers and industry practitioners in the field. As the economics and policy of coexistence start to emerge as an separate subfield in agricultural, environmental and natural resource economics with an increasing number of scholars working on the topic, the book will also provide a comprehensive base in the literature for those entering the area, making it of interest to students, scholars and policy-makers alike.

After almost fifteen years in the laboratory and in the test plots, bioengineered crops arrived to the market in the mid-1990s. Adoption was rapid and wide spread. In 1996, less than 4 million acres in six countries were planted with bioengineered crops. By 2001, worldwide adoption had expanded to more than 115 million acres. Important questions quickly followed. What were the factors driving the widespread adoption and rapid diffusion of these first-generation agrobiotech nologies? What were their economic and environmental impacts? How were such impacts distributed among large and small producers, innovators and adopters, developed and developing countries, exporters and importers, domestic and foreign consumers? How were such impacts and their distribu tion affected by market structure and government policies? A growing body of literature has provided valuable answers to some of these questions. However, an assessment that accounts for the full range of differences in geography, weather, pests, farm structures, and institutions had not been completed. It brings together leading This book provides just such an assessment. authors from around the world who have analyzed the production, environ mental, and economic impacts of first-generation crop biotechnologies. By pooling experiences across various countries, time periods, crops, and traits, this global panel is able to synthesize a complete picture of the impacts of first-generation crop biotechnologies."

Since their commercial introduction in 1996, genetically modified (GM) crops have been adopted by farmers around the world at impressive rates. In 2011, 180 million hectares of GM crops were cultivated by more than 15 million farmers in 29 countries. In the next decade, global adoption is expected to grow even faster as the research pipeline for new biotech traits and crops has increased almost fourfold in the last few years. The adoption of GM crops has led to increased productivity, while reducing pesticide use and the emissions of agricultural greenhouse gases, leading to broadly distributed economic benefits across the global food supply chain. Despite the rapid uptake of GM crops, the various social and economic benefits as well as the expanding rate innovation, the use of GM crops remains controversial in parts of the world. Despite the emergence of coexistence between GM, organic and conventional crops as a key policy and practical issue of global scale, there is no coherent literature that addresses it directly. Governments and market stakeholders in many countries are grappling with policy alternatives that settle conflicting property rights, minimize negative market externalities and associated liabilities, maximize the economic benefits of innovation and allow producer and consumer choice. This book intends to fill these needs with contributions from the top theoreticians, legal and economic analysts, policy makers and industry practitioners in the field. As the economics and policy of coexistence start to emerge as an separate subfield in agricultural, environmental and natural resource economics with an increasing number of scholars working on the topic, the book will also provide a comprehensive base in the literature for those entering the area, making it of interest to students, scholars and policy-makers alike.

After almost fifteen years in the laboratory and in the test plots, bioengineered crops arrived to the market in the mid-1990s. Adoption was rapid and wide spread. In 1996, less than 4 million acres in six countries were planted with bioengineered crops. By 2001, worldwide adoption had expanded to more than 115 million acres. Important questions quickly followed. What were the factors driving the widespread adoption and rapid diffusion of these first-generation agrobiotech nologies? What were their economic and environmental impacts? How were such impacts distributed among large and small producers, innovators and adopters, developed and developing countries, exporters and importers, domestic and foreign consumers? How were such impacts and their distribu tion affected by market structure and government policies? A growing body of literature has provided valuable answers to some of these questions. However, an assessment that accounts for the full range of differences in geography, weather, pests, farm structures, and institutions had not been completed. It brings together leading This book provides just such an assessment. authors from around the world who have analyzed the production, environ mental, and economic impacts of first-generation crop biotechnologies. By pooling experiences across various countries, time periods, crops, and traits, this global panel is able to synthesize a complete picture of the impacts of first-generation crop biotechnologies.

Worldwide soybean crop yields can achieve USD$130 billion per year in farm-level sales, but around 13% of these yields are lost to disease. Effective disease management could generate significant economic benefits, and while disease management strategies do exist, their application remains limited among producers, often due to an incomplete understanding of disease incidence and severity, as well as perceived complexities of these strategies and a lack of information regarding success rates. This book presents an economic perspective on disease control, with an emphasis on producer choice among alternative technologies and potential changes in cropping systems. It provides an overview of global soybean diseases, their economic significance and management, and covers farm-level decision making, economic payoffs of alternative disease practices and key uncertainties. The book also outlines a global economic model that evaluates disease distribution and management implications. Key features include: - Extensive empirical case studies of soybean disease control, offering strategies for economically optimal management of diseases such as soybean seedling disease and root rot. - Analysis of economic factors to guide farm-level decision making. - Consideration of new technologies in disease management and their potential market-level impacts. This text is recommended for students and researchers in plant pathology and agricultural economics, as well as professionals in the soybean production industry.