State Support of Agricultural Production in Emerging Countries as a Tool to Ensure Food Security

The chapter examines the practices of state support of agricultural production in various emerging economies in comparison with selected OECD countries. The aim of the research is to discover how agricultural protectionism and support of domestic farmers affect the level of food security on the emerging markets in the conditions of expanding globalization and liberalization of trade in food. The authors focus on the evaluation of the best practices of state support and discovery of opportunities of their utilization on the emerging markets. Content and mechanisms of state regulation are examined based on the data and evaluation methods obtained from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The authors find out that the system of state regulation is one of the key determinants of achieving food security in the conditions of turbulent emerging markets. Both the volume and priority directions of state support of agriculture are determined by financial capacities of emerging economies and current goals of their agrarian policies.

Innovative Approaches to Regulation of Agricultural Production and Trade

The chapter studies contemporary innovative approaches to and practices of state support of agricultural production and trade in food and agricultural products. The authors attempt to discover how protectionist policies in the sphere of production and trade affect the level of food security in the conditions of expanding globalization. The chapter focuses on the investigation of advanced innovative practices of state support in the case of selected OECD countries. The authors reveal that the introduction of innovations into the system of state regulation is one of the key determinants of achieving food security in the conditions of the volatile market. Both the volume and priority directions of innovations in agricultural protectionism policies are discussed and evaluated.

Impact of farm protectionism on the use of agricultural inputs in Chile

Despite evidence highlighting the multiple benefits that liberalization can have in the agricultural sector, agricultural protectionism is abundant, especially in developing countries. Chile provides an interesting case on this topic because it implemented an aggressive liberalization in the agricultural sector during the 1970s and 1980s. This paper analyzes the impact of farm protectionism on the use of agricultural inputs in Chile. To do this, we estimated partial elasticities of substitution by incorporating government protectionism as a factor for agricultural production. Our findings reveal that increased protectionism decreases agricultural labor and promotes the use of fixed capital. In contrast, protectionism has no effect on the use of working capital and land. This information shows a clear transference from the government to farmers. Furthermore, our results are useful for anticipating the effects that varying levels of government protectionism can have on the Chilean agricultural sector over time.

‘The Troublesome Word of Crisis’: Discourse on the Agricultural Crisis of the 1930s in the Belgian Parliament

The concept of a ‘crisis’ was omnipresent in the period of economic depression in the 1930s. What is more, the agricultural crisis was part of a never previously experienced despair in Europe and the whole of the Western world. Historians have extensively researched the crisis in agriculture, however, without reflecting on the consequences of the use of the concept and the discourse related to it. In this article – inspired by refreshing historical research on parliamentary practices – I investigate the language and figures of speech used in the Belgian Parliament to frame the agricultural question in a particular way. The case of Belgium is unique because farmers’ associations were well represented in parliament, in spite of the declining importance of agriculture in the active population and national economy. Since 1840 onwards, Belgian governments had embraced free trade and pursued an economic policy with little or no trade obstructions, dictated by the interests of the export industry. The depression of the 1930s urged a re-evaluation of the relationship between the state and the economy, which extended to agriculture. The Belgian free trade tradition – already exceptionally abandoned during and immediately after the Great War to cope with food scarcity – seemed to crumble during the interwar period as farmers’ associations asked for protectionist measures from 1929 onwards. This article contributes to our understanding of this paradigm shift from free trade towards agricultural protectionism. Furthermore, it gives an insight into the complexity of the interest groups campaigning for agricultural protectionism and using specific metaphors and discourse to influence politics.

Agricultural Protectionism on the Neoliberal Agenda? The Approach of the Director of the Swiss Business Federation to Agriculture

Neoliberals are known to oppose agricultural protectionism. In Switzerland, however, a member of the neoliberal Mont Pelerin Society was responsible for pushing forward the highly protectionist agricultural policy of the postwar years. Drawing on newly available archival sources, this article illustrates the endeavours of the director of the Swiss Business Federation Gerhard Winterberger (1922–93) in favour of agricultural protectionism. Winterberger, in his public talks or in his correspondence with Friedrich August von Hayek, selectively used neoliberal theory to justify his commitment to agriculture.

State Support of Agricultural Production in Emerging Countries as a Tool to Ensure Food Security

The chapter examines the practices of state support of agricultural production in various emerging economies in comparison with selected OECD countries. The aim of the research is to discover how agricultural protectionism and support of domestic farmers affect the level of food security on the emerging markets in the conditions of expanding globalization and liberalization of trade in food. The authors focus on the evaluation of the best practices of state support and discovery of opportunities of their utilization on the emerging markets. Content and mechanisms of state regulation are examined based on the data and evaluation methods obtained from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The authors find out that the system of state regulation is one of the key determinants of achieving food security in the conditions of turbulent emerging markets. Both the volume and priority directions of state support of agriculture are determined by financial capacities of emerging economies and current goals of their agrarian policies.

Understanding Taiwan’s Agricultural Protectionism

The following article aims to discern whether partial protectionism in Taiwan’s meat markets can still be explained as a function of Taiwan’s ‘strong state argument’, which was developed to understand the nation’s policies between the 1960s and 1980s. In spite of a weak international position, Taiwan has been able to sustain a policy of agricultural protection, based on the unitary rationality of its domestic bureaucratic units and a centralised process of decision-making. The institutional path dependence witnessed in agricultural trade policy can help explain why, for example, Taiwan is able to ban imports of agricultural items from the United States and Japan, which are two of Taiwan’s largest supporters in the international arena. The article analyses the domestic structure of agricultural market access decision-making, in order to shed light on how this structure is used to leverage trade-offs in other areas where Taiwan’s bargaining position is weaker, given its international status; and thus it revises Taiwan’s strong state argument as causal towards explaining agricultural protectionism.