AmberWaves February 2006 > Features

Environmental Credit Trading: Can Farming Benefit? by Marc Ribaudo, Robert Johansson, and Carol Jones Environmental regulations often require firms that emit pollutants to limit emissions to a set level or to install specific emission-reducing technologies. While fairly straightforward, this command-and-control approach can be costly both to the firms and to society. EU and U.S. Organic Markets Face Strong Demand Under Different Policies by Carolyn Dimitri and Lydia Oberholtzer Organic markets in the European Union member states and the U.S. are nearly the same size in terms of retail sales. At the same time, their farm sectors differ significantly, with the EU-15 member states having more organic farmland and more organic operations than the U.S. The World Bids Farewell to the Multifiber Arrangement by Stephen MacDonald Under the Multifiber Arrangement (MFA), trade in textiles—that is, yarn and fabric—and clothing was managed through quotas. January 1, 2005, marked the end of a 10-year phaseout of the MFA quotas under the aegis of the World Trade Organization. This article examines the origins and spread of quotas under the MFA and the impacts of their subsequent elimination. Agricultural Contracting Trading Autonomy for Risk Reduction by Nigel Key and James MacDonald Farm production is shifting from smaller to larger family farms and from spot (or cash) markets to contracts. Technological developments may underlie much of the shift to larger farms, but expanded use of production and marketing contracts supports that shift by reducing financial risks for farm operators. For farm operators, contracts provide benefits from reduced risks, but also result in loss of managerial control and reduced autonomy. Food Stamps and Obesity: Ironic Twist or Complex Puzzle? by Michele Ver Ploeg, Lisa Mancino, and Biing-Hwan Lin The Food Stamp Program was designed to provide a nutritional safety net for low-income households while boosting demand for domestic agricultural products. As the major nutrition problems facing the U.S. population have shifted from too little intake to overconsumption and obesity, some have questioned whether food stamps encourage participants to eat too much. ERS analyses suggest that the relationship between program participation and weight is neither uniform across sex, race and ethnicity, nor consistent over time.