Title of document: Lending credence: motivation, trust, and organic certification   Authors: Steve Holland   Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: Holland Agricultural and Economics Year of publication: 2016 Geographic focus: Global Url original document: https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aaea15/205192.html Summary: Various forms of regulation are often used to improve the performance of markets when relevant information is lacking. A good example is markets for credence goods or goods with characteristics that are difficult or impossible for consumers to observe even after purchase and use.   Read More

Title of document: Toward thick legitimacy: creating a web of legitimacy for agroecology Authors: Maywa Montenegro de wit and Alastair Iles Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: University of Berkeley, California, US Year of publication: 2016 Geographic focus: Global Url original document: http://food.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Iles-Montenegro-towards-legitimacy-for-agroecology.pdf Summary: Legitimacy is at the heart of knowledge politics surrounding agriculture and food. When people accept industrial food practices as credible and authoritative, they are consenting to their use and existence. With their thick legitimacy, industrial food systems paralyze the growth of alternative agricultures, including agroecology. Questions of how alternative agricultures can attain their own thick legitimacy in order to compete with, and displace, that of industrial food have not yet attracted much scrutiny. We show that both agroecological and scientific legitimacy grow out of a web of legitimation processes in the scientific, policy, political, legal, practice, and civic arenas. Crucially, legitimation often comes through meeting what we call ‘credibility tests’. Agroecologists can learn to navigate these co-constituted, multiple bases of legitimacy by paying attention to how credibility tests are currently being set in each arena, and beginning to recalibrate these tests to open more room for agroecology. Using a schematic of three non-exclusive pathways, we explore some possible practical interventions that agroecologists and other advocates of alternative agricultures could take. These pathways include: leveraging, while also reshaping, the existing standards and practices of science; extending influence into policy, legal, practical, and civic arenas; and centering attention on the ethical legitimacy of food systems. We conclude that agroecologists can benefit from considering how to build legitimacy for their work.   Read More

Title of document: Sustainable commercialization of new crop for the agricultural bieconomy   Authors: N.R. Jordan; K. Dorn; B. Runch; P. Ewing; A. Williams;  K.A. Anderson; L. Felice; K. Haralson; J. Goplen; K. Alterdorf; A. Fernandez; W. Phippen; J. Sedbrook; M. Marks; K. Wolf; D. Wyse; G. Johnson   Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: Science of the Anthropocene Year of publication: 2016 Geographic focus: Global Url original document: elementascience.org Summary: Society is now calling on agriculture to provide goods and services that begin with enhanced production of food and other materials, but range far beyond. For example, agriculture is under increasing pressure to achieve complex sustainability goals such as food security, stewardship of biodiversity, compatibility with energy and water systems, and resilience to climate change and other potential shocks.   Read More

Title of document: Habitat eradication and cropland intensification may reduce parasitoid diversity and natural pest control services in annual crop fields   Authors: Deborah K. Letourneau; Sara G. Bothwell Allen; Robert R. Kula; Michael J. Sharkey; John O. Stireman   Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: Science of the Anthropocene Year of publication: 2015 Geographic focus: USA Url original document: elementascience.org Summary: Ecosystem services, through vital for the future of U.S. agricultural production and profitability are several threatened by agricultural intensification. Pollinator declines, persistent crop losses from pests, increase crop and water contamination and variable climate effects on project food production have prompted major research and policy initiatives in the U.S. and Europe targeting sustainable crop production and biodiversity conservation.   Read More

Title of document: Audit and agrarianism: the moral economy of an alternative food network   Authors: Liz Carlisle     Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: Science of the Anthropocene Year of publication: 2015 Geographic focus: Global Url original document: elementascience.org Summary: With consumers and producers seeking alternative to corporate, industrial food, systems of provision that promise greater ecological and social sustainability have gained in popularity. As these Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) scale up and go mainstream, both scholars and the general public want to know who is holding them accountable to their purported goals.   Read More

Title of document: Organic Agriculture and Post 2015 Development Goals: building on the comparative advantage of poor farmers Authors: Sununtar Setboonsarng, Anil Markandya & al.  Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: ADB Year of publication: 2015 Geographic focus: South East Asia Url original document: http://www.adb.org/publications/organic-agriculture-and-post-2015-development-goals Summary: The book makes an evidence-based case for organic agriculture in developing countries, particularly those in Southeast Asia. It starts by examining the data from organic agriculture farms, comparing them with those from nonorganic agriculture farms to see what can be said about the effects of organic agriculture on the livelihoods of comparable people and in terms of the MDGs (Chapters 1, 8, and 9). The book then goes on to look at the economic dimension of promoting organic agriculture and actual experiences in implementing it. It explores the following questions: Are the benefits of such programs justified in terms of their costs (Chapter 2)? Does certification help farmers in terms of increased incomes for their products (Chapter 3)? How well has certification worked to increase incomes and livelihoods in particular cases (Chapter 4)? Which benefits motivate farmers to adopt organic agriculture (Chapter 5)? (This is important as a guide to which policies to use to promote the practice.) Is organic agriculture the best way to improve rural livelihoods, or can we do better through other interventions, such as promoting biofuels (Chapter 6)? What are the macroeconomic impacts of promoting organic agriculture (Chapter 7)? Following these chapters, the book looks at evidence on some of the big environmental questions related to sustainable agriculture. The first is its role in sequestering carbon, a major issue given the threats we face from climate change (Chapter 11). A second is enhancing biodiversity and preventing the loss of genetic material (Chapter 12). Finally, the book considers some of the big issues in the debate surrounding agriculture which touch on organic agriculture in developing countries. One deals with the environmental costs of shipping agricultural products over large distances (food miles, Chapter 13). Another is whether organic agriculture does indeed lower yields and thereby reduce our capacity to feed the growing population of the planet (Chapter 14).   Read More

Title of document: Building Farmers’ Capacity for Innovation Generation: What are the determining Factors   Authors: Justice A. Tamboo and Tobias Wunscher   Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: Center for Development Research, University of Bonn Year of publication: 2014 Geographic focus: Ghana Url original document: http://econpapers.repec.org/paper/agsaesc14/170351.htm Summary: While farmers have been recognised as one of the key sources of innovation, many studies on agricultural innovations continue to consider farmers as adopters of externally driven innovations only. Based on cross-sectional data from 409 farm households, this study, in contrast, analysis the innovation-generating behaviour among rural farmers in northern Ghana. Inspired by two innovation theories – induced innovation and innovation systems we focus on the determinants of innovation behaviour. Employing recursive bivariate probit and endogennous treatment regression models which control for selection bias, we find that participation in Farmer Field Fora, a participatory extension approach with elements of innovation systems perspective, is a key determinant of innovation behaviour in farm housholds. Other important determinants are education, climate shocks and risk preferences. These results are robults to alternative specifications and estimation techiques.   Read More

Title of document: Sustainable Intensification of Tropical Agro-Ecosystems: Need and Potentials   Authors: Christain Andres and Gurbir S. Bhullar Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: Frontiers in Environment Science Year of publication: 2016 Geographic focus: Tropical zone Url original document: www.frontiersin.org Summary: Rapid population growth, increasingly complex economies and novel industrial uses of agricultural products call for further intensification of agriculture, particularly in the tropics. How to achieve sustainable intensification of food production systems in tropical regions that are challenged by ongoing climate change, loss of natural resources and biodiversity is a matter of debate. Here we highlight the major knowledge gaps in agricultural research and policy that must be addressed to develop adequate governance and regulatory frameworks for sustainable agricultural intensification.   Read More

Title of document: Rush for cash crops and forest protection: Neither and sparing nor land sharing   Authors: Thoumthone Vongvisouk, Rikke Brandt Broegaard, Ole Mertz, Sithong Thongmanivong Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: Journal of Land Use Policy Year of publication: 2016 Geographic focus: Laos Url original document: www.elsevier.com/located/landusepol Summary: In many countries with large tracts of tropical forest. There is a dual focus on enhancing forest protection and increasing commercial agricultural for economic devlopment. Laos is a case in point for this deveopment as the government of Laos has a strong commitment to economic growth, with rural farmers in part help realize through a rush for cash crop production destine to be sold in neighboring countries. Maze cultivation, for example,  is rappidly expanding and grown under a Contract Farming System for Vietnamess market. At the same time, government of Laos attempts to increase nationwide forest cover and prepares for REDD+ (reducing deforestation and forest degradation). This paper explores how the recent boom in cash crops is impacting land use and livelihood local communities, as well as affecting forest conservation in Hua Meuang district of Huaphan province in the northeastern Laos. It also examines how local authorities react to these changes and navigate the contradicting policies. Further more the paper analyzes to what extent the land sparing intention of land and forest land allocation policies are fulfilled.   Read More

Title of document: Myanmar: Analysis of Farm Production Economics   Authors: World Bank Ministry/Government Agency/Organisation: World Bank Year of publication: 2016 Geographic focus: Myanmar Url original document: https://www.google.la/?gws_rd=cr&ei=wzpZV9G3Cp6UvQTSr6CwAQ#q=Myanmar:+Analysis+of+Farm+Production+Economics Summary: Both World Bank and Livelihoods and Food Security Multi-Donor Trust Fund (LIFT) are actively involved in supporting Myanmar’s agriculture sector given its significance in poverty reduction and food security, and they both consider the lack of reliable farm data to be a significant constraint to designing effective programs and policies. This report fills some of the data gaps. The presentated results are based on a 2013/14 Myanmar agricultural survey of 1,728 farm households in four regions of Myanmar that covered major crops grown in the surveyed regions during the monsoon and dry seasons. These crops include beans and pulses, oil seeds, and maize.   Read More