Government support for agricultural risk management tools has grown substantially over the past two decades. While these tools can play a role in strengthening farm-level resilience by helping farmers to cope with the financial impact of adverse events, they also modify farmers' incentives to invest in riskreducing measures and market tools. Policy design is critical to maximise effectiveness while minimising unintended consequences. This report reviews the accumulated experience on four types of publiclysupported agricultural risk management tools (ex post disaster aid, agricultural insurance, income stabilisation schemes and tax and savings measures). It suggests some basic principles on how countries can improve the design of their agricultural risk management policies, using a holistic approach and focusing on market failures. The report also highlights the need for more transparency on basic programme data, and for periodic public evaluation of existing programmes.
Citrus fruits make up one-fifth of all fresh fruit consumed in the United States. Given the increasing importance of imported citrus in the diet of American consumers, it is perhaps surprising that no import demand analysis of U.S. citrus has been conducted. Using quarterly U.S. import data for six citrus commodities, we employed a demand systems model and evaluated aspects of seasonality. The results suggest wide variations in price responses to different types of imported citrus. The average amplitude and phase shift suggest that all citrus fruits exhibit some seasonality in their imports, likely a result of peak harvesting schedules of exporters.
Increasingly frequent and severe droughts are threatening Italy's agricultural sector. With climate change forecast to accelerate these trends, the sector must build long-term resilience. This will require better planning and preparing for, absorbing the impact of, and recovering from droughts, as well as more successfully adapting and transforming in response to these events. Recent positive developments include improved data collection on water supplies and agricultural damage and loss from natural hazards to better inform water management and investment decisions; strengthened commitment to ex ante risk management frameworks; and more participatory approaches for water management. Nevertheless, the agricultural policy portfolio currently underemphasises investments in on-farm preparedness and adaptation, in favour of coping tools such as insurance. Further efforts to build agricultural resilience could benefit from a holistic, long-term sectoral risk management strategy; an evaluation of the trade-offs between spending on risk coping tools versus investments in natural hazard preparedness and measures to mitigate their impacts; and more explicit consideration of farmer demographics and capacities in policy design.
The incidence of extreme natural hazard events in the U.S. has been rising, with far-reaching implications for the U.S. agricultural sector. Yet, government expenditures on natural hazards in agriculture remain largely concentrated on recovery programs that compensate producers for damages after the fact. This article presents a risk management approach that incorporates a focus on prevention and mitigation which could offer greater cost-effectiveness and help to build a more resilient agricultural sector. In this context, we explore the U.S. agricultural risk management policy landscape and identify some possibilities for how such an approach could be integrated into current programming.
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