Members in The News: Nkonya, Jayne, Glauber, Fan, Rosegrant, Pradesha, Smith, and Brekkerman

Ephraim Nkonya, International Food Policy Research Institute Thomas Jayne, Michigan State University Africa has plenty of land. Why is it so hard to make a living from it? By: The Economist - April 28, 2018 For most of its history, sub-Saharan Africa has been short of people, not land. In 2011 the World Bank estimated that the region had 200m hectares of suitable land that was not being used for crops—almost half of the world’s total, and more than the cultivated area of America. That potential excites many. “Africa is the future breadbasket of the world,” says Ephraim Nkonya of the International Food Policy Research Institute, a think-tank in Washington, DC. Perhaps a tenth of Africa’s cultivated land is now in the hands of big business, which uses most of it for biofuels, timber and other non-food crops. As significant is the rise of mid-size farms (those between five and 100 hectares), often owned by civil servants in the cities. “They have the political connections,” says Thomas Jayne of Michigan State University. Many are not serious farmers. Those who own more than 20 hectares often leave most of it idle. (Continued...) Read more on: The Economist Joseph Glauber, International Food Policy Research Institute Trump made US dairy access to Canada a big issue, but NAFTA 2.0 may bring only 'marginal' concessions from Ottawa By: CNBC - April 25, 2018 "Pulling out of NAFTA would be a horrendous mistake," said former USDA chief economist Joseph Glauber, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, an agriculture think tank based in Washington. "There are some improvements that can be made in this agreement, but understand that status quo is a far better deal than getting bad changes to this agreement." (Continued...) Read more on: CNBC Truck driver shortage is raising prices, delaying deliveries By: USA Today - April 26, 2018 The increases are likely to be small, perhaps a few cents for a typical weekly grocery bill, says Joe Glauber, chief economist at the International Food Policy Research Institute. Shipping costs make up 3.6% of consumer food prices and 6% of overall retail prices, Glauber and Cubitt say. But retail prices are expected to increase further as the driver shortage intensifies. (Continued...) Read more on: USA Today Shenggen Fan, International Food Policy Research Institute To Double Farm Incomes, India Must Get People Off Farms By: India Spend - April 22, 2018 With hotter, drier weather becoming increasingly common, Indian farmers must diversify their income sources beyond agriculture, according to Shenggen Fan, director general, IFPRI. India has an ideological problem with farmers moving out of agriculture, he said. “I think some of them must go out [of the sector], including some of the well-to-do farmers. [This is what] we have learnt from China, Vietnam and other countries in east Asia.” (Continued...) Read more on: India Spend It may affect Bangladesh By: The Daily Star - May 4, 2018 “Enacting policies to leverage the benefits of globalisation while minimising the risks that fuel antiglobalisation will be critical to meet the Sustainable Development Goals to end hunger and poverty by 2030,” said Shenggen Fan, director general of IFPRI. (Continued...) Read more on: The Daily Star Mark Rosegrant, International Food Policy Research Institute Angga Pradesha, International Food Policy Research Institute Perks to boost RE share in energy mix By: Malaya Business Insight - April 23, 2018 Business Insight Philippines published an article on recent findings of IFPRI researchers, on the prospects of energy diversification in the Philippines. The team of senior research fellows Md. Alam Hossain Mondal, Mark Rosegrant, Claudia Ringler, Angga Pradesha and Rowena Valmonte-Santos found that a diversified energy mix could help the Philippines to supplement up to 60 percent of its energy needs with renewables, by 2040. Quoting Mondal, it states that without energy diversification, fossil fuel dependency will increase at an average rate of 7 percent per year. (Continued...) Read more on: Malaya Business Insight Vincent H. Smith, Montana State University What Brexit means for the UK’s agricultural trade policy Written by Vincent H. Smith: American Enterprise Institute - April 27, 2018 The United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries have a real stake in the final outcome of the current negotiations over Britain’s exit from the European Union. One area of considerable interest is the potential structure of subsequent bilateral and multilateral trade relationships for agricultural and processed food commodities. Since the UK joined the European Economic Community in 1973, Britain has continued to import over 50% of the food that its citizens consume. Where those imports will come from depends on the UK’s post-Brexit trade relationships with the rest of the world. (Continued...) Read more on: American Enterprise Institute and American Enterprise Institute Vincent H. Smith, Montana State University Anton Bekkerman, Montana State University News Analysis: U.S.-China trade disputes to hit America's heartland harder than expected By: Xinhua News - May 1, 2018 But even bigger agriculture losers in a U.S. trade disputes with China will be corn and soybean farmers, according to Smith, an agricultural economist specializing in international trade. "Not many options," said Montana State University Professor Anton Bekkerman, on the future of the American wheat farmers. Already, North Dakota farmers have shifted away from wheat production, and the ripple effect of the upcoming tariffs might include America's fragile involvement in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), according to Bekkerman, a well-published agricultural economics expert. (Continued...) Read more on: Xinhua News

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*Articles in response to the AAEA Communicating Out Strategy Press Releases highlighting: Government Relations, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy, Choices Magazine, General Media, and/or 2018 AAEA Annual Meeting in Washington D.C.