Abstract
This book focuses on the policy implications of growing pressures for economic adjustment in the agricultural sectors of developed countries. Selected papers from an international workshop at Imperial College, London in October 2003 and an international symposium in Philadelphia in the spring of 2004, have been extensively revised and edited to form some of the chapters, and several entirely new chapters have been added. Chapters 2 and 3 analyse recent adjustments in the agricultural sectors of the EU and the USA. Chapter 4 assesses the forces that are likely to generate pressures for change. Policy reform is one such driver; chapters 5 and 6 focus on the extent to which recent and prospective reforms may be expected to require further adjustment in the EU and the USA. Chapters 7-12 form a series of six case studies of policy reform and agricultural adjustment (covering Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Korea, Japan, the transition countries of Central Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, Canada, and the USA). The ability of farmers and farm households to adjust to policy reform is a key concern. Chapters 13 and 14 examine evidence on the ability of farmers to adapt to changes in economic conditions, drawing on experience in the Netherlands and the USA. Chapters 15 and 16 provide perspectives on the potential use of specific measures to promote adjustment in agriculture in EU and the USA. Chapter 17 brings together the lessons learned to identify future options for agricultural adjustment policy in developed countries. The book has a subject index.