Discussion: Exchange Rates, Energy Policy and Outcomes in Agricultural Markets

These three invited papers examine the role that exchange rates may have in influencingcommodity prices, input prices and farm income. The papers arguably represent one of themost important recent attempts to quantify and explain these new linkages. As U.S. and worldagriculture moves from a period of high output prices to a period of lower prices, understandingthe impact of macroeconomic variables on farm input costs and farm income willbecome more important. Further, it will be equally important for policy makers to undertakeappropriate market interventions in order to have maximum effectiveness should this periodof cost-price-squeeze continue to intensify. Each of the papers has something significant tocontribute to the understanding and debate of these new linkages between agriculture, themacroeconomic environment, and the energy sector.