This paper investigates the economic fortunes of coerced vs. free workers in a global supply chain. To identify the differential treatment of otherwise similar workers we resort to a unique exogenous labor demand shock that affects wages in voluntary and involuntary labor relations differently....

The dominance of cotton in the irrigated areas of Central Asia has long been criticized for its ecological effects on salinization and desertification. From an economic point of view, this monoculture ties producers to state procurement, has led to the recurrent mobilization of manual labour...

This paper investigates the economic fortunes of coerced vs. free workers in a global supply chain. To identify the differential treatment of otherwise similar workers we resort to a unique exogenous labor demand shock that affects wages in voluntary and involuntary labor relations differently....

This paper investigates the economic fortunes of coerced vs. free workers in a global supply chain. To identify the differential treatment of otherwise similar workers we resort to a unique exogenous labor demand shock that affects wages in voluntary and involuntary labor relations differently....

The dominance of cotton in the irrigated areas of Central Asia has long been criticized for its ecological effects on salinization and desertification. From an economic point of view, this monoculture ties producers to state procurement, has led to the recurrent mobilization of manual labour...

This paper investigates the economic fortunes of coerced vs. free workers in a global supply chain. To identify the differential treatment of otherwise similar workers we resort to a unique exogenous labor demand shock that affects wages in voluntary and involuntary labor relations differently....

The study examines the technical efficiency and source of inefficiency in non-contract cotton production in Katsina State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 184 contract cotton farmers. Research primary data was collected with the aid of structured questionnaire. The...

The previously successful British merchant houses on the west coast of South America faced significant problems between the two world wars. Earlier historians have referred to difficulties such as the volatility of commodity prices, the organisation and structure of the firms, and changes in...

Cotton is one of the most important cash crops in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and has had an important role in job creation, poverty reduction and foreign exchange generation. SSA cotton exporters face particularly three interconnected challenges - how to increase yields and quality in the context...

It is considered that the problem of agriculture is a problem where agribusiness structures are vulnerable to factors such as inflation, interest rates, exchange rate, market, have internal weaknesses such as lack of organization, lack of credit and profitability, among others. A key factor is...

Precision agriculture has the capability to reduce excess nitrogen (N) from crop production being released into the environment. This research evaluates the profitability and N use efficiency of utilizing real-time optical sensing with variable-rate technologies (VRT) to manage spatial...

The previously successful British merchant houses on the west coast of South America faced significant problems between the two world wars. Earlier historians have referred to difficulties such as the volatility of commodity prices, the organisation and structure of the firms, and changes in...

Cotton is one of the most important cash crops in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and has had an important role in job creation, poverty reduction and foreign exchange generation. SSA cotton exporters face particularly three interconnected challenges - how to increase yields and quality in the context...

More than 15 years after their first successful commercial introduction in the United States, genetically engineered (GE) seeds have been widely adopted by U.S. corn, soybean, and cotton farmers. Still, some questions persist regarding the potential benefits and risks of GE crops. The report...

Distinct phases of technology and policy have distinct effects on agricultural performance. Cotton is a useful case for study in this regard, as its cultivation has been frequently subjected to changes with respect to technology and policy action. The most recent of these is the cultivation of...

Agricultural commodity futures markets have experienced dramatic price swings since 2007 as compared to previous periods. Applied economic research has not reached a consensus as to whether market fundamentals or speculative participation has been the cause of the increased volatility. Policy...

Conservation agriculture (CA) is heralded as a means to increase yields and reverse land degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Low adoption levels have led to a polarized debate about the merits of conservation agriculture with critics questioning the suitability of the technology and proponents...

Pesticide use has changed considerably over the past five decades. Rapid growth characterized the first 20 years, ending in 1981. The total quantity of pesticides applied to the 21 crops analyzed grew from 196 million pounds of pesticide active ingredients in 1960 to 632 million pounds in 1981....

Global trade of upland cotton -- Political economy of agricultural subsidy programs -- WTO political environment prior to US-upland cotton case -- Origins of Brazil's US-upland cotton -- WTO dispute settlement : case study on US-upland cotton -- US-upland cotton : key legal findings as precedent...

Spinning a fibrous tale -- The world cotton (dis)order -- Cotton on the land -- Cotton for the country -- Cotton in company hands -- Beyond the dirty white stuff -- Afterword: a learner in the world cotton order notes

Trends and prospects of international major commodity prices. In 2012, the international commodity markets have seen declining prices, especially during the first half of the year, with some improvement mainly in the last quarter. On the whole, most of major commodity prices declined, following...

This paper explains Fifth Review Under the Extended Credit Facility and Request for Extension of the Arrangement report for Benin. The IMF report shows that inflation has returned to normal levels since the petroleum price shock in early 2012 when neighboring Nigeria reduced fuel subsidies, and...

In the context of recent commodity price hikes, the financialisation of commodity derivative markets, reflected in the increased presence of financial investors and new financial products such as commodity index and exchange traded funds has been controversially discussed. Many studies focus on...

This paper is a summary of: Rafael de Farias Costa, C. Parr Rosson, III, and Flynn J. Adcock, Transportation Infrastructure in Brazil: Impacts and Implications for Global Cotton Trade, Texas A&M, CNAS 2012-0. May 2012. Web. <http://cnas.tamu.edu/ Publications/Brazil Cotton Transportation Report June 2012.pdf> Brazil is the third largest cotton exporter after the United States and...</http://cnas.tamu.edu/>

Texas High Plains (THP) is a major cotton producing region in the US with low rainfall and decreasing irrigation water availability. Hence stochastic rainfall poses considerable production risk in the region and developing strategies to maximize the average profit and minimize the year to year...

Benin has made significant progress in consolidating macroeconomic stability under the IMF-supported program. Its prudent fiscal policy has kept fiscal deficits at manageable levels and is projected to yield a basic primary surplus in 2012. The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund...

Agriculture’s significant global contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has spurred consumer and retailer interest in GHG mitigation and may lead to incentive programs for producers to lessen GHG emissions. Along those lines, a producer choice is the use of embedded seed...

During the transition to a market economy, the state of many countries’ economies and the international textile industry face considerable challenges. There are many uncertainties surrounding the global textile market, exacerbated by gloomy predictions that for a decade should have been...

The aim of this paper is to investigate the main features of world cotton market by focusing on the role of China, and analysing the effect of predetermined macroeconomic variables on Chinese cotton market. First, a global overview of cotton market is given; after that, the main reasons for...

Improved software now makes Bayesian estimation a strong alternative to nonlinear maximum likelihood. Bayesian methods were used to estimate a linear response stochastic plateau for cotton and were shown to provide estimates similar to maximum likelihood. Optimal levels of nitrogen were lower...

The surge in basic food commodity prices in 2007/08 and again in 2011, have led to a renewed focus among governments and donors on agricultural growth, especially in staple food production in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is widely agreed that smallholder-led agricultural growth would contribute most...

The effect of recirculation in increasing organic loading rate (OLR) and decreasing hydraulic retention time (HRT) in a semi-continuous two-stage anaerobic digestion system using stirred tank reactor (CSTR) and an upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) was evaluated. Two-parallel processes were in...

Mali is among the first cotton growers in Africa. Since the early nineties, it has been reforming its cotton sector by means of different policy measures. In this paper, we estimate the supply elasticity of cotton in order to have a precise idea about how producers react to price changes and...

Agricultural water interventions (AWI), e.g. in-situ soil and water conservation strategies, irrigation, and damming of rivers to increase groundwater recharge, have been suggested as important strategies to improve yields in tropical agriculture. Although the biophysical implications of AWIs...