"It is estimated that the world will need to produce as much food in the next forty years as it did in the past 8,000 years. Moving that food to where it is needed will require a massive investment in logistics, in port and transport infrastructure, as well as in distribution, processing and packaging networks within countries. Governments will not make those investments. Instead the task will fall on the world's investments. Instead the task will fall on the world's commodity trading (merchandising) companies. When most people think of agricultural commodity merchangs, traders and speculators, they imagine dubious characters manipulating markets and pushing up food prices for the world's poor. Few people understand what agricultural traders actually do, and how their markets function. This book is intended to at least partly correct that situation. It is aimed at students, journalists, legislators, regulators, and at everyone who would like to learn more about the sector."--Quatrième de couverture

The recent global financial crisis exposed the serious limitations of existing economic and financial models. Not only did macro models fail to predict the crisis, they seemed incapable of explaining what was happening to the economy. Policymakers felt abandoned by the conventional tools of the now obsolete Washington consensus and the World Trade Organization’s oversimplified faith in free markets.The traditional models for agricultural commodities have so far failed to take into account the uncertain character of the global agricultural economy and its ferocious consequences in food price volatility, the worst in 300 years, yielding hunger riots throughout the world. This book explores the elements which could help to close this fundamental modeling gap. To what extent should traditional models be questioned regarding agricultural commodities? Are prices on these markets foreseeable? Can their evolution be either predicted or convincingly simulated, and if so, by which methods and models? Presenting contributions from acknowledged experts from several countries and backgrounds – professors at major international universities or researchers within specialized international organizations – the book concentrates on four issues: the role of expectations and capacity of prediction; policy issues related to development strategies and food security; the role of hoarding and speculation and finally, global modeling methods. The book offers a renewed wisdom on some of the core issues in the world economy today and puts forward important innovations in analyzing these core issues, among which the modular modeling design, the Momagri model being a seminal example of it. Reading this book should inspire fruitful revisions in policy-making to improve the welfare of populations worldwide.

Chitosan in the Preservation of Agricultural Commodities presents a cohesive overview of research topics regarding the production and characterization of chitosan, the development of coatings and fi lms, its functional properties, and antimicrobial potential of this compound on economically important agricultural commodities. It includes the modes of action from a physiological, enzymatic, and molecular perspective, and evaluations of the activity of chitosan nanocomposites and nanoparticles in biological models. The first section deals with the chemical characteristics and functional properties of chitosan and new chitosan-based biomaterials intended for food preservation. The second section covers various aspects of the control achieved by chitosan on different microorganisms affecting various horticultural commodities, grains, and ornamentals, and its modes of action. The third section explores enzymatic and gene expression induction by chitosan application on fruit and vegetables; the fourth section offers insight on the use of chitosan nanocomposites in biological models associated with food conservation and control of microorganisms. Analyzes chitosan chemical and functional properties Explores obtaining, characterizing, and developing chitosan coatings and fi lms for agricultural use Presents functional properties, antimicrobial potential, and modes of action of chitosan from a physiological, enzymatic, and molecular perspective Includes biological models of the activity of chitosan nanocomposites and nanoparticles

Agricultural Prices and Commodity MarketAnalysis discusses the application of economictheory to agriculture and the foodindustry, using quantitative tools. The blendof theory and application is unique in detailinghow demand and supply can be measuredand how econometric simulationmodels can be constructed and evaluated.This revised edition focuses on forecastingand generating long-term projections as wellas discussing the relatively unexplored areaof stochastic modeling, which is critical inhandling crop yield variability. Other topicscovered include agricultural policy analysisand futures/options markets. The role oftime series models in improving structuralequations and forecasting techniques providesa capstone.

The Agricultural Outlook 2019-2028 is a collaborative effort of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. It brings together the commodity, policy and country expertise of both organisations as well ...

The Agricultural Outlook 2021-2030 is a collaborative effort of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. It brings together the commodity, policy and country expertise of both organisations as well as input from collaborating member countries to provide an annual assessment of the prospects for the coming decade of national, regional and global agricultural commodity markets. The publication consists of 11 Chapters; Chapter 1 covers agricultural and food markets; Chapter 2 provides regional outlooks and the remaining chapters are dedicated to individual commodities.