Risk and uncertainty are inescapable factors in agriculture which require careful management. Farmers face production risks from the weather, crop and livestock performance, and pests and diseases, as well as institutional, personal and business risks. This revised third edition of the popular textbook includes updated chapters on theory and methods and contains a new chapter discussing the state-contingent approach to the analysis of production and the use of copulas to better model stochastic dependency. Aiming to introduce agricultural decision making, probability and risk preference, this book is an indispensable guide for students and researchers of agriculture and agribusiness management.

Over the last three decades drought episodes have resulted in severe social problems in Mediterranean countries, receiving broad attention from the international scientific and policy communities. The experiences in the development and implementation of drought management plans highlight the success and challenges of coping with drought for societies with different vulnerabilities and emphasize risk-based drought management as a critical approach to mitigate the impacts associated to drought-induced water shortages. Based on these experiences and the current methods for evaluating risk, the book synthesises guidelines for drought management that link science and policy and that can be applied to other regions. The book comprises a collection of papers divided into four sections that appeal to a broad audience. First, the social and hydrological context of Mediterranean countries is presented, discussing the interactions that have resulted in the complex institutional framework, and highlighting the importance of stakeholder involvement and awareness building for successful drought management. This section emphasises the role of organizations, institutions, and civil stakeholders involved in drought preparedness and mitigation and/or on water management for designing effective risk based strategies that mitigate the effects of drought in agriculture and water supply systems. Second, the book presents an academic approach to risk evaluation, including characterization of drought episodes, development of indicators of risk in hydrological and agricultural systems, and analysis of the role of economic instruments and groundwater for risk mitigation. This section finalises with the description of an integrated method for evaluating social vulnerability based on indicators that include the capacity to anticipate, cope, and respond to drought. The third section includes a collection of case studies that include the description of effective measures taken in the past. These case studies provide the context for developing demand driven guidelines that may be applied to other regions. The authors of these chapters can be viewed as stakeholders in drought management, since they represent a broad range of sectors and institutions from Mediterranean European and North African countries. The topics addressed have implications for the international policy community interested in disaster mitigation, agricultural policy, and development. Finally a synthesis of the management actions is presented in four chapters. Monitoring and preparedness planning is the essential first step for moving from disaster to risk management in response to drought. The management actions related to agriculture and water supply systems are presented in two different chapters but with a common conceptual framework based on the use of drought indicators for evaluating the levels of drought risk (pre-alert, alert, and emergency), that allow establishing linkages between science and policy. The final chapter discuses the lessons learned and application to other regions.

The book addresses and documents farmers' risks in developing and emerging economies. It draws lessons from experimental economics on measuring risk preferences, attitudes, gender differences in managing risks, and risk management strategies in countries across Africa and Asia. It argues policy makers, especially in emerging economies, need a better understanding of farmers' attitudes toward risk and choices of risk management strategies when designing policies to support production agriculture. The book includes chapters on three themes: understanding risk attitudes and preferences; using experimental economics to measure risk, preferences, and risk management strategies; and understanding climate change, risk, and risk management. The book critically examines the currently held beliefs about risk preference, attitudes, and empirical estimation of risk management strategies, emphasizing developing and emerging economies (DEE). This book is ideal for students and researchers in universities and research organizations who conduct applied research on public policy, community development, and rural development, and will also be of interest to policy-makers in those fields.

Cover crops slow erosion, improve soil, smother weeds, enhance nutrient and moisture availability, help control many pests and bring a host of other benefits to your farm. At the same time, they can reduce costs, increase profits and even create new sources of income. You¿ll reap dividends on your cover crop investments for years, since their benefits accumulate over the long term. This book will help you find which ones are right for you. Captures farmer and other research results from the past ten years. The authors verified the info. from the 2nd ed., added new results and updated farmer profiles and research data, and added 2 chap. Includes maps and charts, detailed narratives about individual cover crop species, and chap. about aspects of cover cropping.

This volume constitutes the proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Multi-Objective Programming and Goal Programming: Theory & Appli cations (MOPGP'02) held in Nara, Japan on June 4-7, 2002. Eighty-two people from 16 countries attended the conference and 78 papers (including 9 plenary talks) were presented. MOPGP is an international conference within which researchers and prac titioners can meet and learn from each other about the recent development in multi-objective programming and goal programming. The participants are from different disciplines such as Optimization, Operations Research, Math ematical Programming and Multi-Criteria Decision Aid, whose common in terest is in multi-objective analysis. The first MOPGP Conference was held at Portsmouth, United Kingdom, in 1994. The subsequent conferenes were held at Torremolinos, Spain in 1996, at Quebec City, Canada in 1998, and at Katowice, Poland in 2000. The fifth conference was held at Nara, which was the capital of Japan for more than seventy years in the eighth century. During this Nara period the basis of Japanese society, or culture established itself. Nara is a beautiful place and has a number of historic monuments in the World Heritage List. The members of the International Committee of MOPGP'02 were Dylan Jones, Pekka Korhonen, Carlos Romero, Ralph Steuer and Mehrdad Tamiz.

Gain a holistic view of agricultural (re)insurance and capital market risk transfer Increasing agricultural production and food security remain key challenges for mankind. In order to meet global food demand, the Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that production has to increase by 50% by 2050 and requires large investments. Agricultural insurance and financial instruments have been an integral part to advancing productivity and are becoming more important in increasingly globalized and specialized agricultural supply chains in the wake of potentially more frequent and severe natural disasters in today’s key producing markets. Underwriting, pricing and transferring agricultural risks is complex and requires a solid understanding of the production system, exposure, perils and the most suitable products, which vastly differ among developed and developing markets. In the last decade, new insurance schemes in emerging agricultural markets have greatly contributed to the large growth of the industry from a premium volume of US$10.1 billion (2006) to US$30.7 billion (2017). This growth is bound to continue as insurance penetration and exposure increase and new schemes are being developed. Agricultural (re)insurance has become a cornerstone of sovereign disaster risk financing frameworks. Agricultural Risk Transfer introduces the main concepts of agricultural (re)insurance and capital market risk transfer that are discussed through industry case studies. It also discusses best industry practices for all main insurance products for crop, livestock, aquaculture and forestry risks including risk assessment, underwriting, pricing, modelling and loss adjustment. Describes agricultural production risks and risk management approaches Covers risk transfer of production and financial risks through insurance and financial instruments Introduces modelling concepts for the main perils and key data sources that support risk transfer through indemnity- and index-based products Describes risk pricing and underwriting approaches for crop, livestock, aquaculture and forestry exposure in developed and developing agricultural systems Become familiar with risk transfer concepts to reinsurance and capital markets Get to know the current market landscape and main risk transfer products for individual producers, agribusinesses and governments through theory and comprehensive industry case studies Through Agricultural Risk Transfer, you’ll gain a holistic view of agricultural (re)insurance and capital market solutions which will support better underwriting, more structured product development and improved risk transfer.