Trading Ideas

Given this year’s budget limitations, there is a great deal more wrangling over how funds should be distributed among the 2007 farm bill’s different titles. The biggest showdown is likely to be among those supporting a status quo for Title I commodity funding and those who would like to spend more money on programs such [...]

As concern over globalization’s negative impacts on rural communities in America grows, there is now a great need to think about how to improve US competitiveness in farm and non-farm jobs, and help those who might lose from globalization adjust and find niches in the new economy. Media reports have recently focused on more effective [...]

As the dialogue about the rise of biofuels has mostly focused on production in the US and Brazil, it is interesting to see how the biofuels debate is played out in other areas of the world. In this Trading Ideas Q&A, we have asked one of IPC’s members, Hiroshi Shiraiwa, about his views on domestic [...]

IPC Member Michel Petit has submitted the following column on the special roles that agriculture plays in developed and developing countries. His piece provides a useful context for understanding the current round of WTO trade negotiations. Petit is also a professor at the Institut Agronomique Mediterraneen in Montpellier, France, and is the former director of [...]

IPC Chairman Piet Bukman spoke at the 26th European Agricultural Outlook Conference held in London during the 27th-28th of March, titled “Towards 2013: The Prospects for CAP Reform.” He spoke on the historic context of the creation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and the multiple domestic, international, political, and economic forces shaping its future. [...]

IPC Chief Executive Charlotte Hebebrand and Policy Associate Kara Laney respond to the current state of the Doha Round and the USDA’s recent farm bill proposal
Within a bit over one week, trade ministers agreed to a full resumption of the Doha Negotiations in Davos while the US administration put forward its proposal for the 2007 Farm [...]

Yvonne Siu, IPC communications director, has contributed the following post on the changing roles of business and microfinance in Africa.
With its humble beginnings in 1976 with Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh, the current microfinance movement has flourished into a highly visible and championed social and development phenomenon. Today, 3,100 microfinance institutions (MFIs) are in existence worldwide, [...]

IPC Chief Executive Charlotte Hebebrand has contributed the following piece about recent biofuel legislation on both sides of the Atlantic, and suggests that in the midst of promoting domestic biofuel production, we should not rule out future trade in the increasingly appealing commodity.
There is plenty of legislative movement on both sides of the Atlantic on [...]

IPC Policy Associate Kara Laney has contributed the following post, outlining the existing opportunities and challenges that biofuels hold for rich and poor countries alike, concluding that the best way for biofuels to be an engine of growth is for the sector to advance in step with trade liberalization.
The Doha Round and biofuels appear to [...]

IPC Chief Executive, Charlotte Hebebrand, has contributed the following commentary about the upcoming US Farm Bill debate in Congress:
The 2007 farm bill debate is already underway. Under Secretary Johanns’ leadership, the USDA has held “listening sessions” throughout the country and released some thoughtful farm bill analysis papers. When the 110th Congress convenes in 2007, we [...]