Presentation Overview:Convey key OECD findings about agriculture in Brazil and China; Identify the key results of policy reform; Present implications for the future.

Presented to USDA Economists Group, Washington, DC, March 11, 2009
Discusses land use conflicts between agriculture, conservation, development and energy.

Sustainable land management requires that water and matter (nutrients and base cations) are efficiently recycled within ecosystems so that irreversible losses of matter from topsoils are minimised. Matter losses are connected to water flow. The division of water into evapotranspiration that is loss-free, and seepage to groundwater or surface water flow that both carry material losses, is decisive in determining total losses of dissolved matter in a given catchment. Investigations of areal matter losses confirmed the instrumental role of vegetation cover.

Since 2004, we have witnessed an increased demand in the acquisition of agricultural property, both by individual farmers and entities not previously associated with agriculture. A significant increase in the transaction prices of agricultural real estate in recent years has been caused by the impact of limited agricultural land supply and external factors related to the functioning of Polish agriculture in the economy of the European Community. The value of agricultural real estate is affected by many factors that are taken into account when determining the value of real estate.

This 2011 report provides an economic overview of the Canadian agriculture and agri-food system.It is meant to be a multi-purpose reference document to provide:an introduction to the agriculture and agri-food system; a snapshot of structural changes that are occurring throughout the system in response to various factors; and background data and information to inform public discussions on challenges and opportunities facing the Canadian agriculture and agri-food system.

The unequal distribution of agricultural land is often cited as a source of inefficiency in agriculture. Previous cross-country studies of agricultural productivity differences, though, have not considered land inequality. This article addresses this issue by using cross-country data on inequality in operational holdings of agricultural land from Deininger and Squire (1998) . In an estimation of an agricultural production function, the Gini coefficient for land holdings is found to have a significant negative relationship with productivity.

In many European mountain regions, natural forest regrowth on abandoned agricultural land and the related consequences for the environment are issues of increasing concern. We developed a spatial statistical model based on multiple geophysical and socio-economic variables to investigate the pattern of natural forest regrowth in the Swiss mountain area between the 1980s and 1990s. Results show that forest regrowth occurred primarily in areas with low temperature sum, intermediate steepness and soil stoniness as well as close to forest edges and relatively close to roads.

The paper presents an application of the new version of the 'Decision Support for Irrigatedagriculture' DSIrr designed to integrate water and agricultural policy analysis and to supportparticipatory decision process. The tool is a scenario manager for bio-economic farm modelsconsidering climatic, agronomic, hydraulic, socio-economic and environmental aspects.

Temperate humid grazing lands are an important component of the landscape of the northeastern United States, as well as of the economy of this region. Unlike their European counterparts, little is known about the basic ecology of managed grasslands in this region. During an 8-year survey of 28 farms across the northeastern United States, we sampled the vegetation on 95 grazed plots, identifying 310 plant species, and collected data on topography, climate and soils.

Expected achievement of land consolidation depends on the priority given to the protection of water, soil and air quality which are the elements of rural environmental balance. Today, many of researches have carried out to determine the effects of land consolidation on the local hydrology and agricultural productivity.

Comparative analysis of U.S. and EU policies on the conservation of wildlife biodiversity.
Presented to USDA Economists Group, Washington, DC