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Environmental efficiency and methane abatement costs of dairy farms from Minas Gerais, Brazil

Increasing dairy farm productivity while simultaneously mitigating greenhouse gases emissions is a common policy goal in many countries. In this paper, we assess trade-offs and synergies between these goals for pasture-based dairy farms in Brazil. We …

Technical Efficiency and Farmland Expansion: Evidence from Oil Palm Smallholders in Indonesia

This study investigates the rebound effect in agriculture resulting from increased technical efficiency. In a palm oil smallholder case study, we find that although net land savings prevail as a result of increased technical efficiency, expected land savings are offset by about half due to farmland expansion.

The effect of cognitive function on the poor's economic performance: Evidence from Cambodian smallholder farmers

We ask whether the level of cognitive function can help to explain the differences in economic performance of the poor. Our findings suggest that impeded cognitive function results in a negative economic performance feedback loop, which can be a reason why some farmers appear to be stuck in poverty while others manage to escape it.

The Effect of Variable EU Import Levies on Corn Price Volatility

Here we investigate the effects of the variable corn import levy of the EU on domestic and foreign price volatility. We find that the variable import levy reduced corn price volatility in the EU market, while significantly increasing volatility to the same extent in Argentina.

svars: An R Package for Data-Driven Identification in Multivariate Time Series Analysis

We present the R package svars which implements statistical identification techniques for Structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) models. The package offers both heteroskedasticity based and independence based techniques. Moreover, it includes a rich variety of analysis tools that are well known in the SVAR literature.

The threat of oil market turmoils to food price stability in Sub-Saharan Africa

In this paper we use structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) models to investigate the impacts of global oil market shocks on local corn prices in several SSA countries. Our key findings are that unlike US or global corn markets, African corn markets are much less sensitive to the impacts of oil-specific demand shocks, instead, disruptions in global oil supply can lead to an increase in food prices in several markets.