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THE UC/AIC QUARTERLY
THE NEWSLETTER OF THE UC AGRICULTURAL
ISSUES CENTER |
VOLUME 11. NO. 3. 1997 |
HAROLD O. CARTER RECEIVES
TOP COLLEGE AWARD
Harold O. Carter, recently retired founding director of the Center,
has been given the 1997 Award of Distinction, the highest recognition
granted by the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
to those whose contributions have advanced the mission and enhanced
the image of the College. He is one of 11 recipients from industry,
agriculture and research institutions, including UC.
The awards were presented October 17, during the College's annual
Fall celebration and award ceremony. Carter, now professor emeritus
in the UCD Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, was
honored for, among other achievements, a landmark study of world hunger
and food supply, contributions to economic programs in Egypt, and
development of the Agricultural Issues Center as "a forum where crucial
trends and policy issues affecting agriculture and natural resources
in California and the West are analyzed."
INTRODUCING NEW AIC ASSOCIATE DIRECTORS
As indicated in the last AIC Quarterly, the Center has created
program areas, each led by an Associate Director. The background and
expertise of the fifth new AIC Associate Director is described below.
Jerry Siebert
Agribusiness Issues
Jerry Siebert is an economist in the Department of Agricultural and
Resource Economics, University of California, Berkeley. Prior to this
assignment, he was Director of U.C. Cooperative Extension. In addition
to his academic experience, he has held positions in both business and
government. In the latter assignments, he was special assistant to four
U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture. He also has a farming background on
a family farm in Madera, California.
His work centers on research and education involving the impacts
on California agriculture of changes in public policies affecting
production and marketing of California agricultural commodities. In
particular, he analyzes the use of market mechanisms to evaluate the
potential economic effects of changes in public policy. His current
focus is the role of technology in California agriculture and changes
needed in industry and research institutions to facilitate the development
and application of agricultural biotechnology. He is also an active
participant in a Russian project to facilitate the transfer of technology
in a market economy.
In addition to his work at the University of California, he is an
"ex-officio" member of the California State Consolidated Farm Services
Committee, a public member on the California Walnut Commission and
chairman of the Walnut Marketing Board, president of the San Francisco
Farmers Club, and a member of the Board of Directors of the International
Agribusiness Management Association.
AIC RURAL/URBAN PROGRAM
BY AL SOKOLOW
In each of the next issues, the AIC Quarterly will introduce
the new AIC program areas.
Interactions between California agriculture and the larger society,
particularly the urban populations and communities of the state, are
the focus of this AIC program. Up to now, we have concentrated largely
on the impacts of rapid urban growth on farmland---emphasizing farmland
preservation and other land use policies as they are established and
carried out by California's state and local governments. Looking ahead,
we would like to stretch the boundaries of this program area to include
other types of interactions critical to the future health of California
agriculture. We are looking for challenging issues that call for new
research or new syntheses of existing data and knowledge, that have
state and local public policy dimensions, and that can generate useful
educational outcomes in publications, conferences and other forms. Readers
of the AIC Quarterly with ideas along these lines are invited
to contact me. (Phone: 916-752-0979. E-mail: ajsokolow@ucdavis.edu)
What have we done so far, and what are the projects in the pipeline
or planned for the near future?
The origins of this program go back to two projects carried out
by AIC in the late 1980s, a study of the Williamson Act commissioned
by state government and the Central Valley Confluence of Change
project. The Williamson Act study had a positive although unanticipated
effect on policy when, late in the 1993 deliberations on the state
budget, the subvention to local governments for property tax losses
was doubled and the formula for allocating the payments was revised
to pay less for parcels close to cities---both recommendations of
the 1989 study. The two-year Confluence of Change project culminated
in two large conferences in Sacramento and Fresno in 1990, produced
several reports and videos, and brought together more than 60 UC researchers
in a comprehensive review of the implications of population growth
on the Central Valley's agricultural and other resources, residents,
and local governments. Much of my outreach work as a Cooperative Extension
specialist has followed in the footsteps of that 1989-90 project.
More recently, AIC held two conferences on farm-urban "edge" issues.
They were (1) Farmers and Neighbors (October, 1995) that primarily
examined pesticide application controversies, and (2) California's
Future: Maintaining Viable Agriculture at the Urban Edge (December,
1996) that covered a large set of edge concerns. The published proceedings
of both conferences are available from the Center, as is the widely-used
Farmers and Neighbors video.
An ongoing feature of our program area is the research report series
on California Farmland and Open Space Policy. Three reports in the
series have been published so far: studies of (1) preservation programs
in four North Bay counties, (2) farmland provisions in county general
plans in the Central Valley, and (3) municipal density patterns and
policies in the Central Valley as related to farmland protection.
Currently under preparation are two candidate reports for the series---a
study of the effects of Measure A (restricting new urban growth to
cities) in Solano County and a comparison of farmland protection policies
and their political roots in seven Central Valley counties.
Scheduled for publication early next year is a book-length collection
of articles, California Farmland and Urban Pressures: Statewide
and Regional Perspectives, that has been peer-reviewed. The approximately
ten pieces in this collection include statewide studies of population
and farmland trends, dimensions of the edge problem, state policy,
California agricultural history, and the experience of local land
trusts. Also included are case studies of farmland preservation problems
and programs in Marin, Napa and Ventura counties and the San Joaquin
and Sacramento valleys.
As to possible future activities, we are considering a project on
generational change in California farm families that would integrate
research from several different disciplines---agricultural economics,
sociology, anthropology, and law. The issue has implications for agricultural
industry and farmland preservation as well as individual families,
since shifts from one generation to the next in the ownership and
management of farms often provide the impetus for selling farmland
for development purposes. I welcome comments about this possible project.
AIC INTERNATIONAL TRADE PROGRAM
BY COLIN CARTER
International trade has long been important to California agriculture
and that importance is growing. Recent domestic and international policy
and market developments have created both new opportunities and new
challenges for California agriculture. AIC Issues Brief Number Three
documents the importance of trade to California agriculture and raises
a number of trade issues facing the industry. The AIC program related
to international trade cannot deal with all of the topics raised in
the Brief, but we have plans to research some of the issues identified.
A substantial focus of the AIC's upcoming international efforts
will deal with the Pacific Rim. For instance, we will be looking at
the growing agricultural markets of Korea and Japan and investigating
how trade policy changes in those countries will affect demand for
California's imports. We are also studying the growing potential of
competition from mainland China crowding out California exports to
Asia. We will study factors affecting trade in high-valued processed
food versus trade in bulk commodities.
The international trade program at the Center is also devoting effort
toward better understanding of state trading enterprises (STEs). These
government organizations established to monopolize foreign trade play
an important role in global agricultural trade. STEs are expected
to come under increased scrutiny under the new World Trade Organization.
AIC's work on STEs will investigate their role in Australia, Canada,
and China. We will investigate both domestic and international market
impacts.
Finally, applied research must begin with reliable data and trade
statistics, which are notably problematic, especially at the state
level. A brief article on page 5 mentions a new project initiated
by the AIC and designed to improve the quality of published data on
state agricultural exports. This work has a very practical objective
of allowing states to more accurately gauge the value and destination
of exports. It will also improve the AIC's program on trade by developing
a set of state-level trade data for California.
EXECUTIVE SEMINAR SCHEDULED FOR DECEMBER 11
The AIC will co-sponsor an Executive Seminar on Agribusiness Issues
at the Sacramento Hyatt on December 11, 1997. The theme of the seminar
will be: "Where in the World are the Markets for California Agriculture?"
Registration for the seminar will be $110. To receive registration materials,
call AIC at 916-752-2320. Registration is limited to 150 participants.
NEW CENTER PUBLICATION SPOTLIGHTS STATE'S FOREIGN AGRICULTURAL
MARKETS
With international trade increasingly important to California agriculture,
AIC Issues Brief Number Three examines the role of international
trade in the economic progress of California agriculture.
California is the largest agricultural exporter in the U.S. Exports
are crucial to the state farm economy---one-fourth of all agricultural
commodities produced here are shipped abroad, a volume of trade greater
than that of such major agricultural nations as Australia and Canada.
In the Pacific Rim, particularly, international market trends will
be a crucial factor in the future of California agriculture.
Meanwhile, the world's food and farm product markets are being re-shaped
by income growth in third-world nations, trends toward reduced trade
barriers, and globalized economic enterprises. All these create opportunities
and challenges for California's agricultural industry.
The new Center publication is International Trade and California
Agriculture, AIC Issues Brief Number Three, by Colin A. Carter
and Daniel A. Sumner. It integrates statistics from several sources
to identify California's most important agricultural exports, their
relation to domestic markets, and recent growth rates. The authors
then analyze trends in the most important foreign markets for California
farm products: Japan, Canada, the European Union, South Korea, Hong
Kong and China, and Mexico.
Carter and Sumner are professors in the UCD Department of Agricultural
and Resouce Economics. Carter is an associate director of the Center,
and Sumner is director.
Those on the mailing list for this newsletter will receive a copy
of International Trade and California Agriculture. Additional copies
are available from the Center. Also available are the first two in
the AIC Issues Brief series: Economic Impacts of Irrigation Water
Cuts in the Sacramento Valley and A Measure of Subsidy to California
Agriculture.
EXPORT DATA PROJECT TEAMS AIC AND CDFA
In recent years California state agricultural export statistics have
been reported based upon several different methodologies. At the request
of CDFA's Secretary Ann Veneman, the Center is initiating a new project
to investigate, review and develop a consistent methodology and approach.
The research will:
- Survey appropriate uses of state export statistics by government
and the private sector.
- Review current and potential ways of reporting export statistics
by community and location.
- Develop the most accurate and appropriate measurement for values
of the state agricultural exports.
With the participation of agriculture departments in other states, the
project will be conducted jointly with research counterparts at several
land grant universities. Thus, while the analysis here focuses on California,
the project will be national in scope.
We anticipate a preliminary set of results and a proposed methodology
by mid-1998. We also hope to produce a prototype set of California
export statistics by the summer of 1998.
FUND-RAISING UPDATE
BY RICK SWANTZ, A&ES DEAN'S OFFICE COLLEGE RELATIONS
In our last issue it was announced that Hal and Carol Sconyers had
named the Harold O. Carter Endowment as one beneficiary of a charitable
trust they established to be shared equally by four UC Davis campus
programs. Their gift to the Endowment is valued at $147,500 and is a
tremendous kick-off for our fund-raising effort.
Co-chairs and steering committee members are being recruited for
the fund-raising campaign and the candidates are demonstrating 100%
willingness to serve. Plans to honor Hal Carter and officially launch
our campaign are in their early stages.
More good news on the fund-raising front: the Dean's Office was
contacted earlier this summer by a representative of the State Attorney
General's office, asking whether the college has visible programs
that provide maximum benefit to agriculture in California. The AG's
office has received money from a settlement to be awarded to programs
benefiting agriculture. It was suggested to them that support of the
Center's programs through the Harold O. Carter Endowment would have
substantial long range benefits for California agriculture and California
residents. All indications are that $20,000 is on the way!
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