Global Challenges for Future Food and Agricultural Policies

This book examines the current and future challenges facing the food and agricultural system and their implications for policymaking at the national and international level.

The growth in global population and income is expected to result in increasing demand for food and agricultural raw materials, intensifying concerns over food security and increasing pressure on the planet's natural resources. Moreover, climate change — a challenge on its own — is likely to increase the urgency for reforms in the food and agricultural sector. As a substantial contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, the sector will need to participate in efforts to slow global warming and to adjust to the effects of climate change, while ensuring global food security and resource sustainability. These pressures define a new set of priorities for policymaking at the national and international level. They also necessitate changes in the framework of global institutions for effective governance of the food system.

Global Challenges for Future Food and Agricultural Policies presents a comprehensive analysis of the inter-related policy challenges of food security, management of natural resources, climate change, and international governance. The book also offers valuable insights into options for effective policymaking with the goal of inducing positive policy changes to the food and agricultural sector.

Contents:

• Introduction (David Blandford and Katharine Hassapoyannes)
• Policies for Global Food Security (Jonathan Brooks and David Blandford)
• The International Role in Agricultural Development (David Abler)
• Research and Development (David Blandford)
• Intellectual Property and the Supply of New Technology to Agriculture (David Blandford)
• Industry Structure in Input Supply Industries for Agriculture (David Blandford)
• Meeting Future Food Needs in Sub-Saharan Africa*(David Blandford)*
• Policy Challenges in the Management of Natural Resources (David Blandford)
• Policy Options for Efficient Agricultural Land Management (JunJie Wu, Walid Oueslati and Man Li)
• The Agriculture–Water Policy Nexus (Ashish Tyagi and James Shortle)
• International Agreements on Global Resource Management (Katharine Hassapoyannes)
• Agriculture and Climate Change: National and International Policy Response (Katharine Hassapoyannes and David Blandford)
• Mitigation Challenges and Options in Agriculture (Katharine Hassapoyannes)
• Adapting to Climate Change in Agriculture: Challenges and Options (Robert Mendelsohn)
• Agricultural Risk Management and Climate Change: What Role for Policy? (Jesús Antón and Andrea Cattaneo)
• The Role of International Organizations in Agricultural Policy Analysis (Wilfrid Legg and David Blandford)
• Rational Economic Policy-making (David Blandford)
• Information, Communication, and Agricultural and Food Policies in an Age of Commercial Mass and Social Media (Jill McCluskey, Mara P Squicciarini and Johan Swinnen)
• Governance of the 'Big Five' International Organizations Concerned with Food Security and Nutrition (Uma Lele and Sambuddha Goswami)
• The Agricultural Policy Framework in the 21st Century — Endnote (David Blandford and Katharine Hassapoyannes)

Readership: Students and researchers who are interested in economic development, agricultural markets and food systems; and policymakers and professionals involved in monitoring and regulating agricultural and food markets.
Key Features:

• As a sequel to the 3-volume Handbook of International Food and Agricultural Policies, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of major challenges facing the global food and agricultural system and examines national and international policy options for addressing these challenges and their interlinkages
• Offers a comprehensive and integrated treatment of future policy options for effectively addressing the global challenges of food security, the sustainable use of natural resources, and climate change
• Promotes critical thinking by challenging fallacies and frequently misused concepts that can have important implications for effective policymaking