Both policy and market forces are causing unprecedented changes in agricultural structure and management in both the United States and in Europe. These changes will have profound impacts on the role of universities and extension services who provide information and education to farmers. This...

The U.S. pork sector is evolving from an industry of small, independent firms vertically linked by spot markets to one of substantially larger firms vertically connected through contractual agreements and integration. Potential benefits to this tighter vertical arrangement include lower consumer...

The purpose of the present work is to analyse the economic performance and financial standing of a group of farms during the 2002- 2005 period, thus providing an opportunity to evaluate ex-post the effects of the new common agricultural policy orientations. The twenty agricultural enterprises...

Coppice management of forests in Tuscany, and particularly in the province of Florence, has had a chequered history, which has set the stage for the present problems of forestry policy. In Italy, the period between 1955 and 1975 saw a marked reduction in use of firewood in the home and its...

The final objective of government intervention is the attainment of the 'common good' for society as a whole. Government are supposed to intervene in market economies mainly in order to offset market failures. However governments themselves often fail to maximise the common good, especially when...

After a short presentation of EU and Italian antitrust legislation, this paper examines two recent cases of intervention by the Italian Antitrust Authority (IAA) in the agricultural sector, both dealing with high quality food products requiring a long aging process: two similar kinds of cheese...

The EU policy in horticulture has switched its aim from price support to integration of farmers' income. Regulation 2200/96 established the new European Market Regulation (CMO) in horticulture. On this base the producers' organizations (PO) are no longer a political institution but a real...