Carbon labels providing information about the carbon footprints associated with food products might influence consumer purchases, which would have a differential effect on producers throughout global food chains. We first discuss why any labels work and then describe the mechanics of carbon...

Governments around the world are betting heavily on biofuels as one part of a solution to a wide range of public policy challenges, from environmental sustainability in the face of climate change, to energy security given rising geopolitical instability, to economic growth especially in rural...

The operations of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), a state trading enterprise, have generated controversy over the years, partly because of an alleged lack of transparency in its operations. This study examines one aspect of operations that is not well understood - the government guarantee of CWB...

Member nations of the World Trade Organization are permitted to develop regulations that might restrict trade if they do so for the purpose of protecting human, animal or plant life or health. The regulations, under both the Sanitary/Phytosanitary and Technical Barriers to Trade agreements, must...

The new banana import regime in the EU is a two-step process towards a tariff-only system that should enter into force no later than 1 January 2006. During the transitional period, 2001-2005, bananas will continue to be imported into the EU under a tariff-rate quota system. This paper provides...

This article examines trade and intellectual property rights questions associated with agricultural biotechnology in the Western Hemisphere and goes on to chart a potential course through which they could be addressed by an agreement on a Free Trade Area of the Americas. Issues pertaining to...

The WTO negotiations broke down on July 30th, 2008 because members could not bridge their differences over the operation of a Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM). This article evaluates the latest SSM proposal using the world wheat market as our case study. Whether low-income WTO members should be...

Without modification, the World Trade OrganizationÂ’s Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) will become the battleground for many complex agricultural trade disputes. There are two interrelated reasons for this. The first reason is that the agreement confers on...

Anger and optimism are coexisting themes related to the growing liberalization of international trade and the resultant transforming forces of globalization. While international trade and globalization offer the world community many benefits, there also appear to be negative consequences,...