The World Development Report 2008 was a call for better use to be made of agriculture for development. The urgency of the call has been enhanced by the food crisis. Will governments and international development agencies hear the call and stop turning their backs on agriculture? What will it...

This comment to the article by de Janvry and Sadoulet focuses on the actions needed to make agricultural systems more environmentally sustainable. The Author highlights three global trends that will drive the relationship between agriculture and the environment in the coming decades: the climate...

This comment to the article by de Janvry and Sadoulet highlights the prospects for developing and least developed countries in world food markets. The Author puts the recent agricultural price developments in perspective and suggests what trade policies ought to be implemented to enhance...

This comment to the article by de Janvry and Sadoulet deals with scientific and technological development in agriculture. The Author makes suggestions in two major areas: a) the extent and continuing relevance of dualism in developing countries; b) the uneven distribution of power conditioning...

This paper examines the role of social agriculture in disseminating the culture of legality in agricultural areas fallen prey to organized crime. It also investigates the relations between corruption and crime, underlining their negative effects on the economic growth of areas, as well as their...

This paper proposes a classification of Italian farms based on their economic di-mension, taking into account as far as possible both the complex and heterogeneous features of the Italian primary sector and the importance of identifying the more pro-fessional farms. Farm typologies are...

Little over a year since the death of Secondo (‘Dino’) Tarditi, the Economics Faculty of the University of Siena organized an international conference,“La liberalizzazione del commercio internazionale e le politiche dell’Unione Europea per l'agricoltura e i consumatori” (Liberalizing...

This paper deals with the policy and regulatory options currently adopted for managing the main issues raised by the recent large diffusion of the genetically modified crops. A first aim is to analyse in depth which are these policy options and which is the rationale behind them. Though many...

The aim of this article is to outline the main effects of the 1978 agricultural reform and the consequent shift from collective land utilization to family household management (Household Responsibility System). Specific focus will be on the structural changes occurring in rural areas and on the...

The aim of this article is to outline the main effects of the 1978 agricultural reform and the consequent shift from collective land utilization to family household management (Household Responsibility System). Specific focus will be on the structural changes occurring in rural areas and on the...