In 2007, the U.S. food system accounted for almost 16 percent of the Nation’s energy budget. Between 1997 and 2002, over 80 percent of the increase in annual U.S. energy consumption was food related. Population growth, higher per capita food expenditures, and greater reliance on...

Achieving the U.S. goal to triple biofuel use by 2022 will depend on rapid expansion in cellulosic biofuels, and U.S. agriculture, as a leading source of the Nation’s biomass, will play a significant role in this expansion. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that the...

By applying the Coase theorem, this paper attempts to solve a conflict of land management between croppers producing maize on land and herders who breed cattle that needs land to graze on in the Adamawa region of Cameroon. The results indicate that, the herders commit maximum damage when their...

As part of a major effort to address soil fertility decline in West Africa, an integrated soil fertility management project promoted two technology packages: a combined application of inorganic fertilizer and manure (BNMS-manure) and a soybean/maize rotation practice (BNMS-rotation) in the...

After the launch of Brazilian program of biodiesel use and production (PNPB) in 2004, the oil seed production became an economic alternative for family farmers since they might have the chance to improve their income and supply the biodiesel enterprises with raw material. Theoretically speaking...

Gum arabic is mainly produced from two Acacias that are found in the gum belt of Sub-Saharan Africa. These are Acacia senegal that produces high quality gum and Acacia seyal that produces low quality gum. In recent years the gum market structure has changed and Sudan lost its near monopoly...

The management of natural resources is a challenging task owing to the complexity of the resources and the benefits they provide. Nowadays there is trend to transfer some management power to local communities driven by equality and sustainability assumptions. We studied two cases of local...

Certification schemes for forest products are understood by many as a way to promote sustainable resource use when it is impossible to rely on direct enforcement of process standards. Based on the concept of ‘Self-Enforcing Contracts’, this study develops a market model that simulates the...