Markets

August 29, 2008August 29, 2008

Adding value to agriculture

DEFINITION: Agriculture, value added (% of GDP). Agriculture corresponds to ISIC divisions 1-5 and includes forestry, hunting, and fishing, as well as cultivation of crops and livestock production. Value added is the net output of a sector after adding up all outputs and subtracting intermediate inputs. It is calculated without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated assets or depletion and degradation of natural resources. The origin of value added is determined by the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC), revision 3.

Ok, that’s the World Bank definition of agricultural value added. So what country do you think will come top? You can get the answer, and lots of other agricultural data by country, at NationMaster. Or you can click below and see the map. Orange means high value added.

Continue reading “Adding value to agriculture”

August 28, 2008August 13, 2009

Nibbles: Poppies, Gardening, Milk, Grapes, Genebanks, Meat, Biotech, IK, Plant health

Dropping the poppy.
Gardening on windowsills and along roadsides.
Cooling camel milk. Via.
Fingerprinting grapes.
“The seed banks that are run by agribusiness corporations would be a costly pursuit for the government and farmers.” Where to start responding to this? Thanks, Jeff.
Further evidence of food price crisis.
“What does biodiversity mean to Syngenta?“
Traditional healer goes online. Via.
Videos from Global Plant Clinic.

August 21, 2008November 28, 2017

Nibbles: Honey, Records, Fowl, Fungi

GIS used to manage production and marketing of honey.
Silly season story number 1 and number 2.
Avian flu threatens Turkey’s HacÄ±kadÄ±n chickens.
Lybia has truffles? From the new NWFP-Newsletter((FAO’s link is broken.)).

August 8, 2008August 8, 2008

Rice ups and downs

The agricultural industry can seem pretty strange at times. Take rice, for example. There were two very contrasting stories on this crop in the news today. On the one hand, it is making a comeback in Romania, fueled by cheap land, labour and water. But on the other, acreage is plummeting in Korea. That’s due to changes in local consumption patterns and the move towards cash crops like ginseng. Given high world prices, one would have thought that Asian entrepreneurs would be jumping at the chance to supply the European market. But of course, some Asian countries have put in place export bans.

August 5, 2008August 5, 2008

Nibbles: Economics, Agricultural origins, Slow Food, Pollinators, India

An economist designs a sustainable agricultural system. Good news: it includes genebanks, if only as an additional thought.
Peruvian rock art marks transition between hunting/gathering and agriculture.
A food garden on the White House lawn? Via Slow Food Nation, get your tickets quick. And follow the blog. Thanks, Colinski, and have a good time there.
“The total economic value of pollination worldwide amounted to â‚¬153 billion, which represented 9.5% of the value of the world agricultural production used for human food in 2005.”
“I want the farmers to get the message that what we are doing, what they will be doing when they embrace natural farming, is revolutionary.”