Publications > Cahiers (English)> N° 49, 4th term 1998

• Effects of nitrogen input and nitrogen surplus taxes in Dutch agriculture, J. HELMING   texte au format PDF
• [Rethinking crop risk management through insurance], O. MAHUL texte au format PDF
• Use of income, and financial behaviour in agricultural firms. An empirical analysis,
  S. RASMUSSEN
• Consequences for the single market of the implementation of special VAT regimes for agriculture in the European Union, J.-A. GÓMEZ-LIMÓN, J. BERBEL

COMPTES RENDUS DE LECTURE

G. JÉGOUZO, J.-L. BRANGEON et B. ROZE, Richesse et pauvreté en agriculture, par
P. Perrier-Cornet ; F. WEBER, L'honneur des jardiniers. Les potagers dans la France du XXe siècle, par A. Jacobsohn ; B. von HIRSCHHAUSEN, Les nouvelles campagnes roumaines. Paradoxes d'un "retour" paysan, par A. Pouliquen

Effects of nitrogen input and nitrogen surplus taxes in Dutch agriculture

John HELMING (Agricultural Economics Research Institute (LEI-DLO), Burgemeester Patijnlaan 19, P.O. Box 29703, NL-2502 LS The Hague, The Netherlands. e-mail : j.f.m.helming@lei.dlo.nl )

In : Cahiers d'Economie et Sociologie Rurale, n° 49, 1998, pp 5-31

Summary - In this paper a partial equilibrium, regionalised, comparative static, mathematical programming model of the Dutch agricultural sector is developed to analyse the effects of taxes on nitrogen input use and nitrogen surpluses in Dutch agriculture. The focus of this paper is on effects of taxes on nitrogen surpluses at the soil level, gross margin from agriculture, land use and livestock composition. Strong and weak points of the model are discussed. Strong points are its consistency at regional, national and sector level and the possibility to model manure flows and markets for intermediates in detail. Weak points are the level of aggregation and the restricted number of substitution possibilities at the activity level. As a result elasticities of input demand are quite low.
Environmental policies effect different components of the Dutch agricultural sector simultaneously. Therefore the effects of nitrogen input and nitrogen surplus taxes on environmental targets are very uncertain.

Key-words : feed concentrates, mineral fertilisers, nitrogen surpluses, markets, sector.

Vers une redéfinition du rôle de l'assurance agricole dans la gestion des risques sur récoltes
[Rethinking crop risk management through insurance]

Olivier MAHUL (INRA, Station d’économie et sociologie rurales, rue Adolphe Bobierre, CS 61103, 35011 Rennes cedex. e-mail : mahul@roazhon.inra.fr )

In : Cahiers d'Economie et Sociologie Rurale, n° 49, 1998, pp 33-58

Summary - Farmers make their production decisions in an environment characterized by multiple uncertainty. Protective activities do not always provide an efficient protection against weather-related causes of loss. Agricultural revenues are all the more exposed to uncertain losses as the specialization of agricultural production has reduced the opportunities of risk pooling. Insurance contributes to transferring these risks through individuals who are best to bear them. Nevertheless, historical experience strongly suggests that markets for crop insurance would fail without government financial support, which is either direct by creating an indemnification fund for agricultural disasters like in France or indirect by reinsuring private companies like in the United States. In recent years, numerous studies have showed that informational asymmetries and systemic risk are the main obstacles to the development of an independent crop insurance industry. In addition, the emergence of new sources of risks, like output price uncertainty, may contribute to increasing the variability of agricultural revenues.
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, alternative crop insurance programs in which the indemnity payments are based on variables exogenous to the individual farm and are observable by both parties are explored. These schemes allow the insurers to essentially eliminate asymmetric information problems. Nevertheless, the absence of risk pooling among insurance companies caused by the systemic component of agricultural risks leaves open the possibility that financial markets develop new hedging tools for insurance industry. Second, since governments lower funding for price support programs, the efficiency of crop insurance schemes to stabilize crop revenues lowers. Therefore, the role of revenue insurance as an efficient tool to protect farmers against reductions in gross income from insurable reductions in yield and/or price is examined.
Since the French indemnification program against agricultural disasters turns out to be less and less efficient in this changing economic environment, a new definition of the insurance market’s role and the active participation of the financial market should improve the management of agricultural risks.

Key-words : agricultural disasters, crop insurance, incomplete markets, market failure, systemic risk.

Use of income, and financial behaviour in agricultural firms. An empirical analysis

Svend RASMUSSEN (Department of Economics and Natural Resources, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, KVL, Rolighedsvej 23, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen, Denmark. e-mail: Svend.Rasmussen@flec.kvl.dk )

In : Cahiers d'Economie et Sociologie Rurale, n° 49, 1998, pp 59-84

Summary - This paper analyses financial behaviour in Danish agriculture during the period 1980-1993. The main objective has been to empirically analyse how changes in income and credit reserves have influenced financial decisions. Hypotheses were established based on the theoretical work by Barry, Baker and Sanint. An econometric model based on panel data (farm accounts) was estimated. The results show that private consumption, repayment of loans, and investments in financial assets and real assets change as expected when equity and income change. The changes take place both within the same year and the following year.

Key-words : econometric model, income changes, liquidity, equity, credit reserves, investment, consumption.

Consequences for the single market of the implementation of special VAT regimes for agriculture in the European Union

José A. GÓMEZ-LIMÓN*, Julio BERBEL ** (* Department of Agricultural Economics, ETSIIAA, University of Valladolid, Avda. de Madrid, 57, 34071 PALENCIA (Spain). e-mail: limon@iaf.uva.es ** Department of Agricultural Economics, ETSIAM, University of Cordoba, P.O. Box 3048,
14080 CORDOBA (Spain). e-mail: berbel@uco.es )

In : Cahiers d'Economie et Sociologie Rurale, n° 49, 1998, pp 85-108

Summary - The application of VAT to agriculture varies in the member countries of the European Union (EU). Most countries accept a special regime for small and medium-sized holdings in the agricultural sector in order to avoid the burden of record-keeping involved in VAT administration. The present paper analyses the VAT Special Regimes for Agriculture of EU members and proposes an indicator to compare the degree of neutrality of VAT regimes between EU Member States, from both national farm level and farm typology level points of view. Our conclusions are that there are significant differences in tax pressure between countries, with the result that in some of them agricultural producers are taxed in excess, while others are subsidized by the implementation of the agricultural VAT regime. A serious effort should be made to harmonize members’ tax policies in order to allow fairer competition throughout the European Single Market.

Key-words : VAT, fiscal policy, single market, agricultural markets.