00253 - Agricultural Economics and Policy,,

Learning outcomes

The course of Agricultural Economics and Policy deals with the following subjects: the economics of farming; agricultural development; the agro-food supply-chain; agricultural policies.

The target of the course is to give students:

• a theoretical basis to understand agriculture and related activities;
• the main operational tools for the economic analysis of farming and agro-food industry.

Course contents

1. Economics of Farming

- Factors of production in agriculture and their classification;

- The farm balance sheet and farm income indicators;

- Types of farms and land tenure systems;

2. Agricultural development

- The main steps of agricultural development in Europe;

- The crisis of agriculture in economic development;

- Agriculture and the new global challenges: resource scarcity and environmental risks;

3. The agro-food supply chain

- The agro-food industry and its role in the national economy;

- Structure of agricultural holdings and production of agricultural commodities;

- The food-processing industry and the retail system;

- The Italian agro-food trade balance;

- Italian agriculture within the European Union (EU) framework;

4. Agricultural policy

- The agricultural policies: main objectives and tools;

- Market measures;

- The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP):

• The CAP basics: main targets and operational tools;
• CAP evolution before and after the 1992 Reform;
• The CAP and the global agreements on agricultural trade;
• The de-coupling of agricultural market support and the Rural Development Policy;
• CAP towards 2020.

Readings/Bibliography

Teacher's notesdistributed during the lectures

Teaching methods

- lectures

- experts' seminars

Assessment methods

Oral Test

Teaching tools

- Slides

- Distribution of teacher'snotes during the lectures

-Didactic assistance through the internet Moodle Platform of the Faculty of Economics of Forlì

Office hours

See the website of Massimo Canali