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In 1890 congressional legislation opened a new chapter in the history of higher education by allocating public support for black Land-Grant colleges and universities.These institutions were established to provide training to blacks in the fields of agriculture, home economics, the mechanical arts, and other useful professions. For a century, these schools have assumed and continue to maintain a unique and important role in affording educational opportunities for thousands of students to whom no other doors would have been opened. A Century of Service is both a history and a celebration of these Land-Grant schools. The work also provides a presentation of views on how their original mission can best be adapted to the challenges of the future. The 1890 Land-Grant institutions are a legacy of what can be accomplished with little more than a determined, tenacious commitment to survive and excel. In spite of unequal financial support, they have succeeded in establishing and building quality resident academic and extension programs on a par with those of other colleges and universities not suffering the same economic limitations. As demonstrated throughout this volume, the 1890 institutions have amassed an impressive record of achievement in the areas of agricultural research, cooperative extension, development of rural communities' support systems, human resources development, resident instruction, international development, and technology and information transfer. In assessing the current state of the schools and looking to the future, the authors seek ways of building upon their strengths and traditions and explore alternative institutional designs to enhance the status and opportunities for African American agricultural scientists and professionals under quite new circumstances. A Century of Service will be of interest to social historians, black studies specialists, agricultural scientists, and educators.

The free market-based policies of the corporate community model have skewed economic development across the South. For many small, rural communities, the consequences of global capitalism have resulted in declining real wages, high underemployment, and increasing rates of income inequality. Backed by recent scholarship and grassroots movements that suggest that both civic engagement and the presence of smaller-scale, locally controlled enterprises can help determine whether communities prosper or decline, this paper explores the links between social structure and rural development in the South. The goal is to expand our understanding of civic community theory as an alternative to the neoclassical economic model of development. Using a local problem-solving framework, we suggest that a departure from the traditional, neoclassical path of development is in order. We conclude that rural policy makers must establish a role for civic community in the rural development process if they wish to protect the welfare of workers and communities, while increasing the prospects of economic growth with prosperity.

In an effort to promote agro-enterprises and agro-industries as viable forms of inclusive development, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and The Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD) in collaboration with the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE), organized an international symposium on the topic “Innovative Institutions, Public Policies, and Private Strategies for Inclusive Agro-Enterprise Development”, as part of the Triennial Meetings of the IAAE held in Foz do lguacu, Brazil, in August 2012. This book contains the major papers presented at the symposium, which feature a wide range of country and regional experiences and examine the influence of markets and technology transfer to agro-enterprises on food security, poverty, and economic growth. The contributions also identify alternative market access strategies for sustainable economic development. This volume will enrich existing knowledge of agro-enterprises as a channel for promoting inclusive growth and reducing poverty levels across developing and emerging markets. Contents: Preface About the Editors About the Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction Institutional Innovations Linking Small-Scale Farmers to Produce Markets in South Africa (Joyce M Chitja and Edward Mabaya) Innovative Business Models in the Thai Horticultural Sector: A Panel Data Analysis of the Impacts of GlobalGAP Certification (Sarah Holzapfel and Meike Wollni) Innovative Networks in Conservation Agriculture: Bajio Hub Case Study, Mexico (Gabriela Monsalvo-Velazquez, Ricardo Romero-Perezgrovas, Bram Govaerts and Roberto Rendon-Medel) Geography Matters: Evidence and Implications of Spatial Selection in Contract Farming Schemes in Southern India (Sudha Narayanan) Capabilities and Performance in Collective Marketing: The Importance of Learning to Cope with Agency Dillemas (Giel Ton, Lithzy Flores, Ruben Monasterios and Evaristo Yana) Social Innovation, Entrepreneurship and New Green Jobs: Successful Experiences in Mexico (Artemisa Montes Sylvan) Sweet Sorghum: A Smart Crop to Meet the Demands for Food, Fodder, Fuel and Feed (G Basavaraj, P Parthasarathy Rao, C Ravinder Reddy, A Ashok Kumar, S Datta Mazumdar, Y Ramana Reddy, P Srinivasa Rao, S M Karuppan Chetty and Belum V S Reddy) Promoting Food Processing Through Food Parks and Food Processing Special Economic Zones: The Indian Experience (Aradhna Aggarwal) Autonomy, Competence and Market Structure: Self-Determination Theory Applied to Small Agricultural Exporters from Latin America (Linda M Young and Theresa C Bushman) Promoting Agro-Enterprises in the Highlands of Ethiopia Through Improved Institutional Support Services: Experiences of Market-Oriented Dairy and Fattening Development (Berhanu Gebremedhin, Dirk Hoekstra and Azage Tegegne) The Role of Government in Ensuring a Level Playing Field: The Case of South Africa's Competition Commission and the Maize Milling Industry (Lulama Ndibongo Traub) The Quiet Revolution in Agri-Food Value Chains in Asia: Understanding the Fast Emergence of Cold Storages in Poor Districts in India (Bart Minten, Thomas Reardon, K M Singh and Rajib Sutradhar) Readership: Students of development studies, agribusiness practitioners, agricultural economists, food policymakers, and practitioners interested in finding out more about agribusiness and agri-industries across developing and emerging markets.

The following sections are included:Agribusiness Strategies in Emerging Economies: Forces and OutcomesDistributional effects of contracts in emerging economies: Lessons from AfricaDistributional effects of joint venturesDistributional impacts of foreign direct investmentNegotiating an enabling environment: The role of the public sectorPrivate sector initiatives in emerging marketsConclusionsReferences

The political-economic question of this century, in my opinion, is: What is the appropriate balance between government and markets in achieving desired economic objectives? This question is the underlying theme from which many historical transformations have unfolded, especially during the past two decades. Interestingly, those recent transformations-all sharing a common trend from centralized authority to decentralized decision making, from government-based to marketbased decision making-have occurred without conquering armies and without colonial power interventions. Instead, this transformation is largely attributed to the power of, and demand for, "individual choice," in both political and economic arenas, in determining the direction of economic development. This phenomenon has been almost universal. Though Cuba and North Korea stand as notable exceptions, the Soviet Union has disintegrated, elections were held in South Africa, and we now stand poised to observe free-market Hong Kong reunited with the conditionally free-market China. While the drive for more market oriented economic systems has reached its fullest manifestation during the late twentieth century, this trend clearly does not present a new economic question in world history (nor in the history of economic thought). In 600 B.C., Anacharsis of Scythia defined a market as a "place set apart where men may deceive one another." In nineteenth century England, the Corn Laws were established to protect farmers from market forces associated with the industrial revolution. Since the end of World War II, the question of the relative virtues of markets and governments has been at the core of the debates of Milton Friedman's popular Free to Choose and John K. Galbraith's Age of Uncertainty. And with the shutdown of the U.S. government in December 1995, and again in January of th s year, a current example of this central question was dramatically played out in our own political arena.

A descriptive analysis and a survey of literature were used in this assessment of the transformation of the structure of production agriculture. The changes in production agriculture have important implications for resource use, population distribution in rural communities, and the survival of small farms. The shifting structural change in production agriculture as a response to economic and technological adjustments is not a temporary phenomenon. The economic and natural base of agriculture will change toward greater capital intensity and concentration of ownership, and will raise public policy questions in relation to the survival of a large farm population.

Structural changes in U.S. agriculture, influenced by technological and institutional forces, have altered the economic and social characteristics of rural America, especially that segment of rural America populated by farmers and their families. Changes in the structure of agriculture have greater implications for small scale farmers, many of whom are African American, in that strategic options for their farm-firms are constrained to: increasing their farm size, exiting farming, and obtaining off-farm employment to survive. This article presents a rationale for public support of limited resource farmers, identifies structural trends in U.S. agriculture and their impacts on African American farmers, discusses economic problems unique to these farmers, and recommends needs for specific public policies and development programs.

How Can Financial Markets and Biotechnology Help the Rural Poor? (R D Christy et al.) Financial Markets and the Poor: Financial Development and Growth: What Role Can Foreign Capital Play? (E Prasad) The Securitization of Microloans (V Bogan) A Vision for Scaling Microfinance: More than Dollars and Smarts (D Burand) Innovations in Index Insurance for the Poor in Low-Income Countries (J Skees) Biotechnology and the Poor: Overcoming Poverty Through Improved Agricultural Technology (R W Herdt) Agricultural Biotechnology in Latin America: Economic Benefits, Regional Capacity, and Policy Options (G Traxler) Biotechnology, Agriculture, and Food Security in Southern Africa: Strategic Policy Challenges and Opportunities (S W Omamo & K von Grebmer) Developing Country Options under TRIPS: Choices to Maximize Biotech Transfer (W Lesser & D Kolady) Foreign Direct Investment: What Matters to African Firms? The Relevance of Perceptions Data (A Gelb et al.) Making the Most out of FDI in Africa (N L W Wilson & M Diarrasouba).

Economic theory and historical evidence indicate that economic development is a process that transforms agrarian economies into urban, industrial-service, higher income based economies (Lewis). This transformation has taken place in the United States, beginning roughly at the turn of the century and accelerating during the post World War II period. During the last five decades, the farm sector, once the largest economic sector in the United States, has become one of the smallest, accounting for approximately 2% of the GNP, losing 5.4 million workers and declining in net farm income by $45 million (1982 dollars) [Council of Economic Advisers 1987 and 1990; Thurow]. This transformation frees up labor and helps provide capital for industrial and manufacturing sectors of the economy. However, such rapid development also carries economic and social costs, which the nation continues to pay. The agrarian transformation resulted in the outmigration of millions of Americans from the farm to urban and nonfarm rural areas. African

ables suggested by the theory. Stepwise procedures, A credit scoring function incorporating statistical for instance, have been used for variable selection selection criteria was proposed to evaluate the credit in bankruptcy prediction. These procedures, howworthiness of agricultural cooperative loans in the ever, examine variables in a sequence usually deterFifth Farm Credit District. In-sample (1981-1986) mined by the data. The purpose of this study is to and out-of-sample (1988) prediction performance introduce a procedure that supplements previous of the selected models were evaluated using rank studies by giving further consideration to the specitransformation discriminant analysis, logit, and fication of a statistical model within a management probit. Results indicate superior out-of-sample per- oriented framework and the evaluation of predictive formance for the management oriented approach performance of that model. Four specific objectives relative to classification of unacceptable loans, and were associated with the classification and predicpoor performance of the rank transformation in out- tion of agricultural cooperatives into two groups of-sample prediction. (acceptable and unacceptable) according to the performance criteria provided by the Bank for Coopera

This article uses a uniquely rich project-level data set to analyze determinants and trends of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to the Southern African Development Community region. We control for the source of the investment, the sector in which the investment is undertaken, and the investment type in addition to project size. The results indicate market size to have a positive impact on FDI flows under all specifications—a result consistent with earlier studies. Other variables are unstable depending on specification and the subset of the data used. Furthermore, we find no significant differences in factors that drive FDI flows by source country, while greenfield investments are seen to respond more to the growth potential of the market relative to other forms of investment. In general, we find macroeconomic variables to be poor at explaining project-level FDI in the region. The descriptive analysis of the data points us more in the direction of the gravity model, with factors such as colonial ties and proximity of the investing country appearing to matter. Limited flows and minimal sectoral diversity call for enhanced investment promotion and collaborative efforts among member states.

tifying and finding solutions to the problems they face.' Much of this effort has focused on identifying enterprises that are profitable on a small scale; that is, enterprises which require little land and capital but provide a high return to the producer. These alternative crops include new and improved varieties of traditional cash crops and other nontraditional enterprises, such as fruits and vegetables, herbs and spices, ornamentals and specialty animals (French, Whatley). The success of fruit and vegetable producers in California, Florida, Texas, and Arizona has triggered discussions as to whether other areas in the United States, particularly the southern states, could compete with these major producing states (Capps, Babb and Long). Coupled with this push for diversification is the belief that LRFs may benefit from alternative enterprises because they suffer adversely from price fluctuations and low net returns from production of traditional crops. Colette and Wall allude to the high income potentials of vegetables but argue that these crops tend to be very risky enterprises and that LRFs usually have insufficient cash reserves to carry them over a bad year. Efforts have also been directed toward the marketing problems facing LRFs (Christy, Dagher, McLean-Meyinsse). While much attention has been given to alternative enterprises, a full understanding of the marketing system, including market risks, strategies, and alternative market outlets, requires more attention by producers, policy makers, and our profession. Most farmers allocate more time, energy, and resources to production than to marketing. Limited-resource farmers, in general, have not invested the resources required to identify and use viable marketing plans and strategies that can exploit the full potential gains these markets offer sellers of agricultural products. In some cases, LRFs have identified marketing niches and developed innovative marketing strategies (Wysong and Handwerker). The strategic behavior exhibited by small farmers has profit performance implications, such as (a) providing the consumer with high quality, usually fresh products, and (b) gaining the net margins that accrue from performing specific marketing services or functions.

Microenterprise programs (MEPs) have become an important research concern and rural development strategy in international development circles. The basic premise of this approach is that microenterprises , that is firms with fewer than 10 employees, can be provided with a series of small loans that allow them to start or expand productive activities and thereby increase incomes and escape poverty. Governments and donor agencies have expanded funding for microfinance programs in low-income countries and more articles appear in the Western media about the success of this new approach in assisting the poor.

This address is directed toward applied economists as they provide information to private and public decision makers. Central to this discussion is the role of markets as institutions in achieving society's desired ends. Current “economic correctness”–the view that unfettered markets are superior in achieving efficiency, growth, and welfare-has attempted to return a larger role to the private sector, but the relative roles of market-oriented versus government-oriented solutions to problems are often not well appraised. Views presented herein calls for agricultural economists to move simultaneously toward an understanding of the strategic behavior of firms in imperfectly competitive markets and toward an adoption of policy analysis consistent with a socially complex and globally integrated economy.

During the past few decades, U. S. agriculture has experienced remarkable gains in productivity and efficiency. While the number of farms has declined, the economic activities supporting production agriculture continue to comprise a major sector of the U. S. economy. The value-added food and fiber complex serves as an important link between production agriculture and the larger U. S. economy. Value-added products from agriculture have a retail value of more than $700 billion annually and engage about 20 percent of the U. S. labor force (ESCOP).