I welcome I I taenvenue willkommen 9

six twelve eighteen Guest Editorial by Margaret Beckett Can we rise to the challenges of reform? Agriculture

by Miranda l? M. Meuwissen, Ruud B. M. Huirne and Jerry R. Skees Income Insurance in European

by Maria L. Loureiro GMO Food Labelling in the EU: Tracing ‘the Seeds of Dispute’

twenty four twenty six thirty two Parlons Graphique by Matthew Gorton Point de w e by Wyatt Thompson and Sophia Davidova by Jean-Marc Boussard and Gregoire Tallard Consumption versus Demand - internationally competitive? the wrong target? Recovery after BSE?

Is Agriculture in the CEECs Is agricultural policy aiming at

thirty six forty two forty six by Larry Harte and John O’Connell Counterpoint How well do Agri-Environmental by Kenneth Ingersent David Harvey Payments conform with The 2002 US Farm Bill: Multifunctionality? a more positive assessment

Letters to .the Editor

How decoupled can we get?

In Forthcoming Issues * The Externalities and Multifunctionality of Agriculture.

* Food Industry FDI - An Integrated Force Between Western

* Can Russia be Competitive in Agriculture?

* Time to Get Rid of EU Dairy Quotas?

* The Impact of CAP Reform on UK Agriculture.

* Beyond Money for Nothing; Beyond Set-Aside?

* Doing it the Swiss Way. and Eastern European Agri-Food Sectors.

EuroChoices * 03

I am delighted that the European Information Association has awarded Euro Choices first place in the Printed Sources Category of the Association's 2002 Awards for Excellence in European Information Provision.

John Davis Managing Editor

Dear Reader

Let me begin by giving you some really excellent news about EuroChoices. Our new publication has picked up a prestigious award. The European Information Association (EM) has awarded EuroChoices first place in the Printed Sources Category of the Association's 2002 Awards for Excellence in European Information Provision. The EIA Awards were established in 1991 to recognise best examples from the large number of publications, databases, websites etc. produced by EU institutions and other organisa- tions. I accepted the Award on behalf of everyone associated with EuroChoices at the EIA's Annual Conference dinner on the evening of 31st March at Robinson College, University of Cambridge. I thanked the EL4 and underlined the importance of the Award in h to raise the standing of Euro

Torew worn th manaa

to writing for our award-winning publication! All articles on relevant topics are welcome. At the moment,

particularly interested s in the following areas:

ution of the Agri- Development and

th-South issues; Research- Southern Europe

based findings.

Y!! will find detailed submission

editor decision. Briefly, the following are the main opportunities for you to contribute.

Main articles

These should relate to a@-food and rural resource issues and be of interest, at a pan-European level, to decision makers in agri-business, government and NGOs, to educators and students, and to the interested public more generally I favour articles with economic content and

04 EuroCholces

underlying thinking although articles without much direc- economic content may occasionally be published.

Please bear In mind that an important aim of EuroChoices is to improve the public understanding of the work and ideas of agri-food and rural resource economiss Although economists constitute an important element of the readership, the periodical reaches out to a much wider audience. Articles in the main, therefore, should be accessible to noneconomists.

Contributors should avoid articles that focus on methodology likely to tx of interest mainly to economists. If important, authors can direct readers t o other articles that deal with methodology issues. In certain circumstances, however, a short explanation o f methods may be warranted. This is best done in a box or sidebar. In such cases the explanation must, as far 3 s possible, be accessible t o non-economists. In short, accessibility relevance and economic reasoning are core require- ments of articles.

A 200 word summary must accompany all main articles. Please also supply two or three high quality photographs or images which, in a general way, help to illustrate your article. These images are very important to the publication so please pay careful attention to the specifications in the submission guidelines.

The overall length of main articles (excluding the summary) is typically in the range 2,000 to 2,500 words and should not exceed the upper limit. All main articles are subject to double-blind review.

Guest Editorial

From time to time distinguished authors may be invited to contribute an article or a short piece on a topical issue. Please do let me know if you would like to recommend a

this section. 'particular author for

Counterpoints

In this section you may comment on the

arguments in a particular article or articles in the previous issue: and authors are given the opportunity, indeed are encouraged, to respond to your comment$. Comments and responses should not be more than 1250 words each and should include a 100 word summary.

Points De Vue

These are shorter pieces of between 700 and 1500 words. Authors are gwen the opportunity to express their personal viewpoints, in a reasoned way, on an issue of current interest.

Parlons Graphiques

This is normally contained in a two- page section. The emphasis is on telling the story concisely through gnphs and charts with the text performing more of a supporting role. I must emphasise, therefore, the importance of high quality presenta- tion in this section.

Letters to the Editor

The editor welcomes the views of readers on issues raised in an article or indeed on any topic likely to be of interest to readers of EuroChoices. So far, readers have been reluctant to submit to this section - d o please let me have your views! Letters can be very brief and should not normally exceed 500 words.

Can I just remind you of the importance of your subscriptions to the long-run viability of EuroChoices. Although currently we have financial support from the European Commission, the future of the publication beyond the spring of 2004 is very much dependent on your willingness to subscribe to it.

And d o please encourage your library to subscribe as well; our Business Manager feels that European libraries will be a very important source of revenue in the future. Prices have been s e t to cover the costs of production, as EuroChoices is a not- for-profit publication of the AES and EAAE. For details of personal and institutional subscription rates, multiple copy and bulk order discounts, please turn to the inside front cover of this issue. Please d o support this important pan-European venture. Members of AES and EAAE should note that their 2003 subscrip tion will be a part of their normal membership package. Information on joining either organisation is printed inside the back cover.

The current environment is a particu- larly interesting and challenging one for all of us. In the previous issue of EuroChoices we saw that the 'fundamentalists' in the US had apparently gained the upper hand again in the form of the US Farm Bill. But in this issue Ken Ingersent argues that this represents no more than a return to sense for US farm policy. And what of the future of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy? The debate on the Mid-Term Review of the CAP (now called CAP Reform) has been well and truly joined: will we, should we, decouple support from production?; if we do, what is the supply response likely to be?; ought we to modulate support payments in favour of poorer Member States?; over what time period should reforms be introduced? In her Guest Editorial, Margaret Beckett makes her position on some of these issues very clear. So please d o explore the pages of this issue; I know you will find much to interest you.

The editorial team is committed to improving the public understanding of the work of agri-food and rural resource economists. Please d o join us in our mission.

*- John Davis Managing Editor Email: jobn.davis@Eurocboiu?s.org