WERA101: Assessing China as a Market and Competitor

(Multistate Research Coordinating Committee and Information Exchange Group)

Status: Inactive/Terminating

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SAES-422 Reports

Annual/Termination Reports:

[06/21/2006] [08/04/2007]

Date of Annual Report: 06/21/2006

Report Information

Annual Meeting Dates: 04/24/2006 - 04/25/2006
Period the Report Covers: 10/01/2005 - 04/01/2006

Participants

Junfei Bai, Washington State University;
Linda Calvin, USDA, ERS;
Peter Chen. Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada;
Charlie Chern, Ohio State University;
Guy-Serge Cote, Agriculture &Agri-Food Canada;
Neil Conklin, USDA, ERS;
Bill Coyle, USDA, ERS;
Cheryl Christensen, USDA, ERS;
Veronica Douglass, World Perspectives;
John Dyck, USDA, ERS;
Fred Gale, USDA,ERS;
Brad Gilmour, Agriculture &Agri-Food Canada;
Nancy DeVore, Bunge Global Markets;
Henry Liao, Ohio State University;
Jim Hansen, USDA, ERS;
William Lin, USDA, ERS;
Bryan Lohmar, USDA, ERS;
Stephen McDonald, USDA, ERS;
Will Martin, World Bank;
Antonio McLaren, USDA, CSREES;
Patricia McAleer, USDA, CSREES;
David Moore, Department of State;
Mikey Paggi, California State U. Fresno;
Xiaopeng Pang, U of California Davis;
Mariano Ripari, Embassy of Argentina - Beijing;
Xiang Dong Qin, Shanghai Jiao Tong University;
Wei Ruan, Japan Norinchukin Research Institute Co.;
Scott Rozelle, U of California Davis;
James Simpson, Ryukoku University;
Brenda Sternquist, Michigan State University;
Agapi Somwaru, USDA, ERS;
Susan Theiler, Research Industries;
Francis Tuan, USDA, ERS;
Kaiyuan Wang, IFPRI;
David Wasylyshen, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada;
Thomas Wahl, Washington State University;
Jian Zhang, U of California Davis;
Junlian Zhang, China Agricultural University

Brief Summary of Minutes

WERA-101: 2006 Conference Agenda
China's Evolving Agricultural Economy:
Biotechnology, Food Markets and Policy Liberalization

Monday, April 24th
9:00-9:15 - Welcome and Opening Ceremonies, Neil Conklin, USDA, ERS

9:15-10:35 - Brad Gilmour, Moderator
"An Overview of Food and Agricultural Prices in China," Fred Gale and Francis Tuan, USDA, ERS

"Wheat Marketing Reform and Quality Enhancement in China," Bryan Lohmar, USDA, ERS

"Self-employment with Chinese Characteristics: the Forgotten Engine of Rural China's Growth," Jian Zhang, Linxiu Zhang*, Scott Rozelle and Steve Boucher, UC Davis, and China Academy of Sciences*

10:50-12:10 - Bryan Lohmar, Moderator
"Irrigation Water Pricing Policy in China," QQ Huang and Scott Rozelle, UC Davis
Jinxia Wang and Jikun Huang, CCAP, CAS

"Village Elections, Participation in Voting and Women in Rural China," Xiaopeng Pang, Renmin University, China

"Towards a Functioning Agri-Rural Credit System in Rural China: The Key to Improvements in Well-Being and Growth with Equity," Brad Gilmour and G. Cheng, Agriculture Canada

1:30-3:20 - Tom Wahl, Moderator
"A Dynamic Analysis of Food Demand Patterns in Urban China," Hui Liao and Wen S. Chern, The Ohio State University

"How does Biotech Labeling Affect Consumers" Purchasing Behavior? A Case Study of Vegetable Oils in Nanjing, China, William Lin and Francis Tuan, USDA, ERS

"Food Fear and Food Faith: Chinese Consumer Mindscapes of Genetically Engineered and Organic Foods," Brenda Sternquist, Craig Harris and Kami Silk, Michigan State University

"Food Safety and Chinese Horticulture," Linda Calvin, Dinghuan Hu*, Fred Gale, and Bryan Lohmar USDA, ERS, and Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science*

3:35-4:30 - Fred Gale, Moderator
"Fluid Milk Consumption in Urban China and its Affect Factors: Empirical Evidence from Survey Data," Junfei Bai and Thomas I. Wahl, Washington State University

"China's Dairy Industry: Current Situation and Long-Term Projections," James R. Simpson

4:30-5:10 - Election of Officers and Business Meeting - Tom Wahl

Tuesday, April 25th

9:00-10:25 - Scott Rozelle, Moderator
"China's Cotton Futures Market and the Law of One Price," Stephen MacDonald, USDA, ERS

"China: A Japanese Perspective on Food Trade," Wei Ruan, Louisiana State University

"Global Agricultural Trade Reform and End of the Doha Agreement," Kym Anderson and Will Martin, World Bank

10:40-12:30 - Cheryl Christensen, Moderator
"China Research and Projects at International Food Policy Research Institute," Xiaobo Zhang, (IFPRI)

"China Canada Agriculture Development Program," Dave Wasylyshen

"China Research and Projects at ERS," by China Team ERS

Business Meeting of WERA-101

In the absence of incoming Chair Kynda Curtis, Tom Wahl, Jim Hansen and Brad Gilmour shared the Chair's duties. Tom Wahl opened the meeting, welcomed members and other participants. Members were invited to review the previous year's minutes, which were passed without amendment.

Election of officers was held, with the following results:

Chair: Kynda Curtis (University of Nevada, Reno)

Vice Chair: Xiangdong Qin, (Shanghai Jiatong University)

Secretariat Head / Permanent Co-Chair: Tom Wahl (Washington State University)

Past Chair: Jim Hansen (USDA-ERS)

Secretariat Administrator: Charli Hochsprung (WSU)

Communication and Outreach Co-leads: Brad Gilmour (AAFC) and Tom Wahl (WSU)

Location of Next Workshop + Meeting.

Newly elected Vice Chair Xiangdong Qin agreed to look into either Shanghai or Beijing as the possible site of the next meeting. Scott Rozelle and Michel Paggi agreed to look into a California location as a back-up. Some effort may be made to integrate this meeting with the 2007 IATRC meeting, which may also be held in China.

Members agreed to work together to develop the workshop theme and solicit private and public participation and funding.

Accomplishments

The annual meeting and symposium of the committee brings together China researchers and specialists from the U.S. and Canada as well as from China to present their research and discuss current and future issues affecting Chinese agriculture and trade with China. The papers presented at the conference are assembled into proceedings that are published on the WERA-101 website (www.china.wsu.edu). The conferences provide an opportunity for members to discuss their research to find common interests and collaborative projects. Committee members have organized symposia on China at meetings of the American and Western Agricultural Economics Associations and the annual meeting of the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium. In 2006, a conference, China's Evolving Agricultural Economy: Biotechnology, Food Markets and Policy Liberalization, was held April 25-26 at USDA, ERS, Washington DC. The conference was attended by 38 academics from the U.S., Canada and China; researchers from the Economic Research Service of USDA; and several industry consultants. A number of presentations were made by graduate students on their research. The proceedings will be available on the WERA-101 website. See following information for synopsis of reports. China's Evolving Agricultural Economy: Biotechnology, Food Markets and Policy Liberalization 1.01 "An Overview of Food & Agricultural Prices in China," Fred Gale & Francis Tuan (USDA-ERS) provided an excellent overview of China's agri-food competitiveness at the primary, wholesaling and retail level. Their analysis will be helpful in making assessments of prospects for China emerging as a competitor in some sub-sectors and as a prospective market in others. 1.02 "Wheat Marketing Reform and Quality Enhancement in China," Bryan Lohmar, (USDA-ERS) provided an intriguing overview of reforms in wheat marketing, grading, extension and seed subsidies in China. Chinese authorities are trying to encourage, with some success, the production of higher quality, more consistent wheat varieties with medium to high gluten and protein levels. These wheats compete, to some extent, with U.S. DNS wheats and the bottom protein level of Canadian CWRS wheats. 1.03 "Self-employment with Chinese Characteristics: An Engine of Rural Growth," Jian Zhang, Linxiu Zhang* (China Academy of Sciences), Scott Rozelle & Steve Boucher (UC Davis) provided an excellent overview of the growth of self-employed individuals in China. In spite of official discrimination, these individuals have contributed much to increases in productivity and value-added in rural areas. Innovative means of financing their activities were also discussed. 2.01 "Irrigation Water Pricing Policy in China," QQ Huang and Scott Rozelle (UC Davis) and Jinxia Wang and Jikun Huang (CCAP) have undertaken some very unique and informative work relating to water and water scarcity in China, particularly on the North China Plain. This piece, a combination of both theoretical work and applied sample survey, examined the repercussions of pricing incentives on water use in agriculture. They found that water prices would have to be increased substantially before farmers would embrace progressive water conservation practices. Given the gravity of the situation with respect to water resources in China, it seems almost inevitable that such incentives will be embraced sooner or later. Corn and wheat production will drop the most in the face of such changes, if embraced. 2.02 "Village Elections, Participation in Voting and Women in Rural China," Xiaopeng Pang of Renmin University discussed the incidence of women's involvement in local-level in China. Participation was surprisingly high, but it was noted that women's spouses, fathers-in-law, and village leaders also exercised a degree of control over womens' selections. Local leaders that were actually elected were more responsive and progressive on the economic front as well. 2.03 "Towards a Functioning Credit System in Rural China: A Key to Improvements in Well-Being" Brad Gilmour (AAFC) and Guoqiang Cheng (China DRC) provided an overview of the evolution of China's rural credit system. Systemic discrimination against farmers, small-holders and entrepreneurs often drives them to embrace informal credit to support their enterprises. Favoritism of state-owned and state-linked enterprises discriminates handicapped rural residents in two ways: 1) it makes access to official banking services difficult; 2) it allows SOEs to engage in competing activities using subsidized credit. 3.01 "A Dynamic Analysis of Food Demand Patterns in Urban China," Hui Liao and Wen S. Chern (Ohio State University) undertook an extensive study of food Demand in China using a dynamic almost ideal demand system. In all, demands and preferences for almost 3,000 households from Shandong, Henan, Guangdong, and Heilongjiang provinces were analyzed for the years 2002-03. Dynamic effects and habit formation were found to be statistically important & yielding superior estimates and improved predictive performance. 3.02 "How does Biotech Labeling Affect Consumers' Purchasing Behavior?" William Lin and Francis Tuan (USDA-ERS) undertook this case study of consumer attitudes and vegetable oil purchases in Nanjing. They found that consumers were becoming more "aware" of GM issues than they were in previous surveys (2 or 3 years ago) but that they were not necessarily more "informed". They also found that the nature of the labeling and promotional materials could have significant effects on attitudes. As an example, some companies were using "GM free" as a selling point while others were using the idea that GM products could be tailored to meet certain health and nutritional goals as part of their approach. 3.03 "Food Fear & Food Faith: Consumer Mindscapes of Genetically Engineered & Organic Foods," Brenda Sternquist, Craig Harris and Kami Silk (Michigan State University) are building a consumer theory from the bottom-up with a unique and sequential type of survey design that will allow them to more fully understand how Chinese consumers make consumption decisions with respect to new or novel products. While at the beginning of this work, some of the preliminary results suggest that this approach could be useful in designing marketing initiatives in future. 3.04 "Food Safety and Chinese Horticulture," L Calvin, Dinghuan Hu*, F Gale, & B Lohmar (USDA-ERS & Chinese Academy of Ag Science*) discussed the state of China's efforts to improve SPS and Quality Assurance in its horticultural value chains. The range of experiences across China varies considerably from township to township, municipality to municipality, province to province. However, incentives were improving over time and with the dissemination of information. However, there remains a long way to go and China is currently undertaking work in collaboration with USDA to arrive at "best practices" to be applied across the sector. While this work is just underway, it is quite promising. 4.01"Fluid Milk Consumption in Urban China: Empirical Evidence from Survey Data," Junfei Bai and Thomas I. Wahl (Washington State University) reported on the results of consumer "exit data" in Chinese urban centers. This was the promising beginning of a two-year project. However, the authors suggested that preliminary findings suggest that the survey needed to be reworked slightly and that the underlying theory needed to be revisited. 4.02 "China's Dairy Industry: Current Situation and Long-Term Projections," James R. Simpson (Professor Emeritus, Ryukoku U, Florida State U) provided an extremely detailed examination of the productive capacity of China's dairy industry ... starting bottom-up with input supplies like forage, protein meals, etc., and working up to prospective consumption in the year 2020. An excellent piece of analysis as well as a source of data and bio-physical information not easily found elsewhere. 5.01 China's Cotton Futures and the Law of One Price Steve MacDonald (USDA-ERS) gave a very interesting talk on China's cotton market. His search for efficient market behaviour and price integration was frustrated. Ensuing discussion led to discussion of localized fiefdoms and institutional bottlenecks at the national, provincial and regional levels. 5.02 A Japanese Perspective on Food Trade with China Wei Ruan (Ag Bank of Japan & Louisiana State University) provided an excellent overview of how Japan deals with agri-food trade with China from both a macro and a micro perspective. She also shared insights (quite apart from the theme of her talk) about the tensions between the Agricultural Cooperatives in Japan at the primary level and SMEs at the value-added level who have found it difficult to procure product. Ensuing discussion was among the liveliest in the workshop as both Chinese and Japanese ag policy and value-chains were under discussion. 5.03 Global Agricultural Trade Reform Kym Anderson and Will Martin (World Bank) shared both the results of their analysis as well as their insights with respect to WTO negotiations and processes. They illustrated how even the EU proposal could lead to welfare gains, but also how G20 and US proposals would lead to larger gains. A critical issue remained how "sensitive products" would be treated and how much wiggle room was allowed. They observed that it was in these precise areas that the greatest gains could be realized. S&D provisions were also observed to adversely affect developing countries' well-being, when considered in aggregate. While these observations are not new, they are worth repeating.

Publications

Carter, C.A. and A. Estrin "Opening of China's Trade, Labor Market Reform and Impact on Rural Wages." The World Economy Vol 28., No 6., June 2005. Carter, C.A. and X. Li "Trends in China's Horticultural Trade" Journal of International Agricultural Trade and Development. Vol 1, No1. 2005. Dong, Fenxia and Allen Fetherstone. "Technical and Scale Efficiencies for Chinese Rural Credit Cooperatives: A Bootstrapping Approach in Data Envelopment Analysis." Journal of Chinese Economics and Business Studies 4(1) (Feb. 2006): 57-75. Fuller, Frank, Jikun Huang, Hengyun Ma, and Scott Rozelle. 2005. "The Rapid Rise of China's Dairy Sector: Factors Behind the Growth in Demand and Supply" Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, Iowa State University, Working Paper 05-WP 394, May. Fuller, Frank and Hu Dinghuan. Forthcoming. 2005. "Dairy Products in Southwestern China: Anecdotal Evidence from Kunming." In China's Agri-Food Value Chain: Opportunities and Challenges, Proceedings of the WERA-101 Annual Meetings, Reno, Nevada, April 25-26. Gilmour, B (2006) China's Evolving Agri-Food Sector: Challenges for NAFTA Countries, discussant's remarks on Rozelle et al's "Rising Demand, Trade Prospects and the Rise of China's Horticultural Industry" at the North American Agri-Food Market Integration Workshop, Calgary, Alberta, 1 June (http://naamic.tamu.edu) Gilmour, B (2006) Aspect politiques en Chine et leurs impacts sur le secteur agroalimentaire de la Chine, Seminaire, Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada, 9 May, Ottawa Gilmour, B and G Cheng (2006) Towards a Functioning Credit System in Rural China, paper presented at the 2006 WERA workshop China's Evolving Agricultural Economy: Biotechnology, Food Markets and Policy Liberalization, Washington, DC., April 24-25. Gilmour, B (2006) Policy Issues in China and their impacts on China's Agri-Food Sector, paper presented at the OMAFRA Seminar "China's Agri-Food Market: Opportunities and Threats", Double Tree Hotel, Toronto, Ontario, March 2. Rae, A.N., Ma, H., Huang, J. and Rozelle, S. (2006) "Livestock in China: Commodity-Specific Total Factor Productivity Decomposition Using New Panel Data." American Journal of Agricultural Economics (forthcoming, August). Ma, Hengyun; Rae, Allan; Huang, Jikun and Rozelle, Scott. (2006) "Enhancing Productivity on Dairy Farms in China: Taking the Cows to Town" China Agriculture Project Working Paper 1/06, Centre For Applied Economics and Policy Studies, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand. http://econ.massey.ac.nz/caps/China_WP_1_06.pdf. Simpson, James R., Ou Li and Fuping Li and Yoshio Kawamura. Structural Analysis of Tibetan Minority Pastoralists in the Qinghai Plateau Area of Sichuan Province of China. (Society and Culture: Journal of the Socio-Cultural Research Institute, Ryukoku University,) Vol. 7, March 2005, pp 253-266 (in English). Wahl, Thomas I. and Kynda Curtis eds. "China's Agri-Food Value Chain: Opportunities and Challenges" a proceedings from WERA-101 annual meeting, April 2005. Suwen Pan, Mark Welch, Samarendu Mohanty, Mohammadou Fadiga, and Don Ethridge. "Assessing the Impacts of the Chinese TRQ System and U.S. Subsidies on the World Cotton Market." The Estey Centre Journal of International Law and Trade Policy, 6 (No. 2, 2005): 251-273. Suwen Pan, Samarendu Mohanty, Don Ethridge, and Mohammadou Fadiga. "Chinese Tariff Rate Quotas vs. U.S. Subsidies: what Affects the Cotton Market More?" American Agricultural Economics Assn. Meetings, 2005. Paper posted on AgEcon Search (http://agecon.lib.umn.edu).

Impact Statements

WERA-101 is recognized as a leading organization of China researchers. A strong network has resulted from the yearly meetings - held every year since 1994. Many collaborative projects are a result of discussions at the meetings.
WERA-101 helps develop and enhance skills and experience on Chinese agriculture and trade. Papers are presented at each meeting and published on the china.wsu.edu web site.
WERA-101 promotes and enhances international collaboration. Researchers attend from Ag Canada, and from universities in China as well as from US universities and USDA. This affords an opportunity for attendees to compare research results and initiate collaborative projects. A faculty member from Shanghai is the new chair of the committee.
WERA-101 promotes graduate education. At each meeting several graduate students present their research findings. This provides opportunities for them to interact with other faculty, USDA researchers and business people with interests in China. They are able to access research and information that would otherwise be unavailable to them. The meeting also provides them experience in making academic presentations.

Date of Annual Report: 08/04/2007

Report Information

Annual Meeting Dates: 07/12/2007 - 07/13/2007
Period the Report Covers: 10/01/2006 - 09/01/2007

Participants

Paul Berguir, Bunge, Shanghai;
Xiang Bi, (xiangbi2@uiuc.edu )University of Illinois;
Maurizio Canavari, Alma Mater Studiorum-University, Italy;
Kevin Chen, (kevin.chen@ccag.com.cn) Small Farmers Adapting to Global Markets Project, Ag Canada in Beijing;
Wen S. Chern, (chern.1@osu.edu )National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan;
Fred Crook, (fwcrook@yahoo.com )The China Group;
Diansheng Dong, (ddong@ers.usda.gov ) ERS, USDA;
Jacinto Fabiosa, (jfabiosa@iastate.edu ) Iowa State University;
Brad Gilmour, (gilmourb@AGR.GC.CA )Ag Canada;
Michael Goettl, Bunge, Shanghai;
Ahmed Hafi, ABARE, Australia;
Jim Hansen, (JHANSEN@ers.usda.gov) ERS/USDA;
Hvuyen Hasimi, Alma Mater Studiorum-University, Italy;
Qiuqun Huang, (qhuang@umn.edu) University of Minnesota;
Yun Hyun-Mi, Chonnam National University, Korea;
Uli Kleinwechter, (uli.kleinwechter@agrar.hu-berlin.de) Humboldt University of Berlin;
Hyung-Yong Lee, Chonnam National University, Korea;
Yarui Li, (yxl004@uark.edu)University of Arkansas;
Wang Ling, Chonnam National University, Korea;
Chengfang Liu, (cliu@primal.ucdavis.edu) University of California, Davis;
Kang Ernest Liu, (ecdkl@ccu.edu.tw) National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan;
Bryan Lohmar, (blohmar@ers.usda.gov) ERS/USDA;
Renfu Luo, (luorf.ccap@igsnrr.ac.cn ) Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy , Beijing;
Mary Marchant, (mmarchan@vt.edu) Virginia Tech;
Sergio Marchesini, Alma Mater Studiorum-University, Italy;
Jay Noel, California Institute for the Study of Specialty Crops, California Polytechnic State University;
Wang Ou, RCRE;
Sharon Page, ABARE, Australia;
Mikey Paggi, (mpaggi@csufresno.edu) California State University, Fresno;
Joon-Keun Park, (jkpark@chonnam.ac.kr) Chonnam National University;
Xiangdong Qin, (xdqin@sjtu.edu.cn) Shanghai JiaoTong University;
Allan Rae, (A.N.Rae@massey.ac.nz) Massey University, New Zealand;
Scott Rozelle, (rozelle@stanford.edu ) Stanford University;
Wei Ruan, (wei@nochuri.co.jp ) Norinchukin Research Institute Co.,Ltd Norinchukin Research Institute Co.,Ltd, Tokyo;
Jim Seale, (JLSeale@mail.ifas.ufl.edu) University of Florida;
Rodney Smith, (smith142@umn.edu )University of Minnesota;
Paul Thiers, (thiers@vancouver.wsu.edu )Washington State University, Vancouver;
Francis Tuan, (ftuan@ers.usda.gov) ERS/USDA;
Emi Uchida, (euchida@gmail.com) University of Rhode Island;
Thomas Wahl, (wahl@wsu.edu) Washington State University;
Hainan Wang (wanghainan@wsu.edu) Washington State University;
Jinxia Wang (jxwang.ccap@igsnrr.ac.cn) Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy;
Kailiang Wang, (wankailiang@webmail.hzau.edu.cn) Central China Agricultural University;
Qingbin Wang (qwang@uvm.edu) University of Vermont; Xiaoyang Wang, (wangl.ccap@igsnrr.ac.cn) University of Missouri-Columbia;
Wei Xia, (smilelily@gmail.com)Renmin University;
Miko Yamazaki, California State University Fresno;
Susan Xu, Penn State University;
Yinchu Zeng, Renmin University;
Lijuan Zhang, (ljzhang.ccap@igsnrr.ac.cn )Chinese Center for Agricultural Policy;
Xiaohui Zhang, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing;
Huixia Zhao, University of Rhode Island;

Brief Summary of Minutes

Brief Summary of Annual Meeting

Opening Remarks: Thomas Wahl - WERA-101 Chair

"China's Push for Rural Renewable Energy and its Potential Impact on Agricultural Development," Paul Thiers (Washington State U and China Ag. U)

"Foreign Direct Investment in China: Trends, Regional Disparity and Impacts on Trade and Economic Growth," Qingbin Wang (U of Vermont).

"Producing and Procuring Horticultural Crops with Chinese Characteristics: A Case Study in the Greater Beijing Area," Scott Rozelle (Stanford), Honglin Wang (Michigan State University), Xiaoxia Dong (CCAP), Jikun Huang (CCAP) and Thomas Reardon (MSU)

"Conservation Payments, Liquidity Constraints and Off-Farm Labor: Impact of the Grain for Green Program on Rural Households in China" Emi Uchida (U of Rhode Island), Scott Rozelle (Stanford) and Jintao Xu (Beijing U).

Session Two: Investments and Public Goods, (Moderator: Paul Thiers)

"Village Elections, Public Goods Investment and Pork Barrel Politics, Chinese-style," Renfu Luo, Linxiu Zhang, Jikun Huang (CCAP) and Scott Rozelle (Stanford)

"Supply and Demand for Public Goods in China's Rural Areas: An Examination of Solid Waste Disposal in the Villages," Frederick Crook (The China Group)

"Monitoring, Participation and the Quality of Local Public Goods in Rural China," Chengfang Liu (CCAP), Scott Rozelle (Stanford), Linxiu Zhang and Renfu Luo (CCAP)

"How Much Money should the Government Provide for Agricultural Insurance: a Model of Assessing Subsidized Rate" Kailiang Wang (Central China Agricultural University) and Wenjun Long (Research Center for Rural Economy, MOA)

For full content of the presentations, please go to: http://www.china.wsu.edu/conference/WERA-101-07/presentations.html There you will find additional links to the individual papers.

Accomplishments

The annual meeting and symposium of the committee brings together China researchers and specialists from the U.S., Canada, China and other countries to present their research and discuss current and future issues affecting Chinese agriculture and trade with China. The conferences provide an opportunity for members to discuss their research to find common interest and collaborative projects. The presentations from the conference are available on the WERA-101 website (www.china.wsu.edu). In July 2007 a conference "China's Agricultural Economy and Trade: Agribusiness, Food Marketing, Environmental Issues and Evolving Policies" was held at Shanghai JiaoTong University in China with over 50 attendees from the US, Canada, China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Italy. Participants were faculty, graduate students, researchers from government and representative of private industry. Synopses of reports are below. 1.01 "China's Push for Rural Renewable Energy and its Potential Impact on Agricultural Development," Paul Thiers (Washington State U and China Ag. U). This wide-ranging paper examined how China's growing economy and rising incomes would affect its demand and supply for energy from various sources, particularly in rural industries. Given that much of consumption and production still occurs at a "micro" level, Dr. Thiers observed that progressive policies, incentives and tech-transfer efforts are needed for smallholders as well if China is to develop in a sustainable way. 1.02 "Trends of China's potato markets and implications for U.S. trade," Qingbin Wang (U of Vermont) and Wei Zhang (World Bank). China has been the world's largest potato producer since 1993, but it is also the world's largest consumer and the world's fifth largest importer. China accounted for more than 80% of the increase in global potato output from 1990 to 2005. The United States and Canada are the world's largest exporters, while the U.S. and Japan are the largest importers. China's market and trade behavior are increasingly determined by consumer demand providing opportunities and challenges for overseas producers and exporters. China's potato production and consumption will continue to increase at significant rates but consumption will outstrip production and imports will rise. North American suppliers have advantages in expanding frozen potato product exports: early market entry; depreciating currencies; expansion of McDonald's and KFC affiliates in China. 1.03 "Horticultural Markets and the Poor: The Case of Horticulture in Northern China," Scott Rozelle (Stanford), Jikun Huang, Xiaoxia Dong, Yunhua Wu, Huayong Zhi, Xianfang Niu and Zhurong Huang (CCAP, CAS). This study examined horticultural markets in Northern China. The researchers were interested in the extent of restructuring at the primary level, in the value chain and in the marketing system. Assessments were made as to the impacts of changes in downstream (e.g. wholesale, processing and retail) market structure on farmers and marketing groups. The researchers attempted to answer a number of questions to come to an assessment as to whether and how market developments were including the poor or leaving them behind. Did such developments exclude or include farmers and other smallholders? Why or why not? What are the linkages? What constraints to increased participation exist with respect to production? marketing? To date, dramatic changes have been occurring at the retail level, modest changes have occurred at the wholesale and mid-level processing level, and almost no structural change has occurred at the primary level or at the "1st procurement" level of the marketing chain. At the primary and "1st procurement" stage, markets are extremely competitive but contracts and standards are virtually non-existent or, at best, very rare. Likewise, vertical integration and vertical coordination exist but are statistically insignificant. Past experience with forced collectivization appears to be hampering efforts at forming true cooperatives or producer associations to achieve better economies and quality assurance. In general, horticulture production provides positive income and welfare effects for farmers and rural citizens. However, it is of concern that there is virtually no monitoring or traceability to deal with food safety risks. 1.04 "Conservation Payments, Liquidity Constraints and Off-Farm Labor: Impact of the "Grain for Green" Program on Rural Households in China" Emi Uchida (U of Rhode Island), Scott Rozelle (Stanford) and Jintao Xu (Beijing U). There is increasing interest world-wide in the production of "non-market" goods and services from agricultural and forest land - biodiversity, water recharge areas, wildlife habitat, erosion control, scenery, etc. Many countries around the world have started to implement programs to give incentives to those who supply environmental services. This paper examines the feasibility and implications of payments for environmental services in China. China's "Grain for Green" is, effectively, the largest conservation experiment in the developing world. The GFG started out as a pilot program in 1999 and new program areas have been added almost every year since. By the end of the program period (2010) the program is expected to exceed the United State's CRP and reach 15 million hectares, or 12% of China's cultivated area. There is some evidence that the program decreased on-farm labour commitments and increased off-farm labour participation; this effect is stronger for younger folk with higher education and for those with a lower initial asset endowment. Consequently, this maybe a "Win / Win" program with positive effects on the environment and rural development . 2.01 "Village Governance and Transforming Rural China's Communities," Renfu Luo, Linxiu Zhang, Jikun Huang (CCAP) and Scott Rozelle (Stanford). Large investments are needed to improve the quality of life in rural areas. Yet some villages have better infrastructure and have enjoyed a higher "quantity" of investment. The authors examine whether local governance and accountability play a role. Does the presence of direct elections affect the spending of China"s village leadership by shifting their focus from expenditures that benefit the elite (e.g. salaries, qingke chifan [banquets]) to expenditures benefiting villagers (e.g. infrastructure, services). The incidence of village elections was found to induce greater spending on public goods, suggesting that elected leaders are more responsive to the interests of their constituencies. 2.02 "Supply and Demand for Public Goods in China's Rural Areas: An Examination of Solid Waste Disposal in the Villages," Frederick Crook (The China Group). Dr. Crook gave a historical review and assessment of solid waste management in rural China: commune period (1958-84); reform period (1985-99); current period (2000-07). Dr. Crook's review and assessment included several types of documentation, including photographic records; data base; news reports; visitor reports to enumerate sources of solid waste, including crop stalks and residues, animal wastes, and commercial products and refuse like glass, metal, paper, plastic used in rural areas. The assessment also included an enumeration and characterization of various uses for wastes (e.g. crop waste as a household fuel, composting, paper production, etc.). This often over-looked area of work will increase in importance as environmental concerns and resource stresses have gained greater attention in China's 11th five year plan. 2.03 "Monitoring, Participation and the Quality of Local Public Goods in Rural China," Chengfang Liu (CCAP), Scott Rozelle (Stanford), Linxiu Zhang and Renfu Luo (CCAP) China has achieved impressive gains in the expansion of its rural infrastructure in recent years, improving access to roads, potable water, and electricity for rural citizens. Renewed efforts to build a "New Socialist Countryside" will further increase rural infrastructure investments. While few observers dispute that a vast quantity of new funds are flowing into rural China and that infrastructure investment is rising, some researchers have expressed concern that the quality of infrastructure projects may be substandard. This study examines whether the rush to increase the quantity of rural infrastructure has compromised its quality. Using data from the 2005 China Rural Governance Survey the authors provide considerable insight into the design and delivery of infrastructure projects in China. They found little sign of quality dilution due to the increased volume of infrastructure projects. In fact, subsequent Q&A discussion suggested that those involved in infrastructure design and delivery learned over time, correcting or improving their techniques over time. However, the survey suggests that rural residents are also aware of conditions elsewhere and that they want "more and better" so that they can enjoy some of the same benefits as their urban counterparts. 2.04 "Theory and Model of Agricultural Insurance Subsidy" Kailiang Wang (Central China Agricultural University) and Wenjun Long (Research Center for Rural Economy, MOA). The purpose of this study is to determine whether agriculture insurance warrants a subsidy and, if so, estimate an optimal subsidized rate for agricultural insurance in China. Private insurers have been unwilling or unable to provide agricultural insurance without subsidies. Farmers are unwilling or unable to purchase agricultural insurance at the current premium rate. This situation arises for a number of reasons: risks across prospective clients are not independent and, therefore, the law of large numbers does not apply; the loss is unpredictable and hard to value; administrative costs to cover 100's of millions of farming households are high; moral hazard and adverse problems are more prevalent than in other markets, while monitoring and policing costs are higher. The authors conclude that a subsidy is indeed warranted but that it should be more scientifically established than is currently the case. 3.01 "Water Management Institutional Reform: A Representative Look at Northern China," Scott Rozelle (Stanford), Qiuqiong Huang (U of Minnesota), Jinxia Wang and Jikun Huang (CCAP). Northern China is one of the most water scarce areas in the world. Water availability per capita in northern china is less than 5% of the world average. With the growth of China's economy, the availability of water for agriculture is falling rapidly. The growing water scarcity problem has significant implications for China's economy and for its future agricultural production and trade position in key crops. This, in turn, may affect farm incomes. This study focuses on the role that Water Use Associations (WUAs) play in progressive water resource management in China and whether their performance is superior to collective or contracting approaches. Survey results suggest that China's WUAs are, in general, not following international "best practices" in terms of inclusive participation and incentives and contracting approaches seem to have a better performance record because of better management incentives. Water management reform has taken place in many areas in northern China, with reform efforts varying significantly across space; regrettably, (water scarce) localities where reforms were most likely to be of benefit appeared to be less likely to embrace them. Consequently, it seems that the "tidal wave" of WUAs is largely attributable to government suasion (or stronger measures. From a policy perspective, government authorities should resist temptation to "pick winners" or "pick up a fad" and scale up blindly. Water management reform is complex and needs better design of policy and attention to local realities. 3.02 "Groundwater Markets in Northern China: Impact on Water Use, Yields and Income," Lijuan Zhang, Jinxia Wang, Jikun Huang (CCAP), Scott Rozelle (Stanford), Qiuqiong Huang (Minnesota). Groundwater markets have developed quickly in both South Asia and northern China. This study examines the impact of groundwater markets on the production and welfare of farm households. In South Asia, empirical assessments have had unclear results, possibly because of flawed research design or poor data. Until now, there has been no applied work done in China. This work assesses the impacts in North China, where water scarcity is acute. The research attempts to answer whether it matters "how" people get access to water? Does it matter whether people: buy water from groundwater markets; pump from their own well; get water from a collective well? If farmers choose to buy water from markets, does this affect water use, yields and income? The results suggest that farmers apply less water when they buy it from the market and that yields actually increase as a result, presumably due to better application. 3.03 "Economic Growth and Forest Resources in China: A Spatial Analysis of Determinants of Forest Cover Change in Sichuan," Huixia Zhao, Emi Uchida (U of Rhode Island), Xiangzheng Deng (CCAP) and Scott Rozelle (Stanford). Concern about global warming and declining biodiversity has led to an increasing interest in the relationship between social-economic factors and the state of forest resources. Some argue that economic growth will eventually lead to an increase in forest resources as economies move from extractive primary industries. Others observe that forest resources continue to decline as economy grows unless policies promoting forest growth are embraced. This suggests a quadratic relationship between incomes and forests, with forest cover first declining and then increasing as economies and incomes grow. This study demonstrates that such a quadratic relationship does indeed exist for the forests examined in Sichuan. However, the turning point in the relationship occurs well after the indigenous forests would be irreparably damaged, suggesting that policy measures and positive incentives are warranted to avoid irreversible environmental degradation. 3.04 "Conservation Agriculture: Adoption, Determinants and Impacts" Jinxia Wang, Lijun Zhang, Jikun Huang (CCAP), Scott Rozelle (Stanford) and Erika Meng (CIMMYT) This paper reviews the benefits of conservation agriculture (CA), its history and adoption rates in China. CA can improve water infiltration capacities, reduce surface runoff and soil erosion, enhances biodiversity, improves and groundwater quality, reduce evapo-transpiration, reduce soil erosion, reduce some kinds of pollution, increase the carbon sink effects of agriculture, etc. CA technologies were first adopted in China in the late 1980s but adoption rates remain quite low. Economic benefits of CA adoption seem to be modestly positive but the potential environmental benefits over the medium and long term appear to be substantial. The main barrier to adoption appears to be a lack of knowledge of appropriate CA technologies and their applications. Given the environmental benefits, authorities may wish to consider additional adoption incentives. 4.01 " Migration, Mentoring and Mothers: The Effect of Migration on Children's Educational Performance in Rural China," Xinxin Chen (CCAP), Qiuqiong Huang (U of Minnesota), Scott Rozelle (Stanford) and Linxiu Zhang (CCAP). Migration is one of the main ways of alleviating poverty in developing countries but it is not costless. For instance, migration can have adverse impacts on the education of the children of migrants. As there are over 100 million migrants in China, this issue is of consideration. This study examines the effect of migration activities on the educational performance of migrants' children. Specifically, the study: compares the distribution of children's scores for different types of rural households; describes how grades vary over time; examines whether migration negatively affects the grades of rural children; explores how migration will affect children's educational performance in different types of households in terms of wealth or demographic composition. The study finds no evidence that migration has hurt school performance. In fact, when the father out-migrates, migration appears to have a small, positive effect on the school performance of migrant children, possibly because of increased family resources. Hence, migration - by itself - does not result in lower educational outcomes. However, the exact mechanism has not been identified and it may be that the income effect of migration is offsetting the parental care effect. Measures like the construction and staffing of better schools, higher quality boarding facilities, increased mentoring, and the admission of rural students to urban schools would result in better education outcomes than efforts to either encourage or curb migration. 4.02 "Implications of Changing Food Markets for Rural Development in Asia: Focus on China," Dr. Kevin Chen of the Canada-China SFAGM project in Beijing provided a comprehensive and insightful survey of developments in the rural economy and in the agri-food value chain. Drawing upon theory, empirical work and his own extensive experience in applied situations, he identified some of the obstacles to including of rural citizens and farmers in the benefits of China's rapidly growing economy and discussed various mechanisms for overcoming them. Using a gap assessment, he identified four crucial areas where farmers needed assistance in joining the market economy if they were not to be left behind: specialized inputs; balanced and professional technical assistance; credit and related services; assured markets and improved value chain coordination. Greater attention on removing obstacles to institutional innovations is warranted. 5.01 "Who is Benefiting from China's Livestock Boom? Production Systems, Modern Supply Chains and Impacts on the Poor -- A Case Study in Greater Beijing Area," Xiang Bi (U of Illinois, U-C), Scott Rozelle (Stanford), Jikun Huang (CCAP). One of the overall goals of this paper is to understand who is going to produce the livestock that will meet China's rising demand. It is often assumed that when there is a rapid rise in modern supply chains, the demand of those in the supply chain are such that it is expected that: Rich, large farmers benefit; poor, small farmers lose out and get hurt. The authors attempt to shed some light as to whether this hypothesis holds for China. Specifically, they examine whether: the poor participated in China's livestock boom; differences in the nature of the equity impacts be tracked to differences in the way supply chains have penetrated into the farm economy. They explore differences in the ways that hogs and broilers are marketed and study whether these differences are associated with differences in the way poorer and richer farmers benefit. Empirical analysis suggests that relatively poorer hog producers are not excluded in production and marketing when traditional market channels are still playing major roles in rural procurement and, in fact, they are rising. In contrast, when modern supply channels introduce large-scale, contracting-based poultry operations, the benefits associated with the rise in poultry meat demand mostly go to the richest producers. 5.02 "Smallholders, Livestock and Household Income in Rural China," Xiaohui Zhang (MOA) and Allen Rae (Massey U., New Zealand) Zhang and Rae provide and excellent overview and assessment of China's evolving livestock sector. Many livestock households are part-timers, with roughly 3/4 of these households earning less than 10% of their income from livestock. Many households are diversifying into other activities, but some households becoming more specialized. Livestock households are becoming more prevalent in the West, but production for some commodities concentrating in the East. Between 1995 & 2005, gaps between top and bottom quartiles widened in terms of total income, livestock income and production. Households with higher net incomes & lower livestock specialisation are more likely to exit the sector. Exit is also encouraged by the proximity of off-farm work opportunities, social connections, and the presence of better educated family members. 5.03 "Biofuels in China: Market Impacts, Growth Prospects and Policy Dilemmas," Seth Meyer, Tiesheng Wang, Xiaoyang Wang and William Meyers (U of Missouri). This paper surveys the evolution and situation of biofuel markets in China. There are three motivations behind the use of biofuels in China: energy security; the consumption of stale grain reserves; environmental protection. China has provided various kinds of government for support: 1) Refund of value added taxes (17%); 2) exemption from consumption tax on ethanol (5%); 3) food reserve subsidies on grain (300 RMB/ton); 4) direct subsidies for ethanol. For (4), a declining subsidy has been offered per ton since 2004: 2004 - 2736 RMB, 2005 - 1883 RMB, 2006 - 1628 RMB/ton, 2007 - 1373 RMB. However, in December 2006, China's National Development and Reform Commission issued a decree which forbade expansion of grain (esp. corn) feedstock based plants. However, other alternative feedstocks like sugar cane, straw, sorghum, cassava, yams, sweet potatoes are not precluded at this point. 5.04 "Adoption of Herbicide-Tolerant, Biotech Soybeans in Heilongjiang, China," William Lin (ERS), Susan Xu, Funing Zhong (Nanjing Ag University), Francis Tuan (ERS), Mary Marchant (U of Kentucky), Nicholas Kailanzandonakes, and Baohui Song. This survey-based study examined adoption rates of herbicide-tolerant (ht) biotech soybeans in Heilongjiang. Producers in Heilongjiang were found to know very little about ht soybeans. The potential adoption rate of herbicide-tolerant soybeans in Heilongjiang appears to below at this time. The tech fee of herbicide-tolerant soybeans' seed influences the willingness of production negatively. But the potential adoption rate does rise over time as producers become more familiar with the ht soybeans and their potential benefits. The demographic characteristics of households, production of conventional soybeans in 2005, and the initial perception about ht soybeans after the receiving extension information are the significant determinants of willingness to adopt. 5.05 "Development of Bioenergy: Energy-Saving and Emission-Reducing" Wang Ou (Research Center for Rural Economy, Ministry of Agriculture). Dr. Wang reviewed the current situation of Chinese bioenergy industry, highlighted prominent achievements in the development of bioenergy, reviewed major government policies, and discussed future prospects for China's bioenergy industry. To the end of 2005, China has 525 gas stations employing crop residue gasification and gas supply systems, with an annual production of combustible gas of 200 mil cubic meters, benefiting 135 thousand rural households. Government measures to date include the establishment of standards, enacting law and rules, and providing support to enterprises. Tax exemptions have also been provided to pilot ethanol plants: consumption tax - 5%; value-added tax -17%. The purchase of raw materials has also been subsidized. Subsidies to date have tallied roughly 15 billion yuan During the 11th 5 year plan, the government hopes to accelerate bioenergy development, increase support to power generation from Crop Residue, and promote a larger production scale to produce biomass fuel, fuel ethanol and biodiesel. 6.01 Mike Geottl, of Bunge touched on several issues shaping the world's agribusiness at this point in time. Energy and energy markets are driving almost revolutionary change in agri-food markets. Energy uses are emerging as a growing source of demand for agro-biomass products. Price convergence is taking place across fuel, food and fibre markets and it touches all markets (crops, fertilizer, freight, costs). It is also attracting a new class of investors and many commodity markets are awash in vast new money flows. Markets are more volatile, complexity is deepening, and reaction times are declining, fundamentally altering market and investment relationships and patterns. Government mandates and subsidies are major factors but contribute to downside risk, having encouraged rather than dampened investments in overcapacity. 6.02 Jenny Chen, of JCI discussed "Several Main Issues in Chinese Ag-Commodity Supply and Demand Situation and Some Countermeasures", making a number of recommendations from the perspective of stakeholders in the value chain. Ms. Chen discussed the importance of setting up complete laws and regulations to better ensure quality and consistency. This would concurrently improve incentives, boost agricultural production and enhance farmers' income. Given food security concerns, it is important to control the consumption of grains by non-food processing industry. Outward and strategic FDI and international cooperation with respect to grain planting and energy (biomass) producing bases is also important. Support to agricultural research and technical applications, particularly on plant breeding, transgenic technologies and cropping technologies should be increased to boost grain production. Integrated, industrialized agriculture production is necessary to increase unit grain yield and crop quality and efforts should be made to improve feed formulation and decrease feed conversion ratio for livestock. Government should support agricultural insurance and vaccinations for livestock to preclude epidemics which damage the agri-food sector, undermine consumer confidence and result in the loss of overseas markets. 7.01 "To Import or Not to Import Fruit? An Analysis from the Perspective of Complete Demand Systems", Hung-Ping Lai and Kang Ernest Liu, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan. China's reforms and its recent entrance into the World Trade Organization opened market access between China and the rest of the world. Consequently, production and consumption patterns have been changing as China becomes more market-oriented. This study attempts to better understand emerging consumption and production patterns in China. The authors find that expenditure elasticities of fruits in urban China are highly variable across regions and over time. As China is a large country, with different regional production capabilities and consumption preferences, a "one size fits all" is not advisable. Prospective importers and exporters would, therefore, be well advised to undertake further location-specific assessment of demand and supply for their products. 7.02 "Food Demand in Rural China: A Study of Rural Household Models," Wenye Yan and Wen Chern (Ohio State U.). As over 60 percent of China's population is located in rural areas, this is of considerable interest to both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. A proper understanding is also important to better inform policy analysis, design and delivery. The authors find that: utility is intertemporally separable; leisure is weakly separable from other commodities and services; consumption may come from own-production or purchase; the incidence of market failures is considerably higher than in developed economies, complicating assessments because of the differing effects of proportional and fixed transaction costs. Using the authors' augmented framework: food products consumed at home were estimated to be normal goods; clothing and bedding are normal goods; durable goods, housing and utilities are luxury goods in most rural areas; income elasticities for grain and vegetables declined between1995 and 2001; income elasticities for meat and aquatic products increased between1995 and 2001. 7.03 "Consumer's Willingness to Pay for Organic Food in the Perspective of Meta-analysis" Yinchu Zeng and Wei Xia (Renmin University, China). This paper began with a review of the nature and size of the world's market organic and "green" foods. After this, an overview of China's 3 main standards for such foods - organic, green and "safe" - was given. Consumer attitudes and "willingness to pay" toward foods with different levels of quality assurance and other characteristics, with the following priorities: Freshness > Safety > Nutrition > Price > Accessibility > Appearance. However, the researchers find that these survey results do not always correspond with market realities. Moreover, statistically significant difference is found among empirical estimates of consumers' willingness-to-pay for organic food, of which the maximum value shoots up to 509.2% and the minimum value touches down to 2.3%. Sampling error, socio-economic characteristics within samples, and research methods are the main factors explaining variation in estimated consumer's willingness-to-pay for organic food. 8.01 "Export Strategy for Vegetable Industry of Shandong Province," J.K Park, L. Wang, H. M. Yoon and D.K. Chang (Chonnam National University, Korea). China's rapidly expanding vegetable industry now faces a number of challenges. How it responds to these challenges will to-a-large-degree determine its success in future. The challenges are as follows: (a) the need to deal with increasing non-tariff trade barriers in import markets of East Asia, the EU and the U.S.; (a) the need to creating strong producer's organizations such as producers' cooperatives in the importing countries; ( c) developing new varieties and technologies to penetrate international markets and to maintain competitiveness (includes greenhouse production, organic production, "pesticide free", etc.); (d)overcoming phyto-sanitary inspection system in many developed countries and dealing with food safety issues; dealing with pollution and degradation of China's water and land resources; (f) improving quality and consistency to better "brand" China's products; (g) moving upstream from primary production to greater value-added. 8.02 "Standardization and Modern Agriculture" Yu Leng (Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiaotong University) discussed how quality assurance, consistency and standardization are underpinnings of modern agri-food value chains. China's 2007 Number 1 document makes specific reference to these issues, indicating that their importance is recognized at the highest levels. Professor Yu explored the relationship between standardization, quality assurance and agricultural development. Standards and quality assurance can serve: 1) a marketing facilitating function; 2) as a way of guarantee food safety; 3) as an efficient and broadly available form of contract, avoiding costly litigation; 4) as an effective way of spreading technology. As such, it can influence technological progress, market efficiency and trade flows. Dr Yu then went on to briefly enumerate some practicable ways to facilitate standardization and promote agricultural development in China.

Publications

Bai, Junfei, Thomas I. Wahl, and Jill J. McCluskey. "Fluid Milk Consumption in Urban Qingdao, China" Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, in Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, accepted for publication. Blanke, Amelia, Scott Rozelle, Bryan Lohmar, Jinxia Wang and Jikun Huang, "Water Saving Technology and Saving Water in China", Agricultural Water Management, January, 2007 Brester, Gary, and Vincent H. Smith (2007). "Agricultural Policy and the U.S. Livestock Industry" in Bruce Gardener and Daniel Sumner, U.S. Agricultural Policy and the 2007 Farm Bill, forthcoming, AEI press, Washington, D.C. Calvin, Linda, Fred Gale, Dinghuan Hu, and Bryan Lohmar, "Food Safety Improvements Underway in China." Amber Waves, November 2006, pp. 16-21. Curtis, K.R. "Impacts of the Westernization of Food Preferences on Food Away From Home Consumption in China." In progress. Curtis, K.R. and T.H. Harris. "The Impact of Chinese Garlic/Onion Dumping on the Northern Nevada Economy." In progress. Curtis, K.R., J.J. McCluskey, and T.I. Wahl, (2007). "Consumer Preferences for Western-Style Convenience Foods in China." China Economic Review, 18, 1-14. Dimaranan, B., Ianchovichina, E. and Martin, W. (2007), "Competing with giants: Who wins, who loses?" in Winters, L.A. and Yusuf, S. eds. Dancing with Giants: China, India and the Global Economy World Bank and Institute of Policy Studies, Washington DC and Singapore. Dong, F. and F. Fuller. 2006. "Changing Diets in China's Cities: Empirical Fact or Urban Legend?" Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, Iowa State University, Working Paper 06-WP 347, November. Ethridge, Don, Samarendu Mohanty, Suwen Pan, Mohamadou Fadiga, Mark Welch, Margarita Velandia-Parra, and Samantha Yates. "Guide to Foreign Crop Subsidies and Tariffs." Cotton Economics Research Institute, Texas Tech University, CERI-SR07-01, Feb. 2007. Gale, Fred and Francis C. Tuan,. "China Currency Appreciation Could Boost U.S. Agricultural Exports," USDA/ERS, Outlook Report No. (WRS-0703) 26 pp, August 2007. http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/WRS0703/ Gale, Fred. "Chinese Consumers Demand Premium Foods," Amber Waves, June 2007, p. 2. http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/June07/PDF/Chinese.pdf Gale, Fred and Kuo Huang. "Demand for Food Quantity and Quality in China," USDA, Economic Research Report No. (ERR-32) 40 pp, January 2007. http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err32/ Gale, Fred. "Feeding a Growing Dragon With Global Markets," Farm Policy Journal, February 2007, vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 1-9. Fred Gale, "Supermarkets in China: Fierce Competition Brings Change," Farm Policy Institute Insights, April 2007, pp. 3-5. Hu, D., F. Fuller, and T. Reardon. 2006. "Impacts of the Rapid Development of Supermarkets on China's Diary Industry." In International Agri-food Chain and Networks: Management and Organization, J. Bijman, O. Omta, J. Trienekens, J. Wijnands, and E. Wubben (eds.), Wageningen Academic Publishers, pp. 373-386. Huang, J., Liu, Y., Martin, W. and Rozelle, S. 2007."Agricultural Trade Reform and Rural Prosperity: Lessons from China," NBER Working Paper, forthcoming. Huang, Qiuqiong, Scott Rozelle, Jikun Huang and Jinxia Wang. (2006) "Irrigation, agricultural performance and poverty reduction in China." Food Policy 31(1): 30-52. Huang, Qiuqiong , Scott Rozelle, Jikun Huang, Jinxia Wang and Siwa Msangi, "Water management reform and the choice of the contractual form in rural China.", Environment and Development Economics (Forthcoming) Ianchovichina, E. and Martin, W. (2006), "Trade Impacts of China's World Trade Organization Accession," Asian Economic Policy Review 1(1): 45-65, June. Koo, Won, Jin, Sul. "The Effects of the Free Trade Agreement among China, Japan, and Korea," Journal of Economic Development, Vol 31, No. 2, 2006, 1-18. Koo, Won and Zhuang, "The Role of Exchange Rate in Sino-U.S. Bilateral Trade," Contemporary Economic Policy, 45-3 (2007): 362-373. Lohmar, B., Qiuqiong Huang, Bo Lei, Zhanyi Gao, "Water Pricing Policies and Recent Reforms in China: The Conflict Between Conservation and Other Policy Goals", Irrigation Water Pricing Policy in Context: Exploring the Gap Between Theory and Practice, Francois Molle and Jeremy Berkoff (Eds.), International Water Management Institute, 2007. Lohmar, Bryan, William Wilson and Yibiao Bu, "Wheat Marketing Reform and Quality Enhancement Policies in China", Economic Research Service, Agricultural Information Bulletin, (forthcoming). Lohmar, B., Hansen, J., Interactions Between Resource Scarcity and Trade Policy: The Effects of China's Water Scarcity on International Agricultural Markets under the Current TRQ Regime, Paper Presented at the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium, Beijing, July 2007. Ma, H, Rae, A.N., Huang, J. and Rozelle, S. "Enhancing productivity on suburban dairy farms in China". Agricultural Economics 37:29-42,2007. Ma, H, Tang, H. and Rae, A.N. "An analysis of the total factor productivity in China's dairy production". Chinese Rural Economy 2: 40-48, 2007. (In Chinese). Pan, Suwen, Samarendu Mohanty, Mark Welch, Don Ethridge, and Mohamadou Fadiga. "Effects of Chinese Currency Revaluation on World fiber Markets." Contemporary Economic Policy 25 (2, Apr. 2007): 185-205. Rae, A.N., Ma, H., Huang, J. and Rozelle, S. "Livestock in China:Commodity-Specific Total Factor Productivity Decomposition Using New Panel Data". American Journal of Agricultural Economics 88(3): 680-695, 2006 Rae, A.N., Zhong, F., Zhou, Y. and Geng, X. (2006). China's Expanding Role in Horticultural Trade: A Global and New Zealand Perspective. Agricultural Policy Discussion Paper No. 22. Centre for Applied Economics and Policy Studies, Massey University, New Zealand, October. Rozelle, Scott, Jikun Huang, Hai Lin, Ruifa Hu and Carl Pray. "Eight Years of Bt Cotton in Farmer Fields in China: Is the Reduction of Insecticide Use Sustainable?" 2006. Working Paper, Freeman Spogli Institute, Stanford University. Rozelle, Scott, Jikun Huang, Ruifa Hu and Carl Pray. "Genetically Modified Rice, Yields and Pesticides: Assessing Farm-level Productivity and Health Effects in China." 2006. Working Paper, Freeman Spogli Institute, Stanford University. Rozelle, Scott, Hengyun Ma and Jikun Huang. "Getting Rich and Eating Out: Consumption of Food Away from Home in China," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics 54 (2006): 101-119. Rozelle, Scott, Frank Fuller, Hengyun Ma and Jikun Huang. "Got Milk? The Rapid Rise of China's Dairy Sector and Its Future Prospects," 2006. Food Policy 31: 201-215. (with Frank Fuller, Hengyun Ma and Jikun Huang). Rozelle, Scott, Fangbin Qiao, Jim Wilen and Jikun Huang. "Managing Pest Resistance in Fragmented Farms: An Analysis of the Risk of Bt Cotton in China and its Zero Refuge Strategy and Beyond," Working Paper, Freeman Spogli Institute, Stanford University, 2006. Rozelle, Scott, Honglin Wang, Xiaoxia Dong, Jikun Huang and Thomas Reardon. "Producing and Procuring Horticultural Crops with Chinese Characteristics: A Case Study in the Greater Beijing Area," 2006. Freeman Spogli Institute of International Studies, Stanford University. Rozelle, Scott, Daniel A. Sumner, Mechel Paggi and Jikun Huang. "Rising Demand, Trade Prospects, and the Rise of China's Horticultural Industry," 2007. Working Paper Written for NAAMIC (North American Agricultural Marketing and Industry Consortium Rozelle, Scott, Ruifa Hu, Carl Pray, Jikun Huang, C. Fan and C. Zhang. "Reforming Intellectual Property Rights, Bio-safety Management and the Bt Cotton Seed Industry in China: Who Benefits from Policy Reform?" 2006. Working Paper, Freeman Spogli Institute, Stanford University, 2006. Rozelle, Scott, Xiaoxia Dong, Honglin Wang, Jikun Juang and Thomas Reardon. "Small Traders and Small Farmers: The Small Engines Driving China's Giant Boom in Horticulture," 2006. Working Paper, Freeman Spogli Institute, Stanford University. Rozelle, Scott, Jikun Huang and J. Yang. When Dragons and Kangaroos Trade: China's Rapid Economic Growth and Its Implications for China and Australia," 2007 Australian Farm Policy. 4,1 (February): 35-49. Wahl, Thomas I. "China's Growing Demand for Apples.: Good Fruit Grower, pp36-37, February 2007. Wahl, Thomas I. "The Economics of Apples in China." Good Fruit Grower, September 2006. Wahl, Thomas I. "Is China the Low-Cost Producer?" Good Fruit Grower, p 39, July 2006. Wahl, Thomas I. "India and Apples." Good Fruit Grower, pp 46-47, May, 2006. Wang, Jinxia, Jikun Huang, Qiuqiong Huang and Scott Rozelle, 2006, "Privatization of tubewells in North China: Determinants and impacts on irrigated area, productivity and the water table." Hydrogeology Journal 14(3): 275-285. Wang, Jinxia, Scott Rozelle, Amelia Blanke, Jikun Huang and Qiuqiong Huang, 2006 "Chapter 3. The Development, Challenges and Management of Groundwater in Rural China," in "Groundwater in Developing World Agriculture: Past, Present and Options for A Sustainable Future", Eds. Mark Giordano and Tushaar Shah, International Water Management Institute 2006 Wang, Zhigang, Yanna Mao and Fred Gale, "Chinese consumer demand for food safety attributes in milk products," Food Policy, forthcoming.

Impact Statements

WERA-101 is recognized as a leading organization of China researchers. A strong network has resulted from the yearly meetings - held every year since 1994. Many collaborative projects are a result of discussions at the meetings.
WERA-101 helps develop and enhance skills and experience on Chinese agriculture and trade. Papers are presented at each meeting and published on the china.wsu.edu web site.
WERA-101 promotes and enhances international collaboration. Researchers attend from Ag Canada, and from universities in China as well as from US universities and USDA. This affords an opportunity for attendees to compare research results and initiate collaborative projects. A faculty member from Shanghai is the new chair of the committee.
WERA-101 promotes graduate education. At each meeting several graduate students present their research findings. This provides opportunities for them to interact with other faculty, USDA researchers and business people with interests in China. They are able to access research and information that would otherwise be unavailable to them. The meeting also provides them experience in making academic presentations.