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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the feasibility of preparing a statement of owner equity (SOE) and statement of cash flows (SOCF) for the agricultural sector. Also, the use of the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) to collect data needed to supplement the US farm sector accounts to prepare a sector SOE and SOCF is discussed.

An SOE and SOCF for an individual producer was used to provide an example format for preparing an SOE and SOCF for the agricultural sector and to identify the data needed from the ARMS survey to supplement farm sector accounts.

The format and data needed to prepare a sector SOE and SOCF were identified and the feasibility of the collection of that data using current ERS/USDA survey collection methods would provide the data needed to prepare the statements. However, the use of two independent data collection authorities to collect the data would result in an agricultural sector SOE and SOCF that would not reconcile.

The paper initiates a dialog of possible alternatives available to the ERS/USDA and researchers concerning data needed and data sources available to prepare an agricultural sector SOE and SOCF, as well as the shortfalls and inaccuracies that would result.

The purpose of this study is to examine how US farm sector performed in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. There were significant supply and demand shocks due to the pandemic. Furthermore, there was significant fluctuation in commodity prices and record high government payments in 2020. This study aims to examine the performance and position of US farm sector (financially) to system (and global economy) wide shocks.

The authors examine 2020 values for farm sector financial ratios before and after the onset of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic using the data from the United States Department of Agriculture to understand the financial position and performance of the US farm sector.

The authors find solvency ratios (which are indicators of the sector's ability to repay financial liabilities via the sale of assets) worsened in 2020 relative to pre-pandemic expectations. Efficiency ratios (which evaluate the conversion of assets into production and revenue) and liquidity ratios (which are indicators of the availability of cash to cover debt payments) showed mixed outcomes for the realized results in 2020 relative to the pre-pandemic forecasts. Four profitability ratios were stronger in 2020 relative to pre-pandemic expectations. All solvency, liquidity and profitability ratios plus 2 out of 5 efficiency ratios for 2020 were weaker than their respective average ratios obtained from 2000 to 2019 data.

This research is one of the first papers to use financial ratios to examine how the US farm sector performed in 2020 compared to expectations prior to the pandemic.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) on farm sector wage rate. This identification strategy rests on the assumption that all districts across India would have had similar wage trends in the absence of the program. The author argues that this assumption may not be true due to non-random allocation of districts to the program’s three phases across states and different economic growth paths of the states post the implementation of NREGS.

To control for overall macroeconomic trends, the author allows for state-level time fixed effects to capture the differences in growth trajectories across districts due to changing economic landscape in the parent-state over time. The author also estimates the expected farm sector wage growth due to the increased public work employment provision using a theoretical model.

The results, contrary to the existing studies, do not find support for a significantly positive impact of NREGS treatment on private cultivation wage rate. The theoretical model also shows that an increase in public employment work days explains very little of the total growth in cultivation wage post 2004.

This paper looks specifically at farm sector wage growth and the possible impact of NREGS on it, accounting for state specific factors in shaping farm wages. Theoretical estimates are presented to overcome econometric limitations.

The farm sector is crucial for rural poverty alleviation, alongside the non-farm sector, which contributes to mitigating risks associated with crop failures. This paper investigates the effects of public policies on productive employment within both the farm and non-farm sectors in sub-Saharan Africa.

A meta-analysis is conducted exclusively on the results of the Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP)-funded studies under the Policy Analysis on Growth and Employment (PAGE II) initiative. Selected studies focused on the impact of public policies on productive employment in rural farm and non-farm sectors, encompassing a total of nine sub-Saharan Africa countries in: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Lesotho, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa.

The results indicate that public investments in rural areas and public policies that facilitate access to productive resources are likely to enhance productive employment. The overall effect size is positive and significant, ranging from 2% to 10% increases in productive employment. Sources of variation include the sector of activity and the policy instrument. In addition, the policy effects are gender-sensitive and seem more consistent in the non-farm sector.

Although the selected working papers addressed several aspects of productive employment, other aspects warrant further investigation. Policies involving restrictions or regulations have received little attention in the impact analysis. Researches to fill this gap would be important. Another suggestion for further research is the analysis of the relative importance of non-farm employment in rural areas in developing countries. It is always assumed that rural households depend heavily on agriculture for their subsistence.

The contribution of the paper lies in the comparative analysis of numerous public policies implemented in nine distinct countries. By consolidating data from fourteen 14 different experiences into a single study, the paper offers valuable insights on factors that determine policy effectiveness and contribute to understanding what worked for whom and why.

Doubling farming households’ income through occupational diversification to the non-farm sector has been advocated to be of paramount importance in an agrarian economy such as India. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effects of non-farm activities on rural household incomes in four different Indian states by using a propensity score matching technique and developing an endogenous switching model.

The research is based on secondary data taken from four quinquennial rounds of employment and unemployment surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Organization.

The matching results indicate a maximum monthly rise in per capita income of Rs. 60 in Gujarat and a minimum increase of Rs. 18 in Rajasthan among rural households employed in the non-farm sector as compared to the farm sector. The findings confirm that rural non-farm structural diversification cannot be viewed as a blueprint for increasing rural household incomes in different states. Further, it suggests the need to segmenting the different states on the basis of agricultural development for increasing rural incomes.

The study argues that Indian states with a strongly developed farm sector i.e. Gujarat and Punjab are not ideally suited to undergo structural changes in their economic pursuit. The estimates suggest that the transition of rural households from farm to non-farm-sector activities is a very weak strategy in agriculturally developed states of Gujarat and Punjab, whereas non-farm diversification becomes a pivotal strategy for increasing rural household incomes in less agriculturally developed states such as Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. A contrasting point that arises from these evidence is that although diversification to the non-farm sector leads to higher income, but the resultant figures are very scanty.

The present study contributes to the existing literature by providing evidence and policy implications on rural non-farm diversification in India and its impact on the rural household income. The study can help the policymakers in framing policies aiming at increasing the income of the rural household through the structural transition of the rural economy.

A major policy issue facing leaders in the developing world is whether international migration, through remittances, contributes to the development process in migrant-sending communities or impedes the efficient allocation of labor and human capital at the origin countries. This study examines the impact of remittance inflows on out-farm migration of farm labor toward the nonfarm sector. Specifically, this study shows how international migrant remittances may alter the predictions of out-farm migration models by Harris–Todaro.

The authors use unbalanced panel time-series data on 77 developing countries between 1991 and 2010 within a dynamic panel time-series framework to estimate the impact of remittances on the out-farm migration rate.

The authors find two competing effects of remittances on out-farm migration of labor in developing countries. First, remittances decelerate the out-farm migration rates by supplementing farm income and consumption expenditures. Second, remittances provide a source of investment in nonfarm activities that increase the rate of migration out of agriculture over time. Combining these effects, on average, our elasticity estimates indicate that a 10% increase in remittances reduces the migration out of agriculture, on average, by 0.5% in developing countries over time.

The authors findings align with the “developmentalist” or “optimistic” views of international migration. International migration, through remittances, help make the inevitable transition out of the farm sector smoother for developing countries.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to extend the empirical literature on macro-level determinants of out-farm migration within the Harris–Todaro framework to explicitly account for the impacts of remittances inflows into developing countries that the new economics of labor migration (NELM) theory hypothesizes.

This study examines the relationship between economic fluctuations and financial distress in the US agricultural sector, which is associated with a large degree of financial instability.

The authors developed a parsimonious model of economic fluctuations in the US agricultural sector. The authors used statistical filter methods to identify the co-movement in cyclical fluctuations in real, cumulative growth rates in farm real estate values, farm sector debt and leverage.

The proposed model closely approximated the financial evolution of the US agricultural sector between 1960 and 2018. In addition, the authors proved that the proposed model is an early warning indicator of farm loan delinquencies and farm bankruptcies.

This study exploits recent advances in economic theory and empirical macroeconomic modeling to develop a model that is a robust predictor of financial distress in the agricultural sector. Further, the authors demonstrate that the policy interventions following the 1980s farm financial crisis demonstrate the likely long-run economic response to the policies enacted following the 2008 financial crisis.

Non-farm employment has transitioned from a residual to a dominant livelihood option in rural India. Despite the sector’s diverse welfare implications, it is still a male-dominant sector with limited scope for female’s participation. Several socio-economic and cultural factors are responsible for such disparities in occupational choices. The purpose of this study is to examine this gender dimension of occupational diversification for rural India and focuses on the role of education, caste and land ownership in explaining employment probabilities across gender.

This study uses secondary data on employment and unemployment from the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) for rural India and pooled the data for three periods that include 61st (2004–2005), 66th (2009–2010) and 68th (2011–2012) round comprising a total of 235,722 individuals. The study applies a multinomial logit regression model.

The results show that education facilitates females to diversify to sectors like manufacturing, mining and construction while educated males are more likely to diversify to services. However, the likelihood of diversification by educated females is low for those belonging to land-owning households. On the contrary, land ownership facilitates educated males to join sectors like mining and quarrying and services. It is also found that females belonging to Scheduled Tribe/Scheduled Caste (ST/SC) households diversify to low return activities like manufacturing and construction while males are more likely to join services.

This study has contributed to the literature on employment diversification by considering not only the gender aspect of diversification but also examining how education, caste and land would explain occupational choices between males and females. It is evident from the findings that education can be a liberating factor for females to participate actively in sectors outside agriculture but the status quo associated with land ownership in rural India declines their possibility of economic participation compared to males. Even educated females are confined to manufacturing and construction in the absence of proper non-farm employment opportunities for them.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the sustainability of small rural veterinary enterprise in light of recent changes in both the farming and veterinary sectors. The overarching research question relates to how small rural veterinary enterprises, especially those at the start-up stage, can meet the needs of their farming clients while ensuring their service offering is both viable and sustainable.

The paper draws on relevant rural enterprise and veterinary literatures as well as case data, and applies selected elements of Scott’s (2008) 7-P sustainability framework.

The authors find that the future sustainability of rural veterinary SMEs is dependent on the veterinary business owners being prepared to change with their clients, develop supportive partnerships and create effective marketing strategies. The authors use the findings to construct an innovative business model to help improve future sustainability of farm animal veterinary business.

The paper adopts a single case approach.

Some policy implications are discussed alongside avenues for future research. The paper contributes to the rural enterprise, agriculture and veterinary business literatures.

This is one of the few rural enterprise studies contextualized in the veterinary sector. The findings should be of value to both practitioners and policy makers concerned with ensuring future sustainability in this important sector.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how the unfolding diet transformation in East and Southern Africa is likely to influence the evolution of employment within its agrifood system (AFS) and between that system and the rest of the economy. To briefly consider implications for education and skill acquisition.

The authors link changing diets to employment structure. The authors then use alternative projections of diet change over 15- and 30-year intervals to develop scenarios on changes in employment structure.

As long as incomes in ESA continue to rise at levels near those of the past decade, the transformation of their economies is likely to advance dramatically. Key features will be: sharp decline in the share of the workforce engaged in farming even as absolute numbers rise modestly, sharp increase in the share engaged in non-farm segments of the AFS, and an even sharper increase in the share engaged outside the AFS. Within the AFS, food preparation away from home is likely to grow most rapidly, followed by food manufacturing, and finally by marketing, transport, and other AFS services. Resource booms in Mozambique and (potentially) Tanzania are the main factor that may change this pattern.

Clarifying policy implications requires renewed research given the rapid changes in Africa over the past 15 years.

This is the first paper to explicitly link changing diets to changing employment within the AFS.