AGRICULTURE, ENERGY, AND THE
ENVIRONMENT
Please click on the titles below for
each speaker's presentation.
“How
Vulnerable Is Agriculture
to Higher Energy Prices?”
David
Roland-Holst, UC Berkeley
Rising energy
prices pose a renewed challenge to U. S. economic security. A long
legacy of low domestic fuel costs has sustained patterns of economic
structure and technology adoption that may not be appropriate to future
market conditions. This is particularly true in agriculture, where
production relies on subsidized energy resources and the sales can be
highly dependent on energy-intensive distribution services. In farming,
significant and sustained increases in energy cost could induce
far-reaching adjustments, yet the base of evidence for understanding
our energy price vulnerability is relatively weak. Here we provide a
snapshot of the energy price dependence of California agriculture,
using a new dataset to estimate how energy costs pass through to
producer prices. Our results indicate that vulnerability of California
farmers is significant, and there is wide dispersion of energy
dependence across the state’s diverse portfolio of farm products. Both
these findings imply that farm policy needs to better anticipate energy
price impacts on agriculture.
David Roland Holst is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of
Agricultural and Resources Economics and Director of the Center for
Energy, Resources, and Economic Sustainability (CERES) at the
University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Roland-Holst is one of
the world’s leading authorities on economic policy modeling. He
has extensive research experience in economics related to environment,
development, agriculture, and international trade, authoring three
books and over 80 articles in professional journals and books.
Professor Roland-Holst has served in several academic posts in Europe
and the U.S. He also conducted research in over 30 countries, working
with many public institutions including a variety of Federal and state
agencies, the Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank,
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), World
Bank, and several United Nations agencies, as well as governments in
Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the U.S. Professor Roland-Holst holds
a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and
is a U.S. citizen.
“The Net Energy
Content of Ethanol”
Roger Conway, ERS, U. S.
Department of Agriculture
Roger Conway is a native of Virginia and received his B.A. degree in
Economics at The George Washington University, his M.A. in Economics at
George Mason University, and his Ph.D. in Economics at The George
Washington University. He joined the Economic Research Service
(ERS) of the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1978 as an
Agricultural Economist specializing in commodity modeling. In
1985, Roger spent a year with the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S.
Department of Commerce, as an Econometrician before returning to ERS to
become Section Leader of the Productivity and Public Policy Section in
the Resources and Technology Division. In that capacity, Roger
led successful program initiatives to redesign the current USDA
productivity indices, introduce important recent advances in
agricultural production economics into the staff analysis and
policymaking process, and evaluate sustainable agricultural production
practices. For his efforts with ERS, Roger has received four ERS
Administrator Special Merit Awards.
Roger became Director of what is now called the Office of Energy Policy
and New Uses (OEPNU) in 1990. As OEPNU’s Director, Roger
led many interagency and interdepartmental efforts, presented results
of special analysis and technical information and represented policy
positions of the Department on a variety of sensitive issues. He
has served as the Department representative for such activities as the
Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Strategy, DOE Oil and Gas
Initiative, and the White House Bioenergy Initiative.
“Water for Food,
Energy, and the Environment”
David Zilberman, UC Berkeley –
Giannini Foundation
Higher energy prices will
affect agriculture through higher output prices and higher input and
transportation costs. Irrigated agriculture will be especially
affected because much of it relies on energy for pumping, conveyance,
or desalinization. High energy prices will increase the cost of
groundwater pumping but may worsen groundwater depletion
problems. The cost of subsidization of water will increase,
potentially leading to reform. Specifically, subsidies may be
reduced, leading to adoption of water conservation technologies and
improved pumps. The price of surface water may decline in regions that
produce hydroelectric power, and water use may increase. In other
regions relying on energy-dependent conveyance, rising water prices may
trigger more efficient pricing and resource use. Biofuel will increase
pressure on water systems and may have negative consequences for the
poor because of higher food prices. Adoption of GMO and other
supply-enhancing technologies will be essential to reduce the
distributional consequences of biofuel introduction. The
integration of agribusiness with the energy sector may lead to
increased efficiency of irrigation systems and cross-sectoral transfer
of knowledge. Agricultural and water policies should be more
integrated with environmental and energy polices.
David Zilberman is a Professor and holds the Robinson Chair in the
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at U. C. Berkeley. He
is the Director of the Center for Sustainable Resource Development and
was the Director of the Giannini Foundation from 2003-2007. David
received his B. A. in Economics and Statistics at Tel Aviv University,
Israel, and his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, in
1979. David’s areas of expertise include agricultural and environmental
policy; marketing, the economics of innovation, risk, water,
pesticides, and biotechnology. David is a Fellow of the American
Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA). He won the AAEA 2007
Quality of Communication Award and Outstanding Review of Agricultural
Economics Article, the AAEA 2005 Publication of Enduring Quality Award,
the 2002 Quality of Research Discovery Award, and the 2000 Cannes Water
and the Economy Award. David has published over 180 refereed articles
in journals ranging form Choices to Science, and edited 10 books.
He has served as a consultant to the World Bank, FAO, USDA, CGIAR, EPA,
and CDFA. He served as Department Chair from 1994 to 1999, and was on
the boards of the AAEA and C-FARE and on two NRC panels.