With the increase in international trade , it is now possible, and in some cases necessary, for food grown in one country to be exported to another country. In some cases, this has given rise to specialization with particular countries focusing on raising particular goods. In other cases, countries have been unable to produce necessary foodstuffs and are highly dependent on imported food products. As international trade has become more commonplace in the agricultural sector, trade patterns have emerged. These patterns are subject to the influence of domestic as well as international politics, and factors entirely unrelated directly to crops can affect the trade of agricultural products. This research considers agricultural trade and trade patterns, including considering the situation of agricultural trade in Africa.
Categories of International Agriculture Issues
There are three broad categories which can be identified in the area of international agriculture: development of the agricultural sector, food consumption, and trade and resource transfers (McCalla & Josling, 1985, p. 13).
Agriculture is one of the few economic sectors which even today is produced by families for their own consumption in many developing nations. The rise of industrial agriculture is related directly to the trade policies of individual nations, but also to the infrastructure within those nations. In order for an industrial agricultural sector to develop, nations have to have an economic system which can reward producers for their investment. Centrally planned economies reward producers also, and can provide incentives for producing crops which would be otherwise unprofitable in the market. This discussion focuses on free markets rather than centrally planned economies. Governments in free markets can encourage production of certain products over others through the use of subsidies or other incentives, which can artificially inflate prices, b...