Over fifteen years have elapsed since the transition from the centrally planned economic system started in the early 1990âs. During this time agricultural and rural areas of Central and Eastern Europe have undergone profound structural changes with wide variations in the degree of...

The Baltic Free Trade Agreement (BFTA) was signed in 1993, took effect on April 1, 1994, and is intended to be the first step in the formation of a customs union. However, agricultural products (agriculture, food industry, and fisheries) were excluded from the initial text, which provided that a...

Issues, choices, and strategies in the transformation of collective and state farms in transition economies are explored. Analysis includes how other reforms have an impact on the transition in farming systems and farm structure. Economic forces to direct the changing structure of farming to the...

The Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are undertaking rapid economic and structural reforms affecting the food and agricultural sectors. The environmental problems related to agriculture now and in the recent past are more in the area of chemical and animal waste runoff than in...

The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have been undertaking rapid economic and structural reforms that greatly affect the food and agricultural sectors. Among the republics of the former Soviet Union, they are progressing most rapidly in the privatization of land and production...

In the less than four years since Lithuanian independence, trade and trade policy have changed rapidly; and longer run tendencies in policies and trade patterns are beginning to emerge. This paper provides a brief overview of the traditional prereform trading arrangements and reviews the key...

Lithuania is one of three Baltic republics. Its area is 25.2 thousand square miles and it has a total population of 3.72 million people. The republic is currently moving towards independence. There are numerous political changes as a result. One outcome of these political changes is the reform...

Privatization has proceeded at a fairly rapid pace in Lithuania. By 1995, more than half of the cropland was managed by private farms and personal plots. Most of the remaining land was managed by various forms of partnerships. The input supply, processing, distribution, and retail enterprises...

The two related papers in this report were prepared for two conferences in Estonia in May 1993. The first paper (Saku) discusses alternative policy directions for Lithuanian agriculture and provides a qualitative assessment of these options. The second paper (Tartu) uses a simulation model for...

The Baltic Republics have undertaken extensive price reforms for food and agricultural products. Higher producer and consumer prices, accompanied by wage increases and income subsidies to offset higher prices, are expected to improve market efficiency. The goal is to move toward private...