The paper analyses various forms of direct payments using the agent-based model AgriPoliS. The model is fitted to the agricultural region 'Hohenlohe' in Baden-Württemberg which is characterised by intensive livestock farming. The policy simulations show that decoupled payments which are...

The Uruguay Round has established completely new rules for agricultural trade, but not yet achieved much liberalisation. The current new round of negotiations will, therefore, have to make another big step forward. Countries’ views on what exactly should be agreed in the new round still...

In this article, legal consequences of the new German genetic engineering act are analyzed. In addition environmental economic analysis is presented of those parts of the act that introduce new litigation regulation to farmers. The different kinds of external costs arising from genetic...

The article addresses the role the European Union plays in the agri-environmental policy and considers the co-financing of agri-environmental programmes in Germany. First, the development of measures taken under this policy is described from the 1980ies until the present Agenda 2000, taking...

The impact of political institutions, e.g. the organization of legislature, election and party systems, on agricultural protection has hardly been taken into account explicitly in theoretical and empirical studies, yet. In this framework the paper investigates to what extent political...

The paper describes the development and policy environment of organic farming in the European Union, where organic farming has grown rapidly due to a variety of factors. Policy measures concerning area-based financial support for conversion to and continuation of organic farming,...