Agricultural trade reform, reallocation and technical change: Evidence from the Canadian Prairies

Arbeitspapier

We decompose the impact of trade reform on technology adoption and land use to study how aggregate changes were driven by reallocation versus within-farm adaptation. Using detailed census data covering over 30,000 farms in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada we find a range of new results. We find that the reform-induced shift from producing low-value to high-value crops for export, the adoption of new seeding technologies and reduction in summerfallow observed at the aggregate level between 1991 and 2001 were driven mainly by the within-farm effect. In the longer run, however, reallocation of land from shrinking and exiting farms to growing and new farms explains more than half of the aggregate changes in technology adoption and land use between 1991 and 2011.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IFN Working Paper ; No. 1181

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Empirical Studies of Trade ; Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products ; Agricultural R&D; Agricultural Technology; Biofuels; Agricultural Extension Services ; Agriculture in International Trade ; Agricultural Policy; Food Policy
• Subject: Agricultural Trade Liberalization ; Export Subsidy ; Technical Change ; Farm Size ; Firm Heterogeneity

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Brown, Mark ; Ferguson, Shon ; Viju, Crina
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)
• (where): Stockholm
• (when): 2017

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/183410
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET