HOW CAN we balance agricultural expansion and forest conservation in developing countries? Brazil has a productive agricultural sector with potential for expansion and a rich endowment of natural vegetation resources located on private land. According to the last Agricultural Census, Brazilian farms possessed about 98.5 million hectares of forestland (IBGE 2006), a little less than the combined land area of France and Germany. In 1975, when agricultural production was concentrated in southeast Brazil (Figure 1), about 60 percent of farmland was native vegetation. However, since then, technological change and market reforms have enabled national agricultural expansion. By 2006, the share of native vegetation within private properties had decreased to 46 percent (IBGE 1975; 2006).

AFTER SUFFERING a major blow from trade disruptions with China and Mexico, US pork producers are keeping close watch on African Swine Fever (ASF) in China and other countries. The βirst case of ASF in China was conβirmed August 2, 2018 in the northeastern city of Shenyang. According to our information, by the end of October 2018, there were 45 cases of ASF in China with 5,439 pigs infected and 3,841 pigs dead (download the ASF cases in China as an Excel βile ).

CAN YOU have too much of a good thing? In the case of agricultural products, the answer from a market perspective is yes. Over the past six years, the United States has produced a series of bumper crops, greatly expanded pork production, and seen a signiβicant rebound in beef production. But those production gains have come at the cost of lower prices and incomes. Arguably the largest challenge in agricultural markets today is βinding enough demand growth to keep pace with production increases.

IN THE fall of 1997, the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force was established to better understand and address hypoxia concerns in the Gulf of Mexico. The task force includes representatives from numerous state and federal agencies including the US Army Corps of Engineers, USDA, the US Department of Commerce, US Department of Interior, US Fish and Wildlife Service, EPA, and the National Tribal Water Council. In 2008, the Task Force released an action plan outlining a national strategy to tackle recurrent hypoxic conditions in the Northern Gulf of Mexico and improve water quality in the Mississippi River Basin (Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan 2008). The report suggests that at least a 45 percent reduction in riverine total nitrogen and phosphorus is needed in order to control the size of the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Complementary efforts by EPA have encouraged individual states to establish frameworks to reduce nutrient pollution in their states (US EPA 2011; 2016). The EPA underscores that nitrogen and phosphorus pollution could become “one of the costliest and the most challenging environmental problems [in the United States].”