College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics

Non-AFRE Co-Principle Investigators: Don Mitchell, Fred Mangum, Jr.,Michael Petit,Donald Epp, Wesley Peterson, and Albert Pelash Paniker.

Project Name:          Assessment of Changes in the Grain-Livestock and Trade of the European Economic Community.  
Donor:                       United States Department of Agriculture – ERS and WEB
Contract No:              Unknown
Account No:              Unknown
Location:                   Original 6 countries joining the EEC, United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Norway and Spain
Duration:                   1965 -1983
Budget:                       Unknown

Key MSU Faculty:       Vernon Sorenson (Overall Coordinator), Dale Hathaway, George Rossmiller, John Ferris, Don Mitchell, Fred Mangum, Jr., Michael Petit, Donald Epp, Wesley Peterson, Albert Pelash Paniker and Harold M. Riley.

Documents:                (Click here to view)

Project Goals:           To understand possible changes in grain and livestock production, consumption and trade resulting from the joining of the six original countries into the European Economic Community.  Also to evaluate how accession to the EEC by the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Norway and Spain would affect their supply-demand and trade balances for grain and livestock products.  To assess the nature of the likely adjustments in Spain’s feed grain and livestock sectors following its accession to the European Community (EC) and to analyze the implications for trade of Spain’s accession to the EC, particularly between Spain and the United States

Project Plans/Objectives:

• To describe the present state and past trends of agriculture in West Germany, France and Italy;
• To project agricultural production to 1970 and 1975 with particular emphasis on the grain and livestock sectors;
• To study regional grain and livestock prices under European Economic Community Policies
• To study grain and livestock economy and trade patterns of the European Economic Community with projections to 1970 and 1975;
• To evaluate how accession to the EEC by the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and Norway would affect their supply-demand and trade balances for grain and livestock products;
• To make comparisons of the total trade balances for the four applicant countries plus the original six EEC countries;
• To update previously projected supply-demand balances for the existing six EEC countries;
• To study past trends in trade as part of the analysis of the probably trade effects on expanding the EEC;
• To describe the structure of the feed grain and livestock sectors in Spain and to synthesize information on organization, relevant policies, and trends in production, consumption and trade;
• To develop models and analytical tools to measure the response of producers and consumers to price and policy changes implied by accession to the EC;
• To analyze the probable adjustments in the feed grain and livestock sectors in response to a new set of prices and policies, including projections of production, consumption and trade to 1985 and 1990;
• To discuss the implications of these adjustments for US feed grain and soybean exports to Spain and to the enlarged EC.
  

Cooperating Institutions:      Institute of Farm Management at the Universität Hohenheim, Istituto de Economia e Politica Agraria Rome and Perugia, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) Paris, Institut für Landwirtschaftliche Marktlehre der Universitat, Gottingen and the Agricultural Adjustment Unit at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne.

Project Summary:    (Excerpted from introductions to the various reports produced for this project).  The signing of the Treaty of Rome by Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands on March 25, 1957, created the European Economic Community and touched off a series of changes with world-wide significance.  This eliminated all tariff and quantitative trade barriers between members, established a common tariff on trade with nonmembers and abolished restrictions of factor movements between members.  It was the first time that this many advanced economies have been united to this extent and the potential impact of the unification was believed to likely be felt in many different countries, including the USA.

While all areas of economic activity have caused adjustment problems, one of the most troublesome has been devising a common policy for agriculture.  The American government maintained a close watch on developments in EEC agricultural policy, since the formation of the Common Market united five of the top ten foreign cash markets for U.S. agricultural products into a single entity, whose policies could have influenced U.S. future sales abroad.  In order to properly guide the development of American production, policy makers and advisors needed to consider the adjustments that will result from these major changes in the European market.  The interaction of the supply-demand relationships for grain and livestock within the EEC were likely to affect the future level and mix of U.S. agricultural products and production inputs exported to the EEC.

 The study of these issues involving the original 6 countries joining the EEC was undertaken in 1965 by the Department of Agricultural Economics at MSU through arrangements with the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  Two additional studies were carried out over the period 1969 to 1982 and as additional countries joined the EEC.  

 Documents From/About This Project:  (Note scanned docs may download slowly)

•  Producer Marketing Organizations: Some Aspects of the European Experience.  1968. by Vernon L. Sorenson.  Paper presented at North Central Regional Committee (NCR’20) Seminar  “Agricultural Organization in Modern Industrial Society,” Chicago, Illinois.
• The European Market for American Farm Products—Some Concepts and Reality.  1963. Vernon L. Sorenson.  MSU Ag. Econ Paper 903. (This paper marked the beginning of Sorenson’s work with the E.U.)
• The Grain-Livestock Economy of West Germany: With projections to 1970 and 1975. 1968. By George E. Rossmiller.  Research Report No.1. Institute of International Agriculture, Michigan State University.
• The Grain-Livestock Economy of Italy: With Projections to 1970 and 1975. 1968.  By Fred A. Mangum, Jr.  Research Report No. 2. Institute of International Agriculture, Michigan State University.
• The Grain-Livestock Economy of France: With projections to 1970 and 1975.   By Michel J. Petit and Jean-Baptiste Viallon.  Research Report No. 3. Institute of International Agriculture, Michigan State University.
• Changes in Regional Grain and Livestock Prices Under the European Economic Community Policies. 1968. By Donald J. Epp. Research Report No. 4. Institute of International Agriculture, Michigan State University.
• The Grain-Livestock Economy and Trade Patterns of The European Economic Community; with Projections To 1970 And 1975. By Vernon L. Sorenson and Dale E. Hathaway. Research Report No. 5. Institute of International Agriculture, Michigan State University.
• The Impact on U.S. Agricultural Trade of the Accession of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark And Norway to the European Economic Community. 1971. By John Ferris, Timothy Josling, Brian Davey, Paul Weightman, Denis Lucey, Liam O’Callaaghan and Vernon Sorenson.  Research Report No. 11. Institute of International Agriculture, Michigan State University.
• Spain's Entry into the European Community: Effects on the Feed Grain and Livestock Sectors. 1983. By E. Wesley F. Peterson, Albert Pelach Paniker, Harold M. Riley, and Vernon L. Sorendon.  Foreign Economic Report 180. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
• State Trading in International Agricultural Markets: Institutional Dimensions and Select Cases. 1991. By Vernon L. Sorenson et. al. Publisher Washington, D.C. : International Policy Council on Agriculture and Trade, 1991.