World Agriculture Resources

 

Basic country information resources

  • Country Studies/Area HandbookDoc D 101.22 550/ ...
    Joint Lib of congress/Dept. of Army series providing great coverage on multi-aspects of most countries of the world (cultural, history, political, economic resources, agriculture, etc). Includes maps. Each book covers an individual country. To find on PALS, use the country name and "country study" as key words.
  • Europa World Year Book Ref JN1 E85 (not available on the web from NDSU)
    Great resource for lots of information packaged in a concise manner - good for statistical overview, historical summary of the country, major exports/imports, etc. The title belies its coverage--Europa is indeed a resource for all countries world wide.
  • World Bank Group: Quality and reliable information on the developing world. Information covering social and economic development and problems facing developing economies is accessible on this site. Some World Bank publications may be publically available online from its World Bank E-Library, a collection of full-text World Bank documents browsable by regionor by topic. Also, some of the World Bank publications are available in the library in print format.
  • World FactbookRef G122 U56a
    Produced by the CIA. A good source for brief data on countries world wide.(also on Stat-USA site)
  • Background NotesRef. G59 .U512
    U.S. State Dept country summaries; very brief concise information.

  • BBC News World Edition: Country Profiles Provides an "instant guide" to news, history, politics, event timelines, and economic background of world countries. Presents country overviews, basic facts, Web links, and details on leaders and media. Includes news stories and audio and video clips from the BBC archives.

  • OFFSTATS: Official Statistics on the Web "A central source for links to official international statistics sites...Global, regional, and national statistics are available in a wide range of topic areas including demographics, economics, finance, crime, and religion. Searchable. Examples of statistics providers include the UN, World Bank, US Census Bureau, and the OECD. From University of Auckland Library, New Zealand." (description from Librarians Index to the Internet)
  • International data base (IDB) Browsable online "data bank containing statistical tables of demographic, and socio-economic data for 227 countries and areas of the world." Includes summary demographic data, statistics, charts, and spreadsheets. Data goes back about 10 years, and projects into the future.
  • World ResourcesRef HC10 W827
    An authoritative reference for global environmental and natural resource conditions and trends published for the United Nations, World Bank, and related international organizations. Essays and statistical tables include global and country by country information on population, food production, food consumption, energy use, nutrition and health, agricultural production, agricultural land inputs, fisheries, energy production and consumption.

Agricultural production and trade information and economic policy resources

  • FAO Production Yearbook (then click on Statistical Databases) Print edition: Ref HD1421 F585
    Use either the print yearbooks, or the interactive web site for production data by country and commodity.
  • FAO Trade Yearbook (then click on Statistical Databases) Print edition: Ref HD9000.4 F58
    Use either the print yearbooks, or the interactive web site for trade data by country and commodity.

  • Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI): "Provides economic analysis for policy makers, opinion leaders, and stakeholders in U.S. agriculture" Also includes world wide export, import, acerage, yield information for major crops as well as long range projections. Research reports, and annual Briefing Book and FAPRI Outlook available full text online.

  • Stat-USA (ask at the Reference Desk for log-in)
    Includes current and historical trade-related bulletins, international market research and trends, trade opportunities, country analysis, and a database of export and import statistics called the National Trade Data Bank (NTDB).

Marketing and economic resources

  • Country Commercial Guides
    Prepared by U.S. embassies with the assistance of several U.S. government agencies. These reports present a comprehensive look at countries' commercial environments, using economic, political and market analysis
  • World Development ReportRef HC59.7 W659
    World Bank's report. Includes "Social Indicators of Development," with country by country statistics on poverty, hunger, health, education, and economic data.
  • International Monetary Fund (IMF) Especially useful on this searchable site are the Public Information Notes, which are IMF assessments of the economic policy and trends of member nations.
  • Economist.com: country briefings Country profiles including Factsheets describing the country and its currency; Forecast, dealing with elections, economic forecasts, and policy changes that are expected in the next few years; Economic Data, downloadable as an Excel spreadsheet; and finally Political Structure/Force and Economic Structure sections. Produced by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), publisher of the Economist.
  • Index of economic freedom Provided by the Heritage Foundation (a politically conservative free enterprise organization) and The Wall Street Journal. "Economic freedom factors" including trade policy from over 160 countries are analyzed and scored.
  • Global Macroeconomic and Financial Policy Site Provided by the Stern School of business, New York University, this site includes current macroeconomic and financial policy information. The home page is divided into three sections: readings, currrent news, and hot topics. Topics have an international focus, covering the US, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Most information on this site is taken from academic and business news sources.

 

Food resources

"The Global Food Markets Briefing Room presents an examination of trends and factors affecting consumers' demand for food in countries around the world and the impact on the ongoing evolution of global food supply chains, which in turn affects global food trade patterns."
  • Food and Agriculture Organization FAO is a unit within the United Nations dedicated to the promotion of world wide agricultural development, improved nutrition and the pursuit of food security. It collects, analyzes and disseminates information on food and agricultural issues. Its website is searchable and contains many of these reports and statistical analyses.
  • FAS Online
    U.S. Foreign Agriculture Service marketing reports, attache reports, market trends, export/import data, news releases, and trade leads.
  • The State of Food and Agriculture Ref S401.U6A317
    World review and background of the global food and agriculture situation. Supplementary disk includes additional country statistics on agriculture, production and food supply with easy to use software suitable for making your own tables and graphs.
  • Hungerweb
    Web site with hot links to data related to global hunger related data sources.

  • Oxford Companion to Food. Ref TX349 .D38 1999
    An encyclopedia of all aspects of food and cooking. Includes entries for countries with brief but informative articles on food eating patterns, major foods consumed, etc.

  • You Eat What You Are: people, culture and food traditions. (Thelma Barer-Stein) Ref GT2850 .B37 1999
    An encyclopedia of food traditions, food habits, and food consumption patterns. World wide coverage, arranged by broad geographic area, then by country.

  • World Food Survey Ref TX341.W67 1996 (not yet available on the web)
    The World Food Survey to reviews the emerging situation of food and nutrition in the world as a whole and in its various regions.

PALS online book catalog

  • For books about a particular aspect of a country, enter the country name (or a broader regional designation) combined with subject terms such as agricult#, crops, soil#, trade, export#, import#, food, statistics.

Indexes to research in journals.

  • Academic Search Premier (EBSCO) Index to periodicals (many with full text available online). Includes an eclectic collection of research journals, periodicals, and general news magazines,
  • AGRICOLA: Produced by U.S. National Agricultural Library. Indexes journals and reports in all areas of agriculture.
  • CAB: Produced by Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux. Indexes worldwide journal literature about agriculture.
  • AgEcon Search A searchable full-text library of agricultural and applied economics scholarly literature. Mostly comprised of research reports from university agricultural economics departemnents.
Page Content: Kathie Richardson