OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2023-2032
Annex A. Glossary
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Aquaculture |
The farming of aquatic organisms including fish, molluscs, crustaceans, aquatic plants, etc. Farming implies some form of intervention in the rearing process to enhance production, such as regular stocking, feeding and protection from predators. Farming also implies individual or corporate ownership of the stock being cultivated. For statistical purposes, aquatic organisms that are harvested by an individual or corporate body that has owned them throughout their rearing period contribute to aquaculture, while aquatic organisms that are exploitable by the public as a common property resource, with or without appropriate licenses, are the harvest of capture fisheries. In this Outlook, data relating to aquatic plants are not included. |
African Swine Fever (ASF) |
ASF is a highly contagious hemorrhagic disease of pigs, warthogs, European wild boar and American wild pigs. It is not a human health threat. The organism that causes ASF is a DNA virus of the Asfarviridae family. (For more information on this topic: https://www.woah.org/en/disease/african-swine-fever/) |
Avian Influenza (AI) |
AI is a highly contagious viral infection which can affect all species of birds and can manifest itself in different ways depending mainly on the ability of the virus to cause disease (pathogenicity) on the species affected (for more information on this topic, see https://www.woah.org/en/disease/avian-influenza/) |
Baseline |
The set of market projections used for the Outlook analysis, also used as benchmark to analyse the impact of different economic and policy scenarios. A detailed description on how this baseline was generated is provided in the methodology section |
Biofuels |
In the wider sense, biofuels can be defined as all solid, fluid or gaseous fuels produced from biomass. More narrowly, the term comprises fuels that replace petroleum-based road-transport fuels. Ethanol is produced from sugar crops, cereals and other starchy crops, and can be used as an additive to, in a blend with, or as a replacement of gasoline. Biodiesel is produced mostly from vegetable oils, but also from waste oils and animal fats. There are two major forms of biodiesel: fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) and hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO). |
Biomass |
Biomass is defined as any plant matter used directly as fuel or converted into other forms before combustion. Included are wood, vegetal waste (including wood waste and crops used for energy production), animal materials/wastes and industrial and urban wastes, used as feedstock for producing bio-based products. In the context of the Outlook, it does not include agricultural commodities used in the production of biofuels (e.g. vegetable oils, sugar or grains). |
Blend wall |
The term blend wall refers to short run technical constraints that act as an impediment to increased biofuel use in transportation fuels. |
BRICS |
Refers to the emerging economies of Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, the People’s Republic of China, and South Africa. |
Bt cotton |
A transgenic cotton variety that contains one or more foreign genes derived from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. Bt cotton is resistant against some insect pests, but the fibre of BT cotton plants is shorter than that of traditional varieties. |
Caloric sweeteners |
Defined as sucrose and high fructose syrup. |
Capture fisheries |
Capture fisheries refer to the hunting, collecting and gathering activities directed at removing or collecting live wild aquatic organisms (predominantly fish, molluscs and crustaceans) including plants from the oceanic, coastal or inland waters for human consumption and other purposes by hand or more usually by various types of fishing gear such as nets, lines and stationary traps. The production of capture fisheries is measured by nominal catches (in live weight basis) of fish, crustaceans, molluscs and other aquatic animals and plants, killed, caught, trapped or collected for all commercial, industrial, recreational and subsistence purposes. It should be noted that in this Outlook data relating to aquatic plants are not included. |
Cereals |
Defined as wheat, maize, other coarse grains and rice (milled). |
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) |
The European Union’s agricultural policy, first defined in Article 39 of the Treaty of Rome signed in 1957 |
Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) |
CPTPP is a trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Viet Nam. It was signed in March 2018 and came into force for the first six countries in December 2018. |
Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) |
CETA is a trade agreement between the European Union and Canada. CETA was signed in October 2016 and is in provisional application as of April 2017. Full ratification and implementation is still pending |
COVID-19 |
COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus. This new virus and disease were unknown before the outbreak began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. COVID-19 is now a pandemic affecting many countries globally. |
Decoupled payments |
Direct payments which are not linked to current production of specific commodities or livestock numbers or the use of specific factors of production. |
Developed and developing countries |
See summary table for country grouping in the Agricultural Outlook. |
Direct payments |
Payments made directly by governments to producers |
Domestic support |
Refers to the annual level of support, expressed in monetary terms, provided to agricultural production. It is one of the three pillars of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture targeted for reduction. |
El Niño- Southern Oscillation |
El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) refers to periodic but irregular variations in wind and sea surface temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean. ENSO consists of a warming phase known as El Niño and a cooling phase known as La Niña, and occurs typically at intervals of two to seven years. The abnormal warm ocean climate conditions of El Niño are accompanied by higher local rainfall and flooding, and massive deaths of fish and their predators (including birds). |
Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) 2007 |
US legislation passed in December 2007 that is designed to increase US energy security by lessening dependence on imported oil, to improve energy conservation and efficiency, expand the production of renewable fuels, and to make America’s air cleaner for future generations. |
Ethanol |
A biofuel that can be used as a fuel substitute (hydrous ethanol) or a fuel extender (anhydrous ethanol) in mixes with petroleum, and which is produced from agricultural feedstocks such as sugar cane and maize. Anhydrous alcohol is free of water and at least 99% pure. Hydrous alcohol contains water and usually has a purity of 96%. In Brazil, this ethanol is being used as a gasohol substitute in flex-fuel vehicles. |
Everything-But-Arms (EBA) |
The EBA Initiative eliminates EU import tariffs for numerous goods, including agricultural products, from the least developed countries as of 2009-10. |
Export subsidies |
Subsidies given to traders to cover the difference between internal market prices and world market prices, such as the EU export restitutions. The elimination of agricultural export subsidies is part of the Nairobi Package adopted at the WTO’s Tenth Ministerial Conference in December 2015. |
Farm Bill |
In the United States, the Farm Bill is the primary agricultural and food policy tool of the federal government. |
Fertiliser |
Fertilisers provide essential nutrients for maintaining agricultural crop yields and quality, and for growth in production. The three most important nutrients are nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). |
Flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs) |
Vehicles that can run on either gasohol or on hydrous ethanol. |
Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) |
FMD is the most contagious disease of mammals and has a great potential for causing severe economic loss in susceptible cloven-hoofed animals (https://www.woah.org/en/disease/foot-and-mouth-disease/). International animal trade is linked to the FMD-status according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH). |
Fresh dairy products |
Fresh Dairy Products contain all dairy products and milk which are not included in the processed products (butter, cheese skim milk powder, whole milk powder and for some cases casein and whey). The quantities are in cow milk equivalent. |
G20 |
The G20 is an international forum made up of 19 countries and the European Union, representing the world’s major developed and emerging economies. Together, the G20 members represent 85% of global GDP, 75% of international trade, and two-thirds of the world’s population. Originally bringing together finance ministers and central bank governors, the G20 has evolved into a forum to address broader global challenges. |
Gasohol |
Fuel that is a mixture of gasoline and anhydrous ethanol. |
High Fructose Sweetener (HFS) |
Starch-based sweetener extracted mainly from maize (high fructose corn syrup or HFCS). |
Intervention stocks |
Stocks held by national intervention agencies in the European Union as a result of intervention buying of commodities subject to market price support. Intervention stocks may be released onto the internal market if internal prices exceed intervention prices. |
Isoglucose |
Isoglucose is a starch-based fructose sweetener, produced by the action of the glucose isomerase enzyme on dextrose. This isomerisation process can be used to produce glucose/fructose blends containing up to 42% fructose. Application of a further process can raise the fructose content to 55%. Where the fructose content is 42%, isoglucose is equivalent in sweetness to sugar. |
Least squares growth rate |
The least-squares growth rate, r, is estimated by fitting a linear regression trend line to the logarithmic annual values of the variable in the relevant period, as follows: Ln(xt) = a + r * t and is calculated as [exp (r) – 1]. |
Live weight |
The weight of meat, finfish and shellfish at the time of their capture or harvest. In the case of fish products it is calculated on the basis of conversion factors from landed to nominal weight and on rates prevailing among national industries for each type of processing. |
Market access |
Governed by provisions of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture which refer to concessions contained in the country schedules with respect to bindings and reductions of tariffs and to other minimum import commitments. |
Marketing year |
It is common to compare crop production across “marketing years,” which are defined so that one season’s harvest is not artificially split up across different calendar years. In this Outlook, international marketing years are mostly defined starting with their harvest in major supply regions, as follows: • Wheat: 1 June; 1 October in Australia • Cotton: 1 August • Maize: 1 September; 1 March in Australia • Other coarse grains : 1 September; 1 November in Australia • Sugar, soybeans, other oilseeds, protein meal, vegetable oils: 1 October; 1 November in Australia. Whenever the text refers to, for example, the marketing year 2021, this is short for 2021/22 for the above commodities. For all other commodities, the marketing year is equal to the calendar year except for meat and dairy products in New Zealand and beef and dairy products in Australia: year ending June 30. |
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) |
A trilateral agreement on trade, including agricultural trade, between Canada, Mexico, and the United States, phasing out tariffs and revising other trade rules between the three countries over a 15-year period. The agreement was signed in December 1992 and came into effect on 1 January 1994. In 2018, a new agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada (USMCA) was signed. This agreement entered into force on 1 July 2020. |
Other coarse grains |
Defined as barley, oats, sorghum and other coarse grains in all countries except Australia where it includes triticale, and in the European Union where it includes rye and other mixed grains. |
Other oilseeds |
Defined as rapeseed (canola), sunflower seed, and groundnuts (peanuts). |
Producer Support Estimate (PSE) |
Indicator developed and compiled by the OECD showing the annual monetary value of gross transfers from consumers and taxpayers to agricultural producers, measured at farm gate level, and arising from policy measures (regardless of their nature, objectives or impacts on farm production or income). The PSE measures support arising from policies targeted to agriculture relative to a situation without such policies, i.e. when producers are subject only to general policies (including economic, social, environmental and tax policies) of the country. The percentage PSE is the ratio of the PSE to the value of total gross farm receipts, measured by the value of total production (at farm gate prices) plus budgetary support (see http://www.oecd.org/agriculture/topics/agricultural-policy-monitoring-and-evaluation/). |
Protein meals |
Defined as soybean meal, groundnut meal, rapeseed meal, sunflower meal, coconut meal, cottonseed meal and palm kernel meal. |
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) |
Purchasing power parities (PPPs) are the rates of currency conversion that eliminate the differences in price levels between countries. The PPPs are given in national currency units per US dollar. |
Renewable Energy Directive (RED) |
EU directive legislating binding mandates of 20% for the share of renewable energy in all Member States’ energy mix by the year 2020, with a specific target of 10% for the renewable energy share in transport fuels. |
Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS and RFS2) |
A standard in the United States for renewable fuel use in the transport sector in the Energy Act (EISA). RFS2 is a revision of the RFS program for 2010 and beyond. |
Roots and Tubers |
Plants that yield starch, either derived from their roots (e.g. cassava, sweet potato and yams) or stems (e.g. potatoes and taro). They are destined mainly for human food (as such or in processed form) but can also be used for animal feed or for manufacturing starch, ethanol and fermented beverages. Unless they are processed, they become highly perishable once harvested, which limits opportunities for trade and storage. Roots and tubers contain large amounts of water: all quantities in this publication refer to dry weight to increase comparability. |
Scenario |
A model-generated set of market projections based on alternative assumptions than those used in the baseline. Used to provide quantitative information on the impact of changes in assumptions on the outlook. |
Stock-to-use ratio |
The stock-to-use ratio for cereals is defined as the ratio of cereal stocks to its domestic utilisation. |
Stock-to-disappearance ratio |
The stock-to-disappearance ratio is defined as the ratio of stocks held by the main exporters to their disappearance (i.e. domestic utilisation plus exports). For wheat, the eight major exporters are considered, namely the United States, Argentina, the European Union, Canada, Australia, Russian Federation, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. In the case of coarse grains, United States, Argentina, the European Union, Canada, Australia, Russian Federation, Ukraine, and Brazil are considered. For rice Viet Nam, Thailand, India, Pakistan and the United States enter this ratio calculation. |
Sugar |
Sucrose produced from sugar beet and sugarcane |
Support price |
Prices fixed by government policy makers in order to determine, directly or indirectly, domestic market or producer prices. All administered price schemes set a minimum guaranteed support price or a target price for the commodity, which is maintained by associated policy measures, such as quantitative restrictions on production and imports; taxes, levies and tariffs on imports; export subsidies; and/or public stockholding |
Tariff-Rate Quota (TRQ) |
A two-tier tariff regime where imports within the quota enter at a lower (“in-quota”) tariff rate while a higher (“out-of-quota”) tariff rate is used for imports above this level, As part of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture, certain countries agreed to provide minimum import opportunities for products they had previously protected by tariffs. |
Tel quel basis |
Weight of sugar, regardless of its sucrose content (measured by polarisation). |
Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture (URAA) |
An international agreement negotiated as part of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The URAA entered into force simultaneously with the establishment of the World Trade Organization in 1995. The URAA contains commitments to improve market access, reduce distorting domestic support, and reduce export subsidies. A separate agreement covers sanitary and phyto sanitary measures known as the SPS Agreement. |
Vegetable oils |
Defined as rapeseed oil (canola), soybean oil, sunflower seed oil, coconut oil, cottonseed oil, palm kernel oil, groundnut oil and palm oil. |
World Trade Organization (WTO) |
Intergovernmental organisation regulating international trade, providing a framework for negotiating trade agreements, and acting as dispute resolution process. The WTO was created by the Uruguay Round agreement and officially commenced in 1995. |