History of the IATRC

Origin (1979-1984). The IATRC was first discussed formally at a meeting held at Stanford University in December of 1979. Subsequently, it was proposed to the Economics, Statistics and Cooperative Service of the USDA for funding (April 1980) and the IATRC held its first meeting in June 30-July 2, 1980 in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Consortium grew out of an earlier effort by six West Coast agricultural economists, interested in collaborative trade research, who began meeting in April 1978. They applied
for and received a Ford Foundation Grant to commission papers and to hold a conference on the current state of agricultural trade research. The papers were presented at an intensive seminar at Stanford in March 1979 and were subsequently published in Imperfect Markets in Agricultural Trade (Monclair, NJ: Allanheld, Osmun, 1981), Alex F. McCalla and Tim E. Josling, eds. Discussions at this seminar led to the December 1979 meeting which resulted in the formation of the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium.

The original objectives of the IATRC were: (1) to foster sustained efforts in international trade research with emphasis on the domestic impacts of policy developments in international commodity markets; (2) to encourage and facilitate interaction between IED (International Economics Division, USDA/ERS) and university trade policy researchers; and (3) to provide a forum for the exchange of research results, and the identification of problems and policy issues requiring research.

The format was to identify specific topics and meet twice per year for the purpose of hearing papers to expand members' knowledge, exchanging research ideas and developments, and fostering collaboration. The topics originally proposed for analysis were the following: (1) market structure, price formation, trading institutions, and barriers to trade; (2) market instability and price transmission; (3) EC enlargement and the North American Common Market; (4) macro/monetary linkages with agricultural trade; (5) import demand in centrally planned and middle income countries; (6) energy impacts on global agricultural trade patterns; (7) empirical research, forecasting, and medium-term and long-term policy analyses; and (8) measuring the gains from trade.

The first eight meetings of the IATRC essentially followed the format of topical selection and the solicitation of papers. 

At the December 1983 meeting (Rio Rico) organizational change began. This included an effort to involve subsets of the Consortium in active collaboration. The result was the establishment of the first Consortium Task Force. The work of these task forces was the focus of the Wye Woods meeting (July 1984) and of the Asilomar meeting (December 1984).

Decision making through a committee of the whole with a rotating chair was becoming more difficult with expanded size. It was replaced by a six-person Executive Committee chosen by constituent groups. The Chair was selected from among the Executive Committee. This change was implemented in July 1984 and the first task undertaken by the Executive Committee was to review all aspects of the Consortium and to lay out a three-year program plan. The Executive Committee met in October 1984 to prepare a proposal, which was placed before the membership in December 1984 at Asilomar.

Period 1985-90. At the Asilomar meeting, the membership had considered and approved a major revision of Consortium direction and programs. The details were published in the first edition of "The Blue Book" (IATRC: Origins, Objectives, Organization, Operations, and Program Plan for 1985-1987, June 1, 1985). Significant changes included:

1. Limiting general membership meetings to once per year, in December, and expanding the meeting's agenda to include several features:

                        - a Theme Day with Commissioned Papers;
                        - a half-day on research planning and reporting;
                        - graduate student dissertation reports;
- informal, concurrent, member-led discussion sessions of current research;
                        - free-form periods for individual interaction;
                        - an invited address by a trade policymaker; and
                        - the annual business meeting.
       

1. The initiation of a series of Public Symposia, sponsored by the IATRC, on research issues of current and lasting importance.
2. The initiation of a Working Paper Series in late 1985.
3. Establishment of a Collaborative Research and Analysis Seed Money Grant Program. This program lasted from 1985-87 during which time five seed money grants were approved, totaling $21,167. While the seed grants were beneficial in facilitating collaborative work among Consortium members, only one spawned outside funding for collaborative research. As a consequence, the membership voted to discontinue the seed grant program at the 1987 annual meeting of the Consortium. A summary of the projects, the recipients, and funds allocated are contained in Table VII.
4. The assignment to the Executive Committee to maintain a rolling 2-3 year forward plan for IATRC events.

A careful evaluation of the results of the 1985-87 program (established at the Asilomar meeting) was undertaken by the Executive Committee in July 1987 and an updated program was presented to the membership in December 1987.

Period 1991-96. A revised version of the The Blue Book was issued following the December 1991 (New Orleans) meeting (The International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium (IATRC): Objectives, Organization, Operations, and Origins, October 1991). It incorporated decisions taken at General Meetings of the membership and at Executive Committee meetings between 1985 and 1991. It clarified the rules for several IATRC activities and provided procedures and guidelines for the preparation of Commissioned Papers. The 1991 Blue Book also outlined the rules governing the award of the Minnesota Prize for Distinguished Trade Policy Contribution.

From 1997. Discussions at several General Meetings and Executive Committee meetings after 1991 led to the further updating of The Blue Book in 1996-97, with this new issue appearing in October, 1997. It updates the provisions for payment of honoraria and travel expenses, and the rules for election of Executive Committee members. It recognizes the new means of communication afforded by the Internet, acknowledges the discontinuation of the Newsletter and outlines the revision of the Minnesota Prize for Trade Policy Contribution to the Minnesota Distinguished Trade Policy Presentation.

In 1997 three longstanding members of the IATRC (Tim Josling, Alex McCalla, and T. Kelley White) prepared An Analytical History of the IATRC. Focusing on the dimensions that have made the IATRC unique and successful, the analytical history was provided to management of the funding agencies and to IATRC members.

Return to Top

Major Results

Embargo Study. In October 1985 the Chair of the IATRC (Alex McCalla) was asked by ERS to lead a Congressionally mandated study to "...determine the losses suffered by U.S. farm producers during the last decade as a result of embargoes and the failure to offer for sale on world markets commodities surplus to domestic needs at competitive prices." The appropriation for the study was $500,000. At the December 1985 meeting, Consortium members were invited to indicate their ability to participate. Sixteen members participated in the study (one as project leader and co-principal investigator, one as co-principal investigator, seven as members of the steering committee, and eight as contributors to portions of the study). The study was completed by September 30, 1986. It was released on November 15, 1986 in a press briefing and public seminar in Washington, DC. It was published as Embargoes, Surplus Disposal, and U.S. Agriculture (ERS/USDA, Agricultural Economics Report 564, December 1986, vii + 501 pp.). Despite the political controversy that swirled around the results, no one challenged the quality or validity of the economic analysis. While the study is not a formal publication of the Consortium, it likely could not have been conducted and completed on time if it had not been for the existence of the Consortium.

Uruguay Round. IATRC played a key role in fostering collaboration between government officials and academics in preparing for and carrying out the negotiations on agriculture in the Uruguay Round (UR) of the GATT. In the years leading up to the start of negotiations in 1986, the IATRC and its members were asked to provide input to the efforts undertaken at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to improve the information base for negotiations on agricultural trade. This
 included advice on estimating and using measures of policy support (such as Producer and Consumer Subsidy Equivalents) and analyzing effects of trade liberalization on agricultural markets. The OECD analytical effort (the ministerial trade mandate) may also have derived some of its vigor and credibility as a result of being the chosen subject of discussion at two IATRC meetings (in December 1983 and June 1984).

Early in the Uruguay Round the IATRC decided to follow closely the negotiations on agriculture and to attempt to develop the analytical capacity to assist government officials involved in their technical aspects. The IATRC did this by choosing several UR-related subjects for its Public Symposia and Theme Days from 1987 onwards, and by establishing task forces (typically including academics and government officials) for the in-depth analysis of particular issues in the negotiations on agriculture.

The Public Symposia and Theme Days generated books and reports that helped to disseminate ideas and conclusions to a wider audience than those participating in the meetings. The work of the task forces found an outlet in a series of Commissioned Papers. The first three of these served as background documents for the August 1988 Public Symposium Bringing Agriculture into the GATT. Four additional Commissioned Papers were issued in 1990, when the negotiations were expected to enter their final phase. The 1990 papers addressed the major technical issues that had arisen in the
negotiations on agriculture. Following the 1990 delay in negotiations, a 1991 IATRC Commissioned Paper presented proposals for Reviving the GATT Negotiations on Agriculture. After the successful conclusion of the UR, an IATRC task force issued the first detailed analysis and evaluation of the Agreement on Agriculture as a Commissioned Paper in 1994.

NAFTA/CUSTA. In North America the UR negotiations overlapped with negotiations of first the Trade Agreement between Canada and the United States and then the North American Free Trade Agreement. Already in 1980 the IATRC theme day had discussed a North America Common Market. The IATRC continued to examine the implications of freer trade in agriculture in North America at several theme days and symposia over the following 15 years. Two task forces issued Commissioned Papers on this subject in 1991. By 1995 the IATRC focus had expanded to include not only North America but the whole western hemisphere.   

Return to Top

Communications

Meetings and Publications The Theme Days (Table I) and Public Symposia (Table II) have addressed a timely mix of subjects relevant to both the funding agencies and the individual members of the IATRC. The achievements of organized meetings and working groups have been reinforced by issuing IATRC documents in response to the expressed needs of users. Papers or abstracts of papers presented at most of the IATRCs general meetings have been published for wider readership. For many years the ERS has undertaken this publication task. Several books and proceeding reports have resulted from Consortium meetings and Public Symposia (Table III). Task forces of the IATRC issue Commissioned Papers and Trade Issues Papers (Table IV), and the IATRC Working Paper series (Table V) provides members an opportunity to circulate their work within the research and analysis community.

Newsletter. Publication of the IATRC Newsletter began with the Fall 1985 issue, with publication organized by USDA/ERS and continued through Winter, 1996. Since its inception the Newsletter was edited by Bill Kost. The USDA bore the cost of this publication, which was distributed to Consortium members.

The Newsletter was published bi-annually (usually in May and November). The Editor solicited contributions from members via a form letter about one month prior to copy deadline. The Newsletter carried the following types of contents: current research activities of members; forthcoming meetings and conferences relevant to trade research; potential funding sources; lists of recent and forthcoming publications; abstracts of recently completed dissertations; invited or volunteered columns on emerging policy issues and new developments in theory and research methods; and other relevant information of interest to trade researchers and policy analysts.

World Wide Web. A WWW site was established in 1996 at the University of Minnesota. The website was later changed to www.iatrcweb.org and is now maintained at the IMPACT Center of the Washington State University. It is the primary vehicle for distributing information on the IATRC to members and the public.

Return to Top

Membership and Funding

The charter members of the Consortium numbered 13, representing the International Economics Division of the Economics Research Service and seven U.S. universities. Additional U.S. members joined over the years. Canadian participation and participation by the Foreign Agricultural Service of the USDA began in 1981. More international members were added in 1983.

Funding originally came from the Economic Research Service of the USDA. The Foreign Agricultural Service joined as a funder in 1982-83. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada which had provided financial support for Canadian participation in the IATRC since its founding, became a significant and regular funding source for IATRC activities in 1990. In recent years several public symposia and general meetings have been co-sponsored with other institutions and organizations, adding significant funding for such events.

The Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota provided ongoing in-kind support by making part of Laura Bipes' time available for her position as Administrative Director of the IATRC, along with supporting office facilities. Since 2004 the corresponding support and services are provided by the IMPACT Center at the Washington State University.

Between 1990 and 1994 the Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy (CIFAP) at the University of Minnesota and the IATRC cooperated in awarding a prize for distinguished work in trade policy. The objective was to recognize a person who had made a significant impact on the public understanding of agricultural trade policy issues. Winners of the Minnesota Prize for Distinguished Trade Policy contribution were Dr. Tim Josling (Stanford University) in 1990 and Dr. D. Gale Johnson (University of Chicago) in 1992.

Return to Top