E-BUSINESS TAKES TOP PRODUCT HONORS.Editor's Note Editor's Note (foaled in 1993 in Kentucky) is an American thoroughbred Stallion racehorse. He was sired by 1992 U.S. Champion 2 YO Colt Forty Niner, who in turn was a son of Champion sire Mr. Prospector and out of the mare, Beware Of The Cat. Trained by D. : Electronic business (e-business) may not fit neatly into a traditional agricultural product category, but then there's nothing traditional about anything on the Internet. Yet its merits in fostering the exchange of agricultural inputs, outputs and information justify its selection as Agri Marketing's product of the year. Like tractors, artificial insemination artificial insemination, technique involving the artificial injection of sperm-containing semen from a male into a female to cause pregnancy. Artificial insemination is often used in animals to multiply the possible offspring of a prized animal and for the breeding , biotechnology and other advancements, e-business and e-commerce will revolutionize rev·o·lu·tion·ize tr.v. rev·o·lu·tion·ized, rev·o·lu·tion·iz·ing, rev·o·lu·tion·iz·es 1. To bring about a radical change in: Television has revolutionized news coverage. 2. agriculture. In fact, nearly all of the interviews and related work done for this special segment were completed through e-mail and Web-site research to illustrate how integral this technology has become in conducting agricultural business on a daily basis. While this section provides a snapshot (1) A saved copy of memory including the contents of all memory bytes, hardware registers and status indicators. It is periodically taken in order to restore the system in the event of failure. (2) A saved copy of a file before it is updated. of e-business today, it barely scratches the surface of its potential. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation Kellogg Foundation, philanthropic institution established (1930) at Battle Creek, Mich., by food manufacturer W. K. Kellogg (1860–1951). Kellogg eventually gave the institution a total of $47 million, and by 1990 its endowment had increased to more than $3. in Battle Creek Battle Creek, city (1990 pop. 53,540), Calhoun co., S Mich., at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek rivers; settled 1831, inc. as a city 1859. It is an agricultural trade center known for its cereals. , Mich., recognized the widespread potential of the Internet in an issue paper released in July. Sections of The Impact of E-Commerce on Agriculture, Issues for 21st Century Food Systems," authored by Dr. Richard Foster Richard Foster may be:
Internet access and e-commerce promise to revolutionize the landscape of
business, including agribusiness. Already e-commerce is clearly beginning
to have a major impact on farming and food distribution. From new portals
aimed at farmers buying inputs and selling raw materials to Web-based niche
market food product sales and home delivery grocery services, the Internet
is increasingly central to the entire food systems chain.
In the March 2000 issue of Agri Marketing, Forrester Research, an
Internet research firm, predicted business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce
would hit $1 trillion by 2003. Network Solutions, the domain name
registration service associated with the National Science Foundation,
estimated that the number of Web site domains has risen from 177,000 in
1995 to 6 million today. Agri Marketing also noted the Internet Corporation
for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is considering whether to add new
generic top-level domains to the domain name system and reported that some
companies have even begun to take orders for them.
Farmers, input suppliers, commodity buyers and food consumers have
wasted no time in exploring the options e-commerce may offer the food
chain. Up to two-thirds of producers are estimated to have Internet access
and are using it to gather information. Millions of new Web sites available
to producers and consumers continue to come online, and the volume of
business done through the Internet is forecast to explode. The challenge is
in getting a handle on the rapid changes occurring in the marketplace.
Sparks Sparks, city (1990 pop. 53,367), Washoe co., W Nev., just E of Reno; inc. 1905. The Southern Pacific RR was the major employer until the dieselization of railroad engines forced the closing (1957) of the railroad shops there. Companies, Inc., Washington, D.C., is monitoring those changes and their potential implications for agriculture and the food industry. Vice president Beth Bechdol characterizes agriculture as an industry of "rapid consolidation, policy upheaval and a wave of sweeping new technologies." As such, she says e-commerce is well positioned to weave into that fabric. With consolidation occurring in all components of agriculture, Bechdol explains that globalization globalization Process by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming standardized around the world. Factors that have contributed to globalization include increasingly sophisticated communications and transportation and competitive pressures are forcing change and making unit cost reduction a goal across the system. In addition, issues such as NAFTA NAFTA in full North American Free Trade Agreement Trade pact signed by Canada, the U.S., and Mexico in 1992, which took effect in 1994. Inspired by the success of the European Community in reducing trade barriers among its members, NAFTA created the world's , biotechnology, China's accession Coming into possession of a right or office; increase; augmentation; addition. The right to all that one's own property produces, whether that property be movable or immovable; and the right to that which is united to it by accession, either naturally or artificially. to the World Trade Organization and domestic farm policy are affecting agricultural commerce. "E-commerce can improve the flow of information, provide more effective allocation of resources allocation of resources Apportionment of productive assets among different uses. The issue of resource allocation arises as societies seek to balance limited resources (capital, labour, land) against the various and often unlimited wants of their members. to core value-added activities, and lead to leaner operations, cost savings and transactional efficiencies," says Bechdol. "Shortening the value chain and integration with business partners can lead to substantive operational and financial improvements." Already, Bechdol says, more than 1,000 agricultural and food "e-companies" exist. More than 100 are significant ag and food e-commerce companies that have sites up and running, under construction or still to come. Bechdol divides sites into one of four categories: those that offer ag news and information, those that house data, those that conduct agricultural e-commerce and sites that offer a combination of those services. "Most major agribusinesses are now involved, although companies are still shaking out," she says. "The technology is constantly improving, and business and consumer response (to e-commerce) is positive. But consolidation (within e-commerce) is inevitable." Bechdol anticipates that as consolidation and other changes occur, new business models will emerge and the food system will see some restructuring restructuring - The transformation from one representation form to another at the same relative abstraction level, while preserving the subject system's external behaviour (functionality and semantics). . In addition, Bechdol says, new issues will develop that could challenge the e-commerce landscape. "The technology is still in very early stages," she sums. "There is an enormous shake-out coming soon, and more money likely will be lost than earned in the near-term. Benefits will go to the early adopters." [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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