Privatization of Information and Agricultural Industrialization identifies the basis and implications of the ongoing shift from public to private sector control of agricultural information. Privatization of information raises meaningful social, economic, and environmental concerns deserving of immediate attention by analysts, advocates, policy makers, and those with a direct economic stake in agriculture. The objectives of the book are to elucidate economic processes associated with agricultural information; describe historical and emerging structures and patterns of institutional relations in agriculture; and define economic, social, and environmental implications of contemporary dynamics of public-private relations specific to agricultural information.

The respective roles of public and private sector institutions engaged in development and dissemination of agricultural information are currently undergoing dramatic change. Enhanced incentives, new technologies, and changes in industrial organization are spurring private investment. Simultaneously, political and economic conditions are constraining public agencies' participation in the current information boom. Privatization of Information and Agricultural Industrialization identifies the basis and implications of the ongoing shift from public to private sector control of agricultural information. Privatization of information raises meaningful social, economic, and environmental concerns deserving of immediate attention by analysts, advocates, policy makers, and those with a direct economic stake in agriculture. The objectives of the book are to: