农业电子商务的出现外文翻译文档格式.docx

农业电子商务的出现外文翻译文档格式.docx

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RolfA.E.Mueller1

E-commerceredefinestherulesofdoingbusiness,itsfutureisspectacular,thosewhoembraceitearlywillbethewinnersbutthehesitantwillbeobliterated.ThisiswhatNewEconomypunditskepttellinguswhilesharepricesofdot.comssoared.WhenstockpricesdroppedsharplyinApril,2000,someofthefunwasoverbutthatdidnotspelltheendofe-commerce.

E-commercehaspenetratedagricultureinCaliforniaaswellastherestoftheworld.By2000,onein25U.S.farmshadalreadyboughtorsoldagriculturalproductsontheInternet（USDA,AgriculturalResourceManagementStudy,1999）.GoldmanSachsestimatesthat12%ofallagriculturalsalesintheU.S.willbeconductedovertheInternetin2004,comparedtoonly4%in1999.

Theadventofe-commerceinagricultureraisesmanyquestions:

Whate-commercebusinessmodelsarebestsuitedforwhichagriculturalmarkets?

Whatistheimpactofe-commerceonfarms,agribusinessfirms,markets,andruralcommunities?

Arethereonlywinnersorarethereloserstoo?

Ifso,whoarethey?

Whatwillgovernmentdoto,withoragainste-commerceinagriculture?

And,whatshouldleadersinagriculturedotoreadythemselvesandtheindustryfore-commerce?

Sincee-commerceisstillevolving,itistooearlyfordefinitiveanswers.Aninspectionofcurrentpractices,however,suggeststhatdistinctpatternsareemerginginagriculturale-commerceandwhatweseealreadymayhelpforetellfuturedevelopmentsandimpactsofthisnewwayofdoingbusiness.ThisIssuesBriefprovidessomebackground,somecurrentfactsandsomeinterpretationoftheroleofe-commerceinagriculture

Theconcept

Whetheragriculturalornot,wedefinee-commercesimplyasbusinesstransactionsconductedovertheInternet.Thisdefinitionallowsformanydifferentwaysofconductingbusiness.Transactionsmayinvolvematerialgoods,immaterialservices,orrightsandobligations.PaymentmaybeonlineorofftheInternet.AccesstoInternetcommunicationchannelsusedine-commerceisoftenopentoeveryonebutissometimesrestricted,andthemessagesexchangedmayberigidlystandardized,asinElectronicDataInterchange（EDI）.

E-commercetransactionsareoftenclassifiedaccordingtothepartnersinvolved–consumers,business,andgovernment.Withthreetypesofpartners,sixcombinationsarepossiblebutonlytwoarepresentlyimportant:

business-to-consumer（B2C）andbusiness-to-business（B2B）.Ofthetwo,B2Ce-commercecurrentlyreceivesmostpublicattention.

E-commercereadinessofagriculture

Participationine-commercerequiresthatbothbuyersandsellershaveaccesstotheInternet,andthattheyareabletousetherequiredhardwareandsoftwareeffectively.Furthermore,thepartofe-commercethatisobservabletothirdpartiesisconductedontheWorldWideWeboftheInternet,whereatleastonepartytoatransactionmustoperateawebsite.Mostoftenthewebsiteisrunbythemorespecializedpartyinaparticulartypeoftransaction,suchasthesellersoffarminputsorthebuyersoffarmoutputs.Thelessspecializedparty,suchasthefarmer,needonlyhaveaccesstotheInternetinordertoparticipateine-commerceontheweb.

Itisimpossibletogetacompleteandcurrentsenseofwhatisavailableontheweb.Forexample,asearchthroughthe“agriculture”and“foodandbeverages”sectionsoftheCaliforniaYahooInternet“YellowPages”yieldedover500functioninglinkstoCaliforniaagriculturalsites.Abouthalfoftheselinksweretowineries,andanother60weretosmallfarms,withmanyofferingB2Ce-commerce.B2Be-commercewasalsoasignificantpresence,withCalifornia-basedcompaniesadvertisingandofferingavarietyofpre-andpost-harvestproducts

andservicesforfarmers.However,eventhoughtheYahoosearchyieldedalargenumberoflinkstoavarietyofsites,itwascertainlynotanexhaustivelistofCaliforniaagricultureandagribusinessfirms.ItyieldedlinkstosomeofCalifornia’smajoragriculturalcompaniesandcooperativessuchasCalcotandBlueDiamond,butsurprisinglyleftoutotherssuchasSunkistandMorningStar.Furthermore,evenifacompletelistingwereavailabletoday,itwouldbeoutofdatetomorrow

DatapublishedbytheNationalAgriculturalStatisticsServiceshowthat29percentofU.S.farmshadInternetaccessin1999（Fig.1）.InternetpenetrationintheagriculturalsectorofmoststatesisbelowtheU.S.totalandarural-urbandivideexists（BiksonandPanis,1999）.CaliforniarankshighamongthestatesincomputerandInternetuse:

Itrankssixthincomputerownershipamongfarms（55%）,secondintheshareoffarmsthatusecomputersforfarmbusiness（40%）,andthirdintheshareoffarmswithInternetaccess（46%）.Thesepercentageshaveincreasedconsiderablyinrecentyears.AsshowninFigure1,thesha