Emergent E-Commerce in Agriculture
Rolf A.E. Mueller1
E-commerce redefines the rules of doing business, its future is spectacular, those who embrace it early will be the winners but the hesitant will be obliterated. This is what New Economy pundits kept telling us while share prices of dot. coms soared. When stock prices dropped sharply in April, 2000, some of the fun was over but that did not spell the end of e-commerce.
The advent of e-commerce in agriculture raises many questions: What e-commerce business models are best suited for which agricultural markets? What is the impact of e-commerce on farms, agribusiness firms, markets, and rural communities? Are there only winners or are there losers too? If so, who are they? What will government do to, with or against e-commerce in agriculture? And, what should leaders in agriculture do to ready themselves and the industry for e-commerce?
The concept
Whether agricultural or not, we define e-commerce simply as business transactions conducted over the Internet. This definition allows for many different ways of conducting business. Transactions may involve material goods, immaterial services, or rights and obligations. Payment may be online or off the Internet. Access to Internet communication channels used in e-commerce is often open to everyone but is sometimes restricted, and the messages exchanged may be rigidly standardized, as in Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).
E-commerce transactions are often classified according to the partners involved – consumers, business, and government. With three types of partners, six combinations are possible but only two are presently important: business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B). Of the two, B2C e-commerce currently receives most public attention.
E-commerce readiness of agriculture
Participation in e-commerce requires that both buyers and sellers have access to the Internet, and that they are able to use the required hardware and software effectively. Furthermore, the part of e-commerce that is observable to third parties is conducted on the World Wide Web of the Internet, where at least one party to a transaction must operate a web site. Most often the web site is run by the more specialized party in a particular type of transaction, such as the sellers of farm inputs or the buyers of farm outputs. The less specialized party, such as the farmer, need only have access to the Internet in order to participate in e-commerce on the web.
It is impossible to get a complete and current sense of what is available on the web. For example, a search through the “agriculture” and “food and beverages” sections of the California Yahoo Internet “Yellow Pages” yielded over 500 functioning links to California agricultural sites. About half of these links were to wineries, and another 60 were to small farms, with many offering B2C e-commerce. B2B e-commerce was also a significant presence, with California-based companies advertising and offering a variety of pre- and post-harvest products
and services for farmers. However, even though the Yahoo search yielded a large number of links to a variety of sites, it was certainly not an exhaustive list of California agriculture and agribusiness firms. It yielded links to some of Californiarsquo;s major agricultural companies and cooperatives such as Calcot and Blue Diamond, but surprisingly left out others such as Sunkist and Morning Star. Furthermore, even if a complete listing were available today, it would be out of date tomorrow
Data published by the National Agricultural Statistics Service show that 29 percent of U.S. farms had Internet access in 1999 (Fig. 1). Internet penetration in the agricultural sector of most states is below the U.S. total and a rural-urban divide exists (Bikson and Panis, 1999). California ranks high among the states in computer and Internet use: It ranks sixth in computer ownership among farms (55%), second in the share of farms that use computers for farm business (40%), and third in the share of farms with Internet access (46%). These percentages have increased considerably in recent years. As shown in Figure 1, the share of California farms with Internet access doubled between 1997 and 1999.
Statistical evidence on farmersrsquo; use of the Internet is rare. One study by Rockwell Research/FJIR (www.fjir.com) of Internet use by some 400 commercial farmers found that farmers primarily use the “Net” to access information on commodity prices, weather, farm chemicals, and machinery. The study also found that farmers are quick to make the switch to e-transactions, specifically with regard to purchasing seed, crop chemicals, and machinery (NUA, 2000).
E-commerce applications in agriculture
The web allows many uses that can be combined in many ways. For example, displays may be static or animated, search for specific products may be assisted by a search function, sound may be added, payment by credit card may be possible, encryption may enhance the security of transactions, etc. The result is an evolving, diverse set of e-commerce uses and business models. Amid the diversity and change, patterns of e-commerce practices in agriculture are emerging. What provides order to the diversity is not so much technological capabilities and constraints as it is economic interests and necessities that are as valid on the Internet as in other markets. We therefore group agricultural e-commerce sites into four categories according to the economic purpose they apparently serve:
n Saving transaction cost
n E-market intermediation
n Integrating e-commerce services
n Providing e-commerce support services
Most sites serve several purposes and the examples are only indicative. There may be other agricultural ecommerce sites that better represent the group.
Saving transaction costs
A transaction comprises flows of info
剩余内容已隐藏，支付完成后下载完整资料
附录A 译文
农业电子商务的出现
电子商务被重新定义为做生意的规则，它的未来是很可观的，谁能够早点抓住它，将成为赢家，但那些瞻前顾后、犹豫不定的人将会错失这些。这是新的经济学者们不断告诉我们，股票价格点，串口飙升。2000年4月，当股票价格急剧下降时，一些有趣的事情结束了，但这并不代表电子商务的结束。
电子商务在农业的出现引发很多问题：什么样的电子商务商业最适合农业市场？电子商务对农场，龙头企业，市场，和农业社区有什么影响？有唯一的胜者或失败者吗？如果有,他们是谁？政府做了什么支持或反对农业中的电子商务？，领导人应该做些什么准备好自己的农业和农业电子商务？
无论是不是农业，我们都简单地把电子商务定义为企业在网上的交易。这一定义允许许多不同的方式开展业务。交易会涉及到货物，服务，或权利义务。付款可以在线或从因特网上。访问互联网的沟通渠道在电子商务中的应用往往是向所有人开放，但有时也有所限制，信息的交换有很严格的标准化，像是电子数据的交换。
商务交易分类通常是根据合作伙伴——消费者，企业，政府三种类型的合作伙伴，六种组合都是可能的，但只有两种是现在最重要的：企业对消费者以及企业对企业。这两种类型，企业对费者电子商务现在引了大部分人的注意。
(1) 农业电子商务的准备条件
参与电子商务需要，买家和卖家都有互联网接入，他们能够有效的使用所要求的硬件和软件。此外，该部分的电子商务，是观察到第三方是在万维网上的网络，其中至少有一方的交易必须经营一个网站。最常见的网站是由更专业的人在一个特定类型的交易，如卖方或买方的农场农业投入产出。专业程度较低的群体，例如农民，只需要为参与电子商务网站上而访问互联网即可。
在网站上，对于什么是可利用的这一问题，是不可能得到一个完整的、当前意义上的概念。例如，搜索加利福尼亚雅虎网“黄页”取得的五百的运作中的“农业”和“食品和饮料”部分与加利福尼亚农业网站相联系。约半数的这些链接的酒厂，和另外60个小农场提供企业对消费者的电子商务。企业对企业的电子商务也明显地存在着。总部位于加州的公司的广告和提供各种产前和产后的产品为农服务。然而，尽管雅虎搜索产生大量链接到各种网站，它肯定不是一个详尽的清单是加利福尼亚省农业龙头企业。它与一些加利福尼亚的主要农业企业和合作社取得了联系，例如考尔科特和和蓝色钻石，但令人惊讶的是一些其他的，例如香吉士晨星。此外，即使一个完整的清单在今天也是有用的，它将成为过时的明天。国家农业统计服务局所公布的数据表明，在1999年美国百分之二十九的农场进入网上贸易。互联网的普及在农业部门的大多数国家低于美国和城乡鸿沟的存在。加利福尼亚排名高的国家之间在使用电脑和网络：在拥有电脑农场之间（55%）它名列第六，其次在分享的农场，使用电脑的农场企业（40%），第三在分享与互联网接入占百分之四十六。在最近几年，这些百分比已大大增加。在1997年和1999年之间加利福尼亚农场的股份与互联网接入有一倍之多。
对农民用互联网的统计证明，还是很罕见的。罗克韦尔的一个使用互联网的研究，大约有400个商业农民发现，农民主要使用“网”获得的信息商品价格，天气，农用化学品，机械。研究还发现，农民快速转换到电子交易，用来购买种子，农作物化学品，机械。
(2) 电子商务在农业上的应用
网络有多种结合方式的用途。例如：显示可以是静态的或者是动态的、搜寻特定的产品可以辅之以一个搜索功能、声音可以添加、以信用卡付款可能成为现实、加密可以提高安全交易等。结果是一个不断发展的、多元组电子商务用途和商业模式。旨在多样化的农业电子商务实践模式正在涌现。其多样性的原因，与其说是技术能力，不如说是经济利益以及互联网上其他市场的必需。所以我们集团农业电子商务网站根据他们显而易见的经济目的分为四类：节约交易成本、电子市场中介、电子商务综合服务部、提供电子商务配套服务。
大多数网站提供的一些目的和例子只是象征。可能还有其他的农业电子商务网站能更好地代表公司。
节约交易成本
交易包括信息交易、商品交易，金钱交易。在传统的交易中，因媒介的不同被分为这三种交易。例如：有物理信号来显示产品的功能，以视觉，触觉来核查，沟通交换条件，以及用纸币或金属货币作为支付手段。然而在电子商务中，所有信息，钱，甚至商品，被转换成二进制数字或位，可以以光速在距离很长的互联网上传播，其边际成本为零。
互联网可以降低交易成本，或转让费用，或两者兼而有之。当买家和卖家的搜索便利，当成本调整张贴价格降低，当地域分离的买家和卖家之间的谈判便利，当监测更容易实现时，交易成本降低。当交易涉及的商品可以被数字化，如金钱，信息产品，权利与义务，转移成本将会被存储在交易成本的顶部。此外，因为在互联网上的沟通成本很大程度上是一个在发送者和接收者之间的独立的数据量和距离，因此，地理上的距离在搜索和谈判中无关紧要。最后，当信息被数字化，互联网对交易成本有着深刻的影响。例如：牛或新鲜农产品通过数字视频被卖出而不是实物展示。
通过电子商务节约成本是稳固的。例如：交易成本在银行业从1.3美元的柜台交易将为0.27美元的在线交易（NUA，2000）。福特公司希望利用其新开发的采购平台，把采购费用从每宗交易100美元降低到10美元（经济周刊2000）。从电子商务在农业生产中节约成本尚未被报告过，但是没有理由期待他们在农业上能比其他行业减少的更多。有时在节约采购成本的同时，与之相伴的是电子商务的价格折扣。
由于体制服务和产品不能通过互联网传送，只能节省部分交易费用。信息数字化产品，是电子商务的头号候选人。几个农业信息提供者在线提供产品。信息往往包括天气预报，新闻，市场信息，有时得有买方决定。一些现行市场供应一系列农产品，其他的提供对农作物和家畜的预测和数据。一些网站巧妙利用网站，而不是直接传递信息，提供超连接，影响用户网站的业务和市场信息。
农业生产管理和咨询服务也可在互联网上进行。例如：某些网站提供管理支持工具，如土壤分析数据，农场的数据管理和定位数据，农场和野外地图，作物模型，种植建议，以及存储和销售跟踪系统。类似的智能网站也可用于家畜生产商，在其他事情上，也可以帮助侦测家畜群体中的疾病。
目前还不清楚是否有任何产品，服务或权利不能在网络上部分或全部的进行交易。农业商品公司通过展示一个目录或产品提供网上销售机构的数量越来越多。甚至一些旧经济目录公司也已经转向网络。农业也在网上提供经济服务，如网上银行及金融、财产保险、农场管理服务以及农场销售的买家代表。
电子市场中介
当运用市场的成本下降，这种情况在电子商务中，一些公司通过市场进行公司内部的协调。这是真正的生产活动以及信息和贸易活动。因此，减少交易成本不会消除市场中介组织，就像一些学者的“无摩擦电子商务”预测。相反，降低交易成本会鼓励新的和不同的市场中介活动。新经济的信徒凯文凯利说：“网络是中介组织的摇篮。”
电子商务综合服务部
有几个网站本身作为农业“门户网站”，试图提供一系列的信息服务以及市场中介。访问者可以轻易地从一个网站通过超链接到另一个网站，它可能是一组高度专业化的网站链接的网络社区的形成。最近创建的网站，vTraction,是一个门户网站，可以让访客看到几个专业的电子商务市场。
由于大多数农产品无法数字化，如果充分利用电子商务，那么整合仓储，运输，商检与保险服务都是可以实现的。这样的服务是提供专业服务或者更经常地通过市场中介机构提供。
电子商务支持服务
参与电子商务需要公司在互联网上会出现在自己的网站。对农民和小型企业，往往不会有先进的网站和一个重要的主页围棋提供服务。然而却有互联网集中在农业的供应商提供信息和市场中介服务为这些用户提供服务。对于要求更高的农民和农业企业，也有专门的编程网站为农业产业提供服务。
附录B 外文原文
Emergent E-Commerce in Agriculture
Rolf A.E. Mueller1
E-commerce redefines the rules of doing business, its future is spectacular, those who embrace it early will be the winners but the hesitant will be obliterated. This is what New Economy pundits kept telling us while share prices of dot. coms soared. When stock prices dropped sharply in April, 2000, some of the fun was over but that did not spell the end of e-commerce.
The advent of e-commerce in agriculture raises many questions: What e-commerce business models are best suited for which agricultural markets? What is the impact of e-commerce on farms, agribusiness firms, markets, and rural communities? Are there only winners or are there losers too? If so, who are they? What will government do to, with or against e-commerce in agriculture? And, what should leaders in agriculture do to ready themselves and the industry for e-commerce?
The concept
Whether agricultural or not, we define e-commerce simply as business transactions conducted over the Internet. This definition allows for many different ways of conducting business. Transactions may involve material goods, immaterial services, or rights and obligations. Payment may be online or off the Internet. Access to Internet communication channels used in e-commerce is often open to everyone but is sometimes restricted, and the messages exchanged may be rigidly standardized, as in Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).
E-commerce transactions are often classified according to the partners involved – consumers, business, and government. With three types of partners, six combinations are possible but only two are presently important: business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B). Of the two, B2C e-commerce currently receives most public attention.
E-commerce readiness of agriculture
Participation in e-commerce requires that both buyers and sellers have access to the Internet, and that they are able to use the required hardware and software effectively. Furthermore, the part of e-commerce that is observable to third parties is conducted on the World Wide Web of the Internet, where at least one party to a transaction must operate a web site. Most often the web site is run by the more specialized party in a particular type of transaction, such as the sellers of farm inputs or the buyers of farm outputs. The less specialized party, such as the farmer, need only have access to the Internet in order to participate in e-commerce on the web.<!--
剩余内容已隐藏，支付完成后下载完整资料
资料编号：[505212]，资料为PDF文档或Word文档，PDF文档可免费转换为Word
以上是毕业论文外文翻译，课题毕业论文、任务书、文献综述、开题报告、程序设计、图纸设计等资料可联系客服协助查找。
