Open AccessHow do countries specialize in agricultural production? A complex network analysis of the global agricultural product space
Author(s) -
Mercedes Campi,
Marco Dueñas,
Giorgio Fagiolo
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
environmental research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.37
H-Index - 124
ISSN - 1748-9326
DOI - 10.1088/1748-9326/abc2f6
Subject(s) - agriculture , agricultural productivity , production (economics) , product (mathematics) , space (punctuation) , complex network , business , product topology , representation (politics) , food processing , industrial organization , economic geography , natural resource economics , economics , computer science , geography , politics , political science , mathematics , microeconomics , geometry , archaeology , discrete mathematics , world wide web , law , operating system
Using a complex-network perspective, this paper empirically explores the determinants of the process through which countries, given their capabilities, specialize in agricultural production. Using production data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for the period 1993–2013, we characterize the agricultural production space as a time-sequence of bipartite networks, connecting countries to the agricultural products they produce. We then project this representation in the agricultural production spaces, linking countries or products according to their similarity in production profiles, and we identify properties and determinants underlying their evolution. We find that, despite the unprecedented pressure that food systems have been undergoing in recent years, the agricultural production space is a very dense network displaying well-defined and stable communities of countries and products. We also show that the observed country community structures are not only shaped by environmental conditions, but also by economic, socio-political, and technological factors. We conclude by discussing the implications of such findings on our understanding of the complex relationships involving production capabilities and specialization patterns.