【农业电子商务的出现外文翻译】什么是农业电子商务

　 

　毕业论文（设计）

　外文翻译

　题目：

　农业电子商务的出现

　系部名称：

　 经济管理系

　专业班级：

　 营销

　学生姓名：

　 学

　号：

　 指导教师：

　 教师职称：

　 教 授

　 20XX年X月X日

　农业电子商务的出现

　罗夫.A.E米勒

　引言

　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。

　在加利福尼亚以及世界各地，电子商务渗透到农业中。到2000年，二十五分之一的美国农场已经在网上购买或出售农产品（美国农业部，农业资源管理研究，1999）。戈德曼估计，在美国，2004年有百分之十二的农业销售在网上进行，相比之下，1999年只有百分之四。

　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？

　由于电子商务仍然是不断变化的，所以现在想要有明确的答案还为之过早。然而，现在所实施的检查表明，独特的模式出现在农业电子商务和我们所看到的已经可以帮助预测未来的发展和影响的这种新的经营方式。这个问题简要地提供了一些背景，一些当今的实事以及电子商务在农业中的作用。

　正文：

　 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。

　电子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。

　一、 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。

　二、 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：

　（一）、节约交易成本

　（二）、电子市场中介

　（三）、电子商务综合服务部

　（四）、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。

　 （一）、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。

　（二） 、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。”

　下面有四类中介人：

　1、 供应商分类广告和目录服务

　2、 比赛制造商

　3、 市场提供

　4、 拍卖行

　1、供应商分类广告和目录服务

　 互联网是需求是巨大的，要找到它所需要的是一个苦差事。但是搜索可以为提供商轻松提供经常从事产品的种类广告和目录服务,如牲畜（www.agriads），活植物材料（www.findplants），农场劳动（www.usda.gov；www.agnet），地面和地表水（www.waterrightsmarket），或组合的类别（www.agrimall.comwww.powerfarm.com）

　2、比赛制造商

　这种服务更多的信息比目录，他们利用互联网的互动能力。比赛制造商试图连接买家和卖家来提供具体的产品和服务。他们利用互联网的互动能力提供服务，这样的服务将比目录服务提供更多的信息。例如，购买新的和使用农业设备也可以提交请求www.buyag.com报价。这个请求是再交由参与零售商人反过来提交报价。然后买家提交航运和信用卡信息，卖方由买方选择进行交易。同样的,www

　.rooster.com, 由一些大型农业产业化企业建立的一个网站,将购买农业投入与当地经销商的输出连接起来。

　3、市场提供

　在电子市场下是允许买家和卖家交流和讨论关于产品信息及价格。许多人经过谈判后获得满意的价格。美国农业电子商务市场大约可以追溯到1975年。例如，棉花的电子商务交易自1976由Telco引起（(Lindsey，1990），以及一个早期电子销售农产品的繁荣在出现在70年代末和80年代初（亨德森，1984）。然而，由于这些系统不使用互联网，他们将无法进入大多数市场。

　一旦因特网向商业应用开放，企业家就开始竞争，提供各种农业电子商务市场的设计以及一系列农业投入和产出，这只是一个时间问题。一些电子商务者专注于加利福尼亚是唯一的或主要的生产者的作物，包括葡萄酒，核桃，杏仁，葡萄干，李子和加工番茄（www.wineryexchange.com，www.agex。”）。电子商务市场也包括有肉类和家禽（www.sellmeat。”），玉米，小麦，大豆，大米，谷物和其他（www.cybercrop.com）易腐农作物（www.tradingproduce）以及农业化学品（www.directag），其他农业投入（www.agriplace）和一些允许输入和输出的交易（www.folnetworks）。然而许多电子商务市场是为农业，农民和农场主提供服务的，只有一些是针对零售商农产品（www.agribuy）和其他批发商（www.tradingproduce）。最让加利福尼亚农民感兴趣的是加利福尼亚农场局联合会提供一个市场，对有400个以上农业商品交易和成员的有免费使用权。

　一种广泛的认知：互联网的开放性,必须想办法让电子商务比传统市场更为开放和透明。不需要这样想。在互联网上提供的信息可以是私有的、个性化的信息。这是互联网一个可取的特点。显然，私人谈判和未公开的市场价格对价格的透明形成和信息内容的价格统计没有帮助。

　4、拍卖行

　 拍卖市场是按照一定的规则公开谈判价格的地方。许多农业投入和产出已经在网络上涌现出电子拍卖。有拍卖家畜（www.onlinelivestockauction）、谷物和饲料（www.icecorp）、干草（www.hayexchange）、农产品（www.farmbid）以及设备配件（www.xsag）。可能还有更多的农业项目将在网上拍卖。

　 区分拍卖的往往他们的投标规则。在英语拍卖中,买家一直可以投标直到只剩一个买方。在荷兰拍卖中,相比之下,要求的价格降低到最急切的买家接受；在双向拍卖中，买家增加其投标而卖家降低价格，直到他们的要求达到匹配。一个变种流行的电子商务拍卖，根据买家的需求、买家的出价竞标购买他们愿意购买物品。但是目前在使用的电子商务拍卖选择竞价规则中还没有明确的趋势。

　 （三）、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（www.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（www.ifulfill.com，www.dhl-usa.com）或者更经常地通过市场中介机构提供（www.foodtrader）。

　 （四）、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（ www.agdomain.com)。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。

　三 结语

　蓬勃的创业精神和强大的网络预示着农业电子商务实践和商业模式已进入静态模式了，他们还阻止任何试图准确地预测具体的趋势的发展。但是无法预测未来电子商务、农业电子商务没有未来不应被当做错误的论点。相反，我们应该留意有关规则的预测。一个规则由未来研究所的保罗沙弗说：“最重要的规则其实是我学到的…不要由于目光短浅而犯错误。”另一个规则由沙弗的明确观点提出：“不要由于目光朦胧而犯错误。”我们无法预测在三至五年内农业电子商务将会发展成什么样子，但是我们应该确信电子商务的蓬勃发展和演变将在农业和其他行业展现。

　附注：本文摘译自“农业问题研究中心”，加利福尼亚大学，2000年12月14日。

　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.

　E-commerce has penetrated agriculture in California as well as the rest of the world. By 2000, one in 25 U.S. farms had already bought or sold agricultural products on the Internet (USDA, Agricultural Resource Management Study, 1999). Goldman Sachs estimates that 12% of all agricultural sales in the U.S. will be conducted over the Internet in 2004, compared to only 4% in 1999.

　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?

　Since e-commerce is still evolving, it is too early for definitive answers. An inspection of current practices, however, suggests that distinct patterns are emerging in agricultural e-commerce and what we see already may help foretell future developments and impacts of this new way of doing business. This Issues Brief provides some background, some current facts and some interpretation of the role of e-commerce in agriculture

　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 California’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 farmers’ 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 information, of merchandise, and of money. In conventional transactions different media are involved in the three flows. For example, there are physical displays signaling the availability of products, vision and touch for their inspection, print to communicate the terms of exchange, and paper and metal as means of payment. In e-commerce, however, all information, money, and sometimes even the merchandise too, are transformed into binary digits or bits, which can be sent through the Internet over long distances at

　 the speed of light and at zero marginal cost.

　The Internet may reduce transaction costs by lowering trading costs, or transfer costs, or both. Trading costs fall when search by buyers and sellers is facilitated, when the costs of adjusting posted prices are lowered, when negotiations between geographically separate buyers and sellers are facilitated, and when fulfillment can be monitored more easily. When transactions involve goods that can be digitized, such as money, information products, or rights and obligations, transfer costs are saved on top of trading costs. Furthermore, because communication costs on the Internet are largely independent of data volume and distance between sender and receiver, geographic distance is unimportant in search and negotiation. Finally, the Internet has the most profound impact on trading costs when information is digitized, e.g. when cattle or fresh produce are sold by digital video rather than by physical display.

　Cost savings from e-commerce can be substantial. For example, transaction costs in the banking industry are reduced from $1.30 for a counter transaction to $0.27 for an online transaction (NUA, 2000), and the Ford Motor Company expects to reduce its purchasing costs from $100 to $10 per transaction by using its newly developed purchasing platform (Wirtschaftswoche, 2000). Cost savings from e-commerce in agriculture have not yet been reported, but there is no reason to expect them to be smaller in agriculture than in other industries. Sometimes savings in purchasing costs from e-commerce are accompanied by price discounts.

　Since physical services and products cannot be delivered through the Internet, only part of the transactions costs are saved. Digitized information products, in contrast, are prime candidates for e-commerce. Several agricultural information providers offer and deliver their products online. Often the information includes weather forecasts, news, and market intelligence, sometimes customizable by the buyer (www.agriculture.com; www.agweb.com, www.theagzone.com). Some supply current market prices for a range of farm products (www.todaymarket.com), others offer forecasts and data on crops and livestock (www.wefa.com). Some sites make clever use of the web by, instead of directly delivering information, providing hyperlinks that lead users to sites with business and market information (www.internetstats.com).

　Agricultural management and consulting services are also available on the Internet. For example, some sites provide management support tools such as analysis of soil data, database management for farm and site-specific data, farm and field maps, crop models, cropping recommendations, and storage and sales tracking systems (www.mpower3.com; www.vantagepoint.com). Similar smart sites are also available for livestock producers who, among other things, are helped to detect illnesses in a herd (www.emergeinteractive.com).

　It is not clear whether there are any products, services, or rights that cannot be traded more conveniently by using the Internet for part or all of the transaction. A large and seemingly swelling number of agribusiness firms offer their wares with online sales facilities or by showing a catalog of their products. Even some Old Economy catalog firms have moved to the web (www.sloanex.com). Business services for agriculture are also offered on the web, such as online banking and finance (www.farmcredit.com), property insurance (www.ag1.com), farm management services (www.ag1.com), and buyer representation at farm sales (www.buyafarm.com).

　E-commerce intermediaries

　When the costs of using the market fall, as is the case in e-commerce, some activities previously carried out within a firm will be coordinated through the markets (Coase, 1998). This is true for production activities as well

　 as for information and trading activities. Therefore, reductions in transaction costs will not eliminate market intermediaries, as some pundits of a “friction-free e-economy” predict. Rather, reduced transaction costs encourage new and different market intermediation activities. The New Economy apostle Kevin Kelly stated this as: “Networks are the cradle of intermediaries.”

　There are four categories of intermediaries:

　n Providers of classified ads and directory services

　n Match makers

　n Market place providers

　n Auctioneers

　Providers of classified ads and directory services

　The web is vast and finding what is needed can be a chore. The search can be made easier by providers of classifieds and directory services that often specialize in product categories, such as livestock (www.agriads.com), live plant material (www.findplants.com), farm labor (www.usda.gov; www.agnet.com), ground- and surface water (www.waterrightsmarket.com), or combinations of categories (www.agrimall.com; www.powerfarm.com;)

　Match makers

　Match makers attempt to connect buyers and sellers of specific products and services. Such services are much more information-intensive than directories and they exploit the Internet’s capacity for interactivity. For example, buyers of new and used agricultural equipment may submit a price quote request to www.buyag.com. The request is then passed on to participating retailers who, in turn, submit quotes. Buyers then submit shipping and credit card information and the seller chosen by the buyer is informed about the transaction. Similarly, www.rooster.com, a site set up by a consortium of large agribusiness firms, will connect buyers of farm inputs and sellers of outputs with local dealers.

　Market place providers

　Electronic markets allow buyers and sellers to exchange information about product offerings and prices bid and asked. Many also post the prices of successfully concluded negotiations. Electronic marketplaces in U.S. agriculture date back about a quarter century. For example, cotton has been traded electronically by TELCOT since 1976 (Lindsey et al., 1990), and an early boom in electronic marketing of agricultural products occurred in the late 70s and early 80s (Henderson, 1984). However, those systems did not use the Internet and they were inaccessible to most market participants.

　Once the Internet opened to commercial applications it was only a matter of time until entrepreneurs began to compete by offering various designs of agricultural e-commerce market places for a host of agricultural inputs and outputs. Some e-markets focus on crops for which California is the sole or dominant U.S. producer, including wine, almonds, walnuts, raisins, prunes and processed tomatoes (www.wineryexchange.com, www.agex.com).

　E-markets have also been installed for meat and poultry (www.SellMeat.com), corn, wheat, soybeans, rice, and other grains (www.cybercrop.com, www.e-markets.com), for perishable agricultural produce (www.TradingProduce.com), and for farm chemicals and other farm inputs (www.directag.com,)( www.agriplace.com). Some allow trades of inputs and outputs as well (www.folnetworks.com). Whereas many e-marketplaces are intended for agribusiness, farmers and ranchers, some are targeted at retailers of farm produce (www.agribuys.com) and others at wholesalers only (www.TradingProduce.com). Of particular interest to farmers in California is www.horsepower.com, a marketplace for farmers and agribusiness where more than 400 agricultural commodities can be traded and to which members of the California Farm Bureau Federation have free access.

　A widely held misperception suggests that the openness of the Internet must somehow result in e-markets that are more open and transparent than conventional markets. This need not be so. Information available on the Internet can be private, and personalized information is often a desirable feature of the Internet. Obviously, markets with private negotiations and undisclosed prices contribute nothing to the transparency of price formation and the information content of price statistics.

　Auctioneers

　Auctions are market places where prices are negotiated publicly according to certain rules. E-auctions have sprung up on the web for many agricultural inputs and outputs. There are auctions for livestock (www.onlinelivestockauction.com), grains and feed (www.icecorp.com), hay (www.hayexchange.com), farm supplies (www.farmbid.com), and equipment parts (www.XSAg.com), and probably many more agricultural items that promise a reward for the entrepreneur organizing an auction on the Internet.

　Auctions are often distinguished by their bidding rules. In English auctions, buyers bid for the item offered until only one buyer remains. In Dutch auctions, in contrast, the ask price is reduced until the most eager buyer accepts; in double auctions, buyers increase their bids and sellers reduce their prices asked until a match occurs. A variant popular on e-auctions is the demand bid in which buyers post a bid at which they are willing to buy an item. There is no clear trend in the choice of bidding rules used in e-auctions. At some auctions prices are determined by only one auctioning rule (www.icecorp.com), at others several rules are used (www.XSAg.com).

　E-commerce integrated services

　Several web sites present themselves as agricultural “portals” and attempt to provide a range of information services as well as market intermediation (www.farms.com). However, because visitors can easily move from one web site to the other when they are connected by hyperlinks, it is possible for a group of highly specialized web sites to form hyperlinked web communities. A recently created site, vTraction (www.vTraction.com), is a portal that then leads its visitors to several specialized e-commerce market places.

　 Since most agricultural products cannot be digitized, integration with warehousing, transport, inspection and insurance services may be necessary if the full advantages of e-commerce are to be realized. Such services are offered either as specialized services (www.ifulfill.com, www.dhl-usa.com) or, more often, by market intermediaries (www.foodtrader.com).

　E-commerce support services

　Participation in e-commerce requires that a firm be present on the web with its own site. For farmers and small businesses it often does not pay to have a sophisticated site and a modest home page may do. These users are served by Internet service providers focused on agriculture, who bundle Internet services with information and market intermediation (www.agdomain.com). For more demanding farmers and agribusinesses there are also programming houses that provide web sites for the agricultural industry (www.Agribiz.net, www.tazworks.com).

　Summary

　Vigorous entrepreneurship and the powerful dynamics of network effects bode ill for agricultural e-commerce practices and business models that settle into static patterns any time soon. They also foil any attempts of accurately predicting specific trends. But the inability to predict the future of e-commerce should not be mistaken as an argument that e-commerce has no future in agriculture. Rather, we should heed two related rules of forecasting. One rule was told by Paul Saffo of the Institute for the Future, “The most important rule I actually learned was….to never mistake a clear view for a short distance.” A corollary to Saffo’s clear-view-rule is the misty-view-rule used by sailors: “Never mistake a misty view for a long distance!” Our

　 inability to predict what e-commerce in agriculture will be like in three to five years should not be taken to mean that e-commerce will not grow vigorously and evolve in agriculture as in other industries. Chances are it will.

　 教师评语

　教师评语：教师评语应围绕选题是否符合专业要求、语言是否通顺、逻辑是否合理、有无明显翻译错误等内容来写，必须手写，不准打印，100字左右。

　教师签名：

　2012年01月02日