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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2008‒11‒18
118 papers chosen by |
| By: | Adelaja, Soji; Hailu, Yohannes G. |
| Abstract: | Food and energy security have increasingly acquired key natural resource policy focus. As alternative energy solutions become more land intensive, the potential implication to the agricultural sector becomes of policy interest. This study investigated the impact of projected wind energy development in Michigan on the agricultural sector. Results indicate that land lease payments overtime for wind turbine siting are expected to generate $50 million per year, impacting agricultural viability. Spatial distribution analysis suggests that most of the projected lease payments to farmers are concentrated in low value agricultural land, low value agricultural production, urban influenced, and low net farm income locations. We found that the spatial distribution of wind energy impact on agricultural viability is wide, but significant in some counties, by a margin of more than 50% net farm income gain. As renewable energy development becomes more land intensive, the potential cross-sectoral impacts need to be carefully considered. |
| Keywords: | agricultural viability, renewable energy, land use, spatial analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6132&r=agr |
| By: | Ranjan, Ram; Tapsuwan, Sorada |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the concept of agricultural resilience in the context of climate change related water scarcity. Specifically, the impact of water scarcity on agricultural production is analyzed to derive the timing of exit decisions for farmers faced with the prospect of declining profitability in agriculture but increasing benefits from land rezoning in future. The prospects of land rezoning are modeled as a poison process which may or may not be influenced by farmer€ٳ water abstraction decisions. Selling out of agriculture before land rezoning has an impatience cost as the farmer does not gain the maximum speculative rewards. The analysis highlights the role of such speculative rewards in making farmers resilient to declining profitability in agriculture and also identifies the circumstances under which the water prices may be an ineffective policy tool for allocating water. An empirical application is performed using the above model for the case of a drought prone region in Western Australia. |
| Keywords: | agricultural resilience, exit timing, water scarcity, climate change, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:5998&r=agr |
| By: | Delmas, Magali A.; Doctori-Blass, Vered; Shuster, Kara |
| Keywords: | organic wine, biodynamic wine, labeling, case study, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aawewp:37326&r=agr |
| By: | Innes, Brian G.; Kerr, William A.; Hobbs, Jill E. |
| Keywords: | branding, marketing, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:catptp:43470&r=agr |
| By: | Hone, Philip; Haszler, Henry; Natasiwai, Tevita |
| Abstract: | The agricultural sector is a central part of the Fiji Islands economy. Policies to alleviate poverty and stimulate economic growth need to be based on a sound understanding of the local agricultural systems involved. This understanding needs to extend to the responsiveness of production to price changes. To date there have been no published quantitative estimates of the responsiveness of agricultural supply in Fiji to output price changes. In this paper we present a set of highly disaggregated supply elasticities covering many of the major food crops produced and consumed in Fiji. These results have been derived from a stated intention survey of rural households. The results appear consistent with the dual nature of Fijifs agricultural sector and show that agricultural supply response in Fiji is own-price elastic for the ten commodities analysed. |
| Keywords: | Stated intention survey, agricultural, supply elasticities, developing country, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, International Development, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:5982&r=agr |
| By: | BAQUEDANO, Felix G.; SANDERS, John H. |
| Abstract: | Replaced with revised version of paper 07/21/08. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6426&r=agr |
| By: | WOLLNI, Meike; LEE, David R.; Thies, Janice E. |
| Abstract: | Conservation agriculture is often perceived to provide €ܷin-winÂ€Ý outcomes for farmers leading to reduced erosion and off-site sedimentation, as well as improved soil fertility and productivity. However, adoption rates for conservation agriculture in many regions of the world remain below expected levels. This paper looks at the effect of organic markets in providing incentives for farmers to adopt soil conservation practices based on the willingness of consumers to pay a price premium for the use of sustainable production technologies. Farmer-based organizations may help farmers overcome information deficiencies with respect to production processes as well as consumer preferences. Based on original survey data from 241 small-scale farm households in Honduras, we find that both participation in organic markets as well as in farmer-based groups have positive effects on the number of soil conservation practices adopted on the farm. The results indicate that besides supply-oriented policy measures, such as the provision of technical assistance and extension, demand-related factors are likely to play an important role in sustainable soil management. Demand-oriented policy measures can include support for labeling initiatives and consumer education to facilitate value-added product differentiation and market segmentation. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6423&r=agr |
| By: | Hassan, R.; Thurlow, J.; Roe, T.; Diao, X.; Chumi., S.; Tsur, Y. |
| Abstract: | The pressure on an already stressed water situation in South Africa is predicted to increase significantly under climate change, plans for large industrial expansion, observed rapid urbanization, and government programs to provide access to water to millions of previously excluded people. The present study employed a general equilibrium approach to examine the economy-wide impacts of selected macro and water related policy reforms on water use and allocation, rural livelihoods, and the economy at large. The analyses reveal that implicit crop-level water quotas reduce the amount of irrigated land allocated to higher-value horticultural crops and create higher shadow rents for production of lower-value, water-intensive field crops, such as sugarcane and fodder. Accordingly, liberalizing local water allocation in irrigation agriculture is found to work in favor of higher-value crops, and expand agricultural production and exports and farm employment. Allowing for water trade between irrigation and non-agricultural uses fueled by higher competition for water from industrial expansion and urbanization leads to greater water shadow prices for irrigation water with reduced income and employment benefits to rural households and higher gains for non-agricultural households. The analyses show difficult tradeoffs between general economic gains and higher water prices, making irrigation subsidies difficult to justify. |
| Keywords: | Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Water Supply and Systems,Water and Industry,Water Conservation |
| Date: | 2008–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4768&r=agr |
| By: | Pinilla, Vicente; Serranoz, Raul |
| Keywords: | wine trade, economic history, Spain, wine, globalization, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, Q17, Q18, N53, N54, |
| Date: | 2008–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aawewp:42657&r=agr |
| By: | Nigel Key, nkey@ers.usda.gov; Michael J. Roberts, mroberts@ers.usda.gov |
| Abstract: | This study uses matching to evaluate the effect of decoupled payments on the acreage response of Iowa farmers who were in business in 1997 and 2002. Using farm-level panel data from the U.S. Agricultural Census, we examine whether farmers receiving high levels of 1997 agricultural payments per acre had a greater increase in program crop acreage between 1997 and 2002 than farmers receiving low levels of payments. The panel data set allows for conditioning current acreage on past individual acreage and operator characteristics. The large and exhaustive sample allows for comparisons across similar farms. The matching methodology avoids distributional and functional form assumptions about the relationship between the treatment and outcome. Results are consistent with other recent empirical estimates that suggest small but statistically significant effects of decoupled payments on production. |
| Keywords: | decoupled payments, supply response, government payments, program crops, trade policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6072&r=agr |
| By: | Ugarte, Daniel De La Torre; He, Lixia; Jensen, Kimberly L.; English, Burton C.; Willis, Kaelin |
| Abstract: | Feedstock production for large scale development of the U.S. ethanol industry and introduction of cellulose€Ӵo-ethanol technology will require extensive changes in land use and impact water demand and quality. This study compares two scenarios: attaining a 60 billion gallon per year target of ethanol by 2030 and a billion gallon per year biodiesel target by 2012 with cellulose-to-ethanol technology introduced in 2012 and also delayed until 2015. Results suggest water demands and quality will vary regionally with cellulosic feedstock production. Policy emphasis on reduced and no-till practices needs to be complementary to increased crop residue use. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6700&r=agr |
| By: | Pan, Suwen; Fang, Cheng; Rejesus, Roderick M. |
| Abstract: | This study evaluates the effects of grain output price uncertainty on the farm income of rural households and, consequently, how this uncertainty influences caloric intake through changes in farm income. Using a rural household data set, augmented with output price uncertainty measures calculated from historical time-series data, we find that grain output price uncertainty tends to decrease crop production income of rural households. In addition, we find that higher crop income from production increases calorie intake of rural households. Taken together, these results suggests that output price uncertainty during the production process may tend to reduce caloric intake of rural Nepalese households since the price uncertainty negatively affects the crop income households need to buy calorie-rich staple foods. |
| Keywords: | Food Calorie Intake, Price Uncertainty, Nepal, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, D12, O13, Q11, Q12, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6198&r=agr |
| By: | Collins, Alan R.; Maille, Peter |
| Abstract: | This research involved a field experiment using watershed payments as an incentive for farmers to address agricultural non-point pollution (ANP). Objectives were to: (1) describe how payments were estimated for a field experiment; (2) explain why a team approach is needed for ANP; (3) discuss the essential elements used for recruitment of farmers into a field experiment setting; and (4) address whether or not farmers were motivated to participate and pursue ANP abatement. One year into the experiment, the results are encouraging. About one-half of farmers who attended meetings are participating. They own or operate approximately 41% of the agricultural land in the watershed. Farmer actions to date have included determining an allocation formula for the payment, requesting watershed wide sampling, and cost sharing of ANP abatement. |
| Keywords: | field experiment, team approach, agricultural non-point pollution, performance-based incentives, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6342&r=agr |
| By: | Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob; Jayne, T.S. |
| Abstract: | Replaced with revised version of paper 06/30/08. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6464&r=agr |
| By: | Umberger, Wendy J.; Scott, Emily M.; Stringer, Randy |
| Abstract: | Results from a 2007 Australian consumer survey conducted at a large farmers market are used to explore the hypothesis that consumers who are more concerned about certain types of food labeling information, particularly information related to food production attributes, are more likely to support policies which help develop farmers markets and support mandatory labeling policies. Product information and attributes such as Country-of-Origin, No Growth Hormones Used, Free Range and Animals Treated Humanely and Environmentally-friendly appear to be very important to consumers. It appears that respondents want increased government involvement in developing consistent food labelling standards for these attributes and support mandatory food labelling policies, however, respondents are split between whether third-parties or the Australian government should oversee regulation of the program. Some respondents appear to view a mandatory labelling policy as a method to improve competitiveness and sustainability of small food producers who want to use labelling to differentiate themselves. Respondents also tended to support the government subsidizing the development of farmers markets. Respondents viewed FM as an opportunity to gain additional information or purchase foods that have credence attributes such as pesticide-free. Thus, policies supporting FM may help alleviate market failures related to asymmetric information and lack of choice. |
| Keywords: | market failure, consumers, farmers markets, labelling, Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6174&r=agr |
| By: | MARCOUL, Philippe; VEYSSIERE, Luc |
| Abstract: | Replaced with revised version of paper 10/17/08. |
| Keywords: | Financial Contracting, Development, Financial Intermediation, Food Standards, Organization of Production, Supermarket, Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance, O17, O33, O50, Q12, Q13, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6366&r=agr |
| By: | Chang, Jae Bong; Lusk, Jayson L. |
| Abstract: | Recent findings from behavioral economics suggest people are concerned about the fairness and inequality in simple distribution experiments. This study sought to determine whether such considerations also carry over to food choice. A conjoint-type experiment was developed and administered to a random sample of the U.S. population via mail survey to determine whether consumers, when purchasing food products, are concerned about the distribution of benefits across the participants in the agricultural supply chain (small farmers, large farmers, agribusiness, supermarkets, and the consumer) and to determine the extent to which the fairness models proposed in the general economics literature (and variants on these models) explain food choice. Results indicate that, aside from themselves, people prefer small farmers to receive the largest benefit from food purchase. The inequality aversion models proposed in the general economics literature do not exhibit much explanatory power, unless modified in non-trivial ways to fit the context of food. Finally, we find that preferences for distribution of benefits, along with measured beliefs about the relative distribution of benefits accruing to producers of organic and conventional foods, is a significant factor explaining consumer willingness-to-pay a premium for organic food. |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6414&r=agr |
| By: | Huelgas, Zenaida M.; Templeton, Deborah; Castanar, Pamela |
| Abstract: | The aim of the €ܔhree Reductions, Three GainsÂ€Ý (3R3G) project is to reduce production costs, improve farmers€٠health, and protect the environment in irrigated rice production in Vietnam through the reduced use of seeds, nitrogen fertilizer, and pesticides. It was developed by the International Rice Research Institute and introduced to farmers in South Vietnam by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in early 2000 through traditional extension work and mass media. Farm survey data provide evidence of adoption of 3R3G primarily in terms of lowering seed rates. The resultant changes in the farm production/cost structure and farmer profits are measured. |
| Keywords: | information-intensive technology, technology transfer, farm-level impacts, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:6014&r=agr |
| By: | GIRANTE, Maria Joana; GOODWIN, Barry K.; FEATHERSTONE, Allen |
| Abstract: | While in theory decoupled payments do not distort production decisions, in practice there are several potential coupling mechanisms for these payments. We use farm-level data from Kansas to revisit the issue of how (de)coupled are these supposedly €ܤecoupledÂ€Ý payments by focusing on how they may impact production through credit constraints. In particular, we study how production effects may have differed across farmers with varying levels of debt pressure. Our empirical approach exploits the fact that we can observe the same farm over time (and so can account for the effects of time-constant omitted variables) to study how these payments affected total crop acres, owned acres, and the decisions to plant corn, sorghum, soybeans and wheat. Like previous studies, we find small production effects. Nonetheless our results suggest decoupled payments have potentially distortionary effects on production. |
| Keywords: | decoupled payments, credit constraints, Agricultural Finance, Q17, Q18, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6335&r=agr |
| By: | Rakotoarisoa, Manitra A. |
| Abstract: | This study determines how production and trade policy distortions affected rice productivity in thirty-three rice-producing countries. A rice-productivity index for each country is constructed, and a model linking the productivity gap with policy distortions is presented. After controlling for the differences in infrastructure, openness, and human capital, this article shows that high subsidies and protection in developed countries combined with taxation of rice farming in poor countries have widened the gap in rice productivity between rich and poor rice countries. |
| Keywords: | agricultural policy distortions, trade policies, productivity, rice, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6154&r=agr |
| By: | Klemick, Heather |
| Abstract: | This article examines the determinants of forest cover and land use efficiency in a shifting cultivation system. A conceptual model demonstrates that liquidity constraints encourage farmers to allocate more land to forest fallow and less to cultivation by limiting input purchases. Data from farm households in the Eastern Brazilian Amazon allow me to test whether farmers allocate land between cropping and fallow efficiently from an individual or a community perspective. I find that many farmers devote more land to fallow than is privately optimal, benefiting community income as a whole due to positive local externalities provided by secondary forest. I also estimate the effect of a variety of socioeconomic and agroecological factors on fallow allocation and land use efficiency. I find over-fallowing to be negatively associated with commercial credit use, suggesting that liquidity constraints do hinder agricultural intensification. |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6473&r=agr |
| By: | Thibodeau, David R.; Clark, J. Stephen; Yang, Jinbin; Prochazka, Petr |
| Keywords: | trade, potato, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:catptp:43468&r=agr |
| By: | Faltermeier, Liane; Abdulai, Awudu |
| Abstract: | This study uses cross-sectional data of 342 small-scale lowland rice farmers in Northern Region of Ghana to analyze the impact of the adoption decision of bund construction and seed dibbling on net returns, input demand and output supply. Matching was conducted based on Mahalanobis distance combined with propensity score. Balancing tests by checking the mean standardized absolute bias in the matched sample were conducted as well as sensitivity analysis to check for hidden bias due to unobservable selection. The empirical results of impact assessment using propensity score matching controlling for self-selection bias suggest that input demand is significantly higher for adopters of bunds, but not statistically different for adopters and non-adopters of dibbling seed. However, output supply and net returns were not found to be statistically different for adopters and non-adopters of bunds. Adopters of dibbling were found to have higher output supply while no statistically significant difference was found for net returns of adopters and non-adopters of dibbling. The results were found to be relative insensitive to hidden bias. |
| Keywords: | Propensity score matching, evaluation, sensitivity analysis, Rosenbaum bounds, water conservation methods, bunds, rice production, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6354&r=agr |
| By: | Bontems, Philippe |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we develop a model of regulation for a set of heterogenous farmers whose production yields to environmental externalities. The goal of the regulator is first to offer some income support depending on collective preferences towards income redistribution and second to internalize externalities. The optimal policy is constrained by the information available. We first consider the second best where the regulator is able to observe all individuals decisions in terms of inputs and individual profit, but not the individual farming labor supply. We characterized the generalized transfer in function of the desire to redistribute and the underlying characteristics of the production process. In a second step, we assume that the regulator has only information on aggregate consumption of inputs and hence can only tax/subsidy linearly inputs and output. However, because the accounting profit remains observable, a non linear transfer of profit is still part of the optimal policy. In the last part of the paper, we endogenize the market price of land and examine how the optimal policy should be modified. |
| Keywords: | asymmetric information, agricultural policy, agri-environmental policy, income support, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q18, Q12, Q58, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6246&r=agr |
| By: | Graham, Mary |
| Abstract: | Agricultural production, by its nature, impacts both positively and negatively on the environment. Impacts can be point source or diffuse; however all should be considered in performance measurement. To estimate potential environmental impacts from the use of nitrogen fertilizer, a biophysical model of dairy grazing systems, DairyMod, is used to simulate individual farming practices and determine the likely extent of leaching and run-off from each farm. Although not the only environmental impacts of farming, leaching and run-off are two variables that can be measured and combined with other marketed inputs to determine farm performance. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:6773&r=agr |
| By: | Wise, Russell; Cacho, Oscar |
| Abstract: | In many areas of developing countries, economic and institutional factors often combine to give farmers incentives to clear forests and repeatedly plant food crops without sufficiently replenishing the soils. These activities lead to large-scale land degradation and contribute to global warming through the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. We investigate whether agroforestry systems might alleviate these trends when carbon-credit payments are available under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol. A meta-modelling framework is adopted, comprising an econometric-production model of a smallholding in Sumatra. The model is used within a dynamic-programming algorithm to determine optimal combinations of tree/crop area, tree-rotation length, and firewood harvest. Results show the influence of soil-carbon stocks and discount rates on optimal strategies and reveal interesting implications for joint management of agriculture and carbon. |
| Keywords: | bio-economic meta-modelling, Indonesia, agroforestry, carbon credits, dynamic programming, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:6772&r=agr |
| By: | Chang, Hung-Hao; Wen, Fang-I |
| Abstract: | The objective of this paper is to investigate the differences in yield production, production efficiency, and yield risk for farmers with and without off-farm work. Using a nationwide survey of Taiwanese rice farmers, we estimate a stochastic production frontier model accommodating the technical inefficiency and the production risk simultaneously. Applying the stochastic dominance criterion to rank the estimated technical efficiency and yield risk between professional farmers and farmers with off-farm jobs, our empirical analysis shows that off-farm work is significantly associated with lower technical efficiency. Additionally, farmers with off-farm work face higher production risks. Comparing the marginal effects of input uses on technical inefficiency and yield risk between these groups of farmers, we found a substantial heterogeneity of input uses between these two groups of farmers. |
| Keywords: | Off-farm work, technical efficiency, production risk, Taiwan, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6164&r=agr |
| By: | Falck-Zepeda, Jose; Msangi, Siwa; Sulser, Timothy; Zambrano, Patricia |
| Abstract: | Biofuel expansion is seen as a way to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, as an alternative energy source for transportation and other uses, as a way to reduce Green House Gases, and as way to revitalize the agricultural sector. Very little discussions have been focused on Latin America, except for Brazil. Potential negative impacts re-enforce the need of performing more in depth analysis of the potential impact of biofuels expansion in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Paper estimates biofuels production potential based on current production situation and develops a forward-looking analysis of the long-term impact of biofuels expansion in Latin America and its effects on prices, trade, food security, malnutrition and other indicators using the IMPACT-WATER model developed by IFPRI. The analysis conducted for this paper of potential crops in the region show that from a technical and productivity standpoint in which to base biofuels expansion continues to be sugarcane and palm oil trees. Most countries in Latin America will not have a production constraint in terms of meeting existing and projected mandatory blends requirements. However, if the goal is to obtain energy independence, this result only holds for a few countries, with obvious food security implications as countries dedicate higher shares of their agricultural land to biofuels expansion. Our analysis, and those made in other studies, show that biofuels expansion is not likely to have a binding land production constraint in Latin America, with a few exceptions. The forward-looking estimations from the IMPACT-WATER model show that Brazil will continue to be the major player in the ethanol market. Brazil will expand its ethanol exports to meet growing demand in other countries including some in Latin America. Other countries such as Argentina and Colombia will likely continue their biofuels expansion plans, although our estimate show that they will not likely meet their demand based on current production potential. The IMPACT-WATER simulations also show that biofuels impacts on food security and malnutrition will likely happen in those countries where the feedstock used for biofuels production is a critical component of a major share of the population, other things equal. An example of this potential is Mexico and most of the Central America region, where a high proportion of the diet is composed of maize. The extent to which biofuels efforts can contribute towards addressing or affecting all broader contextual issues depend on a series of strategic determinants of impact success, ranging from the characteristics of installed capacity and industrial organization and coordination to whether any nascent market for biofuels will be economically sustainable and financially viable without continuous government support or interventions. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6113&r=agr |
| By: | Thaeripour, Farzad; Hertel, Thomas W.; Tyner, Wallace E.; Beckman, Jayson F.; Birur, Dileep K. |
| Abstract: | The biofuel industry has been rapidly growing around the world in recent years. Several papers have used general equilibrium models and addressed the economy-wide and environmental consequences of producing biofuels at a large scale. They mainly argue that since biofuels are mostly produced from agricultural sources, their effects are largely felt in agricultural markets with major land use and environmental consequences. In this paper, we argue that virtually all of these studies have overstated the impact of liquid biofuels on agricultural markets due to the fact that they have ignored the role of by-products resulting from the production of biofuels. Feed by-products of the biofuel industry, such as Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles (DDGS) and biodiesel by-products (BDBP) such as soy and rapeseed meals, can be used in the livestock industry as substitutes for grains and oilseed meals used in this industry. Hence, their presence mitigates the price impacts of biofuel production on the livestock and food industries. The importance of incorporating by-products of biofuel production in economic models is well recognized by some partial equilibrium analyses of biofuel production. However, to date, this issue has not been tackled by those conducting CGE analysis of biofuels programs. Accordingly, this paper explicitly introduces DDGS and BDBP, the major by-products of grain based ethanol and biodiesel production processes, into a worldwide CGE model and analyzes the economic and environmental impacts of regional and international mandate policies designed to stimulate bioenergy production and use. We first explicitly introduce by-products of biofuel production into the GTAP-BIO database, originally developed by Taheripour et al. (2007). Then we explicitly bring in DDGS and BDBP into the Energy-Environmental version of the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP-E) model, originally developed by Burniaux and Truong (2002), and recently modified by McDougall and Golub (2007) and Birur, Hertel, and Tyner (2008). The structure of the GTAP-E model is redesigned to handle the production and consumption of biofuels and their by-products, in particular DDGS, across the world. Unlike many CGE models which are characterized by single product sectors, here grain based ethanol and DDGS jointly are produced by an industry, named EthanolC. The biodiesel industry also produces two products of biodiesel and BDBP jointly. This paper divides the world economy into 22 commodities, 20 industries, and 18 regions and then examines global impacts of the US Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and the European Union mandates for promoting biofuel production in the presence of by-products. We show that models with and without by-products demonstrate different portraits from the economic impacts of international biofuel mandates for the world economy in 2015. While both models demonstrate significant changes in the agricultural production pattern across the world, the model with by-products shows smaller changes in the production of cereal grains and larger changes for oilseeds products in the US and EU, and the reverse for Brazil. For example, the US production of cereal grains increases by 10.8% and 16.4% with and without by-products, respectively. The difference between these two numbers corresponds to 646 million bushels of corn. In the presence of by-products, prices change less due to the mandate policies. For example, the model with no by-products predicts that the price of cereal grains grows 22.7% in the US during the time period of 2006 to 2015. The corresponding number for the model with by-products is 14%. The model with no by-products predicts that the price of oilseeds increases by 62.5% in the EU during 2006-2015. In the presence of by-products, this price grows 56.4%. Finally, we show that incorporating DDGS into the model significantly changes the land use consequences of the biofuel mandate polices. |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6452&r=agr |
| By: | Connor, Jeffery; Kirby, Mac; Schwabe, Kurt; Lukasiewicz, Anna; Kaczan, David |
| Abstract: | This article evaluates irrigated agriculture sector response and resultant economic impacts of climate change for a part of the Murray Darling Basin in Australia. A water balance model is used to predict reduced basin inflows for mild, moderate and severe climate change scenarios involving 10, 20, 40 Celcius warming, and predict 13%, 38% and 63% reduced inflows. Impact on irrigated agricultural production and profitability are estimated with a mathematical programming model using a two-stage approach that simulanteously estimates short and long-run adjustments. The model accounts for a range of adaptive responses including: deficit irrigation, temporarily fallowing some areas, and permanently reducing irrigated area and changing the mix of crops. The results suggest that relatively low cost adaptation strategies are available for moderate reduction in water availability and thus costs of such reduction are likely to be relatively small. In more severe climate change scenarios greater costs are estimated, adaptations predicted include a reduction in total area irrigated, investments in efficient irrigation, and a shift away from perennial to annual crops as the latter can be managed more profitably when water allocations in some years are very low. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:5974&r=agr |
| By: | Bergtold, Jason S.; Duffy, Patricia A.; Hite, Diane; Raper, Randy L. |
| Abstract: | The inclusion of cover crops in cropping systems brings both direct and indirect costs and benefits. Farmers will adopt and continue to utilize cover crops in their production systems as long as the perceived benefit of using cover crops (e.g. increased yield, higher profits, and improved soil productivity) is positive. The perceived benefits, while partially based on actual changes, may be influenced by demographic, economic and management factors. The purpose of this paper is to examine the demographic and management factors affecting the perceived benefit, in terms of improved crop yield, of using winter annual cover crops. A tobit model is estimated using survey data of Alabama farmers examining cover crop use and management. The model examines the potential effect of different agronomic, demographic and management factors on the perceived yield gain from using winter cover crops of Alabama row crop producers. Estimation results indicated that growing peanuts, growing soybeans, high debt, high gross farm sales, use of conservation tillage, increased application of N to the cash crop after a legume cover crop, and applying N to the cover crop had a positive and statistically significant impact on farmers€٠perceived yield gain from using a cover crop. In contrast, number of years farming, farm size, and high cover crop costs had a negative and statistically significant impact on farmers€٠perceived yield gain from using a cover crop. Understanding the perceived benefits of using winter cover crops and the factors that shape these perceptions can provide insight into the decision making process farmers make in deciding to adopt and/or retain the use of cover crops on their farm. |
| Keywords: | Cover Crops, Conservation, Adoption Process, Tobit Model, Value of Information, Farmer, Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6424&r=agr |
| By: | POPE, Micah; KEENEY, Roman |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the tradeoffs present between equity and efficiency in farm policy. In terms of equity, we are concerned with the implications of policies on the distribution of income. For efficiency we consider how the profitability of farms is impacted by the same government policies. Specifically of interest will be the relative contributions of direct payments, commodity payments, and conservation payments to each of these measures. Results show that relative to direct payments commodity payments are more efficient (in terms of increasing average farm profitability) but less equitable (large farmers dominate the income gains). Conservation payments are found to be both less equitable and efficient relative to direct payments. We identify segmentation of the farm household population as a limitation of the analysis with respect to measuring impacts of conservation payments. |
| Keywords: | U.S. Farm Policy, Equity, Efficiency, Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6064&r=agr |
| By: | Monchuk, Daniel C.; Zhuo Chen |
| Abstract: | In this paper we examine more closely the factors associated with production inefficiency in China€ٳ agriculture. The approach we take involves a two-stage process where output efficiency scores are first estimated using data envelope analysis (DEA), and then in the second stage, variation in the resulting efficiency scores are explained using a truncated regression model with inference based on a semi-parametric bootstrap routine. Among the results we find a heavy industrial presence is associated with reduced agricultural production efficiency and may be an indication that externalities from the industrial process, like air and ground water pollution, affect agricultural production. We also find evidence that counties with a large percentage of the rural labor force engaged in agriculture tend to be less efficient, which suggests that policies to facilitate the removal of labor from agriculture, but not necessarily from the rural areas, would bring about enhanced agricultural efficiency and calls into question policies that promote wholesale migration from rural areas. Sensitivity analysis indicates results are robust to influential observations and outliers. |
| Keywords: | China's agriculture, DEA, bootstrapping, technical efficiency, Production Economics, C14, Q1, R5, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6456&r=agr |
| By: | Clark, J. Stephen; Thibodeau, David R.; Grant, K. Gary; Prochazkova, Katerina |
| Abstract: | This study analyzed the impact of PVYn and potato wart disease outbreaks in PEI on the potato industry. These disease outbreaks resulted in the loss of the US seed export market to PEI producers. The effects of the disease outbreaks were mitigated through value-added processing. Price premiums for processed potatoes allowed PEI potato producers to abandon seed exports without incurring losses. Evidence is presented to suggest that other countries have also used this approach when export restrictions were placed on domestic agricultural industries. Policy response to the two disease outbreaks include: i) development of a zones policy that helped to reopen markets into the US; and ii) financial compensation to producers above the minimum levels required under the Seeds Act and Regulations. Implementation of the zones policy had beneficial impacts on the potato industry and is mirrored in other disease outbreaks. In contrast, compensation above minimum requirements may set a costly precedent for future disease outbreaks and may have caused moral hazard problems. |
| Keywords: | disease, trade, potatoes, Canada, food, safety, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:catpwp:43464&r=agr |
| By: | Fraser, Rob |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the issue of incentive-compatibility within environmental stewardship schemes where incentive payments to farmers to provide environmental goods and services are based on foregone agricultural income. The particular focus of the paper is on the role of land heterogeneity, whether in terms of agricultural value or environmental value, in leading to divergences between the actual and the socially optimal level of provision of environmental goods and services. It is shown that such goods and services are systematically over or under-provided depending on the characteristics of land heterogeneity both within and between landscape regions. It is therefore concluded that incentive payments should be based on social willingness-to pay for the provision of environmental goods and services. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:6038&r=agr |
| By: | Willis, David B. |
| Abstract: | The impact irrigation efficiency and the loan deficiency payment have on the quantity of groundwater withdrawn and the agricultural cost of groundwater conservation in the Texas High Plains (THP) is estimated. The irrigation efficiency component utilizes the two most common irrigation technologies available within the THP, low energy precision application (LEPA) for center pivot systems and furrow irrigation. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6269&r=agr |
| By: | Katchova, Ani L. |
| Abstract: | The increasing use of agricultural contracts and processor concentration raises concerns that processors may offer lower contract prices in absence of competition from other local contractors and spot markets. This study examines the price competitiveness of marketing and production contracts depending on the availability of alternative marketing options. A propensity score matching method is used to compare prices using contract data from a farm-level national survey. The results show that the absence of other contractors or spot markets in producers€٠areas does not lead to significant price differences in agricultural contracts for most commodities, providing evidence that most agricultural processors do not exercise market power by reducing prices when other local buyers are not available. |
| Keywords: | alternative marketing options, local competition, marketing contracts, production contracts, agricultural prices, propensity score matching, Agribusiness, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6336&r=agr |
| By: | Deininger, Klaus; Jin, Songqing; Yadav, Vandana |
| Abstract: | While land reform has been the subject of considerable scholarly debate, most of the analyses have been at the aggregate level and focused on rather short-term effects. We use a listing of more than 90,000 households in some 200 villages in West Bengal to highlight the impact of the state's 1978 land reform program on human capital accumulation and current productivity of land use. While we ascertain a highly significant positive effect on long-term accumulation of human capital, our analysis also suggests that, partly because land that had been received through land reform is still operated under share tenancy arrangements, productivity on such land is significantly lower than the average. The combination of lower productivity of reform land relative to own land and land rental and sale's restriction of reform land is associated with significantly lower purchase and sale's price of reform land compared to own land. Programs to allow land reform beneficiaries to acquire full ownership could thus have significant benefits. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6277&r=agr |
| By: | Liu, Huanan; Hobbs, Jill E.; Kerr, William A. |
| Abstract: | As markets become globalized, food safety policy and international trade policy are increasingly intertwined. Globalization also means that food safety incidents are widely reported internationally. One result is that food safety incidents can negatively impact products where no food safety issue exists as consumers lose trust in both foreign and domestic food safety institutions. While the policy framework for dealing with directly effected imported foods is well understood, how to deal with the market failure associated with indirectly affected products within the existing trade policy rules has not been explored. Using the example of China€ٳ 2007 problems with a spate of products safety incidents, a theoretical framework is developed and the response of both the Chinese and Canadian governments analyzed. A cooperative approach to the issues appears to have a number of advantages and does not contravene trade policy commitments. |
| Keywords: | Canada, China, cooperation, food safety, market failure, trade policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:catpwp:43463&r=agr |
| By: | Deodhar, Satish Y.; Ganesh, Sankar; Chern, Wen S. |
| Abstract: | A random utility approach is used to estimate logit equations which indicate what factors affect the likelihood of consumption of non-GM and GM foods, and, whether or not consumers are willing to pay a premium for non-GM/GM foods. Ceteris paribus as the price difference between non-GM and GM food rose, people were more likely to consume GM foods. Likelihood of GM food consumption was higher in the middle income brackets. Consumers were willing to pay an expected premium of 19.5% and 16.12% for golden rice and GM edible oil respectively. In case of chicken, consumers seemed to pay a very negligible premium for non-GM fed chicken. Overall, it appears that GM foods may be acceptable in the Indian market. However, basic awareness about the GM foods may have to be created among the consumers through government ministries, consumer interest groups, and biotech food-crop companies. |
| Keywords: | GM Foods, Golden Rice, Bt cottonseed oil, GM fed chicken, Willingness to Pay, Random utility approach, Logit, India., Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Q13, D12, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6348&r=agr |
| By: | Greenhalgh, Suzie; Taylor, Michael; Selman, Mindy; Guiling, Jenny |
| Abstract: | Agricultural practices continue to degrade water quality and ecosystems worldwide. In the United States, programs like the Department of Agriculture€ٳ (USDA) Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) target the voluntary adoption of agricultural best management practices (BMPs). Demand for these programs has historically exceeded available funding, so allocating funding to achieve the greatest environmental outcome is essential. In recent years, economists have argued that market mechanisms should be incorporated within government programs to improve their cost-effectiveness. This article presents the results of a reverse auction to allocate funding to reduce phosphorus losses from farms, and compares the results with EQIP funded contracts in the same watershed. |
| Keywords: | market-based incentives, reverse auctions, EQIP, conservation funding, performance based strategies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6192&r=agr |
| By: | Colson, Greg; Rousu, Matthew; Huffman, Wallace E. |
| Abstract: | Replaced with revised version of paper 07/22/08. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6407&r=agr |
| By: | JINDAL, Rohit |
| Abstract: | This paper determines the demand for a forestry program amongst rural households in western Kenya. It is based on a field survey with 277 households, using a stratified random sampling approach. The study follows attribute based method to elicit farmers€٠preferences. Demand is measured in terms of additional number of trees that a household is willing to plant under different price schedules, including direct economic incentive to plant new seedlings. The mean willingness to plant new trees per household increases from 44 trees when farmers have to pay 10ksh/seedling, to 244 trees when farmers receive a payment of 10ksh/seedling. The paper uses fixed effects, random effects and random effect tobit models to estimate relevant parameters. Hausman specification test is returned insignificant, while implies that random effects specification is not incorrect. Price of seedlings (negative effect), availability of timber species (positive effect), gender of the respondent (men likely to plant more trees than women), and availability of agricultural labor at the household (positive) were all found to be significant. Increase in price of a seedling by 1Ksh reduced demand by nine seedlings, while addition of an adult who works full-time on the family farm will raise the demand for seedlings by 18. Furthermore, farmers in Yala River basin were likely to plant more trees than those in the Nyando River basin. |
| Keywords: | Kenya, Lake Victoria, demand, tree seedlings, attribute based method, Demand and Price Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, C23, Q23, Q57, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6347&r=agr |
| By: | Armbruster, Walter J.; Coyle, William T. |
| Abstract: | Rapid income growth and urbanization are having profound impacts on the food system, food producers and rural areas in the developing Asia Pacific economies. Meeting the challenge of rural development will depend on better integrating rural areas with fast-growing urban areas where the composition of food demand is changing and the logistics of supply are growing more complex. Possible government options include investment in transportation infrastructure€Բoads, railroads and waterway€ԡnd providing rural communities and small-scale producers the tools they need to better adapt to the rapid spread of modern supermarkets and their supply chains. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:6775&r=agr |
| By: | MacLaren, Donald; Lloyd, Peter |
| Abstract: | The history of the reforms of the assistance given to Australian agriculture over the past fifty years is a remarkable story, especially when contrasted with the experiences of most other OECD countries. The effects of these reforms have been captured by the Productivity Commission (and its predecessors) and by Lloyd through time series of the nominal rates of assistance to individual agricultural commodities and to the industry as a whole. In this paper the concept of a partial equilibrium production assistance index is developed to obtain a more accurate picture of the implicit welfare consequences of this assistance for the period 1955-59 to 2000-04. This index is a mean of order 2. It is shown that the conventional average, the mean of order 1, substantially underestimates the mean of order 2, which is the correct definition of the average level of assistance. |
| Keywords: | Production Assistance Index, industry assistance, Trade Restrictiveness Index, Australian agricultural policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:6033&r=agr |
| By: | Deininger, Klaus; Ali, Daniel Ayalew; Alemu, Tekie |
| Abstract: | Although early attempts at land titling in Africa were often unsuccessful, the need to secure rights in view of increased demand for land, options for registration of a continuum of individual or communal rights under new laws, and the scope for reducing costs by combining information technology with participatory methods have led to renewed interest. This paper uses a difference-in-difference approach to assess economic impacts of a low-cost registration program in Ethiopia that, over 5 years, covered some 20 million parcels. Despite policy constraints, the program increased tenure security, land-related investment, and rental market participation and yielded benefits significantly above the cost of implementation. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics&Policies,Urban Housing,Climate Change,Common Property Resource Development,Rural Land Policies for Poverty Reduction |
| Date: | 2008–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4764&r=agr |
| By: | Wimalasuriya, Rukman; Ha, Arthur; Tsafack, Esther; Larson, Kristoff |
| Abstract: | Conventional wisdom holds that rainfall variability represents a significant source of agriculture production risk. Surprisingly, there have been very few economic analyses exploring the link between rainfall variability and agriculture production. This paper is intended to investigate the factual basis of this assumption and to inform future government policy in such areas as drought, climate change adaptation and water policy. We investigate whether rainfall variability has had an actual impact on agricultural production, specifically dryland cropping in Victorian regions during the period 1982-83 to 2004-05. |
| Keywords: | Productivity Analysis, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:6000&r=agr |
| By: | Kirwan, Barrett E. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6280&r=agr |
| By: | Dessus, Sebastien |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a computable general equilibrium model to assess the welfare impact of commodity price inflation in Tanzania and possible tax policy responses in the short, medium, and long term. The results suggest that global commodity inflation since 2006 may have had a significantly negative impact on all Tanzanian households. Most of the negative impact comes from the rise in the price of oil. In contrast, food price spikes are potentially welfare improving for all Tanzanian households in the medium to long run. In comparison with nonpoor households, poor households in Tanzania may be relatively shielded from global commodity inflation because they derive a larger share of their incomes from agricultural activity and consume less oil-intensive products. Finally, the results suggest that tax policies encouraging greater agricultural production and consumption may help to reduce poverty. In contrast, policies discouraging agricultural production (such as export bans) bear the risk of increasing poverty in the long run. However, such policies would only effect at the margin (in one direction or the other) the likely impact of global commodity inflation on poverty. |
| Keywords: | Markets and Market Access,Economic Theory&Research,Emerging Markets,Currencies and Exchange Rates,Rural Poverty Reduction |
| Date: | 2008–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4760&r=agr |
| By: | Bhaskar, Arathi; Beghin, John C. |
| Abstract: | In the context of the U.S farm policy, this paper analyzes the effect that expectations about base updating in future policies have on a farmer€ٳ acreage decision in the presence of price, yield and policy uncertainty. We consider a risk neutral farmer producing a single crop whose income consists of market revenue and government payments. We consider two policy regimes. Decisions made in the current policy regime are linked to government payments in the future policy regime through the possibility of a base update in the future regime. There is policy uncertainty about the possibility of a base update being allowed in the future. We combine stochastic dynamic programming with present value calculations to link current acreage decisions to future program payments. The average optimal planted acreage is weakly increasing in the subjective probability of the future base update. The maximum percentage increase in the average optimal planted acreage is 6%. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6339&r=agr |
| By: | HORAN, Richard D.; SHOGREN, Jason F.; BULTE, Erwin H. |
| Abstract: | The beginnings of agriculture, or the agricultural revolution, is now recognized to be the widespread adoption of known practices Â€Ó a change in behavior Â€Ó as opposed to a phenomenon of discovery and innovation. In this paper, we combine elements of three theories€ԣlimate change, property rights, and competitive exclusion€Դo create a paleoeconomic model of agriculture and its diffusion. We focus on climate change as a necessary trigger, which combined with group property rights and competitive exclusion processes produced conditions sufficient for the diffusion of early agriculture. In contrast to other models in which farming emerges as technological progress or climate makes it a more productive option than hunting, farming emerges in our model even if farmers are poor hunters and cannot sustain themselves with agriculture alone. Moreover, the strategy of farming can invade the system even if farmers initially generate lower per capita consumption than hunters. The key is that the simple innovation of property rights over an immobile resource can help to insulate farmers from competitive ecological pressures. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6410&r=agr |
| By: | Miller, Ashley D.; Bastian, Christopher T.; McLeod, Donald M.; Keske, Catherine M.; Hoag, Dana L. |
| Abstract: | Open space provides a range of benefits to many people of a community, beyond the benefits that accrue to private landowners. Parks and natural areas can be used for recreation; wetlands and forests supply storm-water drainage and wildlife habitat; farms and forests provide aesthetic benefits to surrounding residents. Moreover, undeveloped land can give relief from congestion. Agricultural lands are an important source of open space, but many of these lands are under great development pressure. One tool that is currently being used to aid in the preservation of open space by landowners is conservation easements. The rate of land protection by state and local land trusts has tripled since the beginning of the decade, and the West is the fastest growing region for both the number of acres under conservation easements and number of land trusts according to the Land Trust Alliance. Given the increased demand for amenities provided by private agricultural lands and the increased use of conservation easements, it is interesting to note that there is a paucity of research related to landowners€٠preferences regarding conservation easements. The specific research objective of this paper is to determine important factors affecting an agricultural landowners€٠potential choice regarding the placement of a parcel of land under a conservation easement. Knowing these factors could be useful to communities, public organizations and land trusts trying to provide open space to meet a growing demand for this public good. Information to construct a survey was obtained through a series of focus groups held in Wyoming and Colorado. Results from these focus groups were then used to develop twelve versions of a stated choice survey instrument. The first part of the survey included questions about the landowner€ٳ specific community. These Likert scale questions were to designed to elicit a measurement of the respondents€٠€ܳense of placeÂ€Ý regarding his or her community. The second part of the survey questioned participants about their land and their land€ٳ attributes, including what the landowner felt his land was worth, types of production and non-production activities land was used for, the types of developmental pressures being felt by the landowner, and the kinds of amenities he would like to conserve on his property. The third section of the survey included questions about the landowner€ٳ personal knowledge of easements and two stated choice questions regarding conservation easements. These stated choice questions focused on five attributes: contract length, managerial control, wildlife habitat, access and payment. The final section of the survey asked respondents about demographic characteristics. Data were analyzed as a multinomial logit random utility model in LIMDEP. Respondents preferred an easement that was in perpetuity over an easement that was term in length. Respondents were less likely to accept an easement if public access on their property was required. As payment proportion in relation to the respondents€٠perception of the value of their land went up, so did the likelihood that they would accept the easement. Landowners in Colorado were more likely to accept an easement than landowners in Wyoming. This is somewhat expected as developmental pressures in Colorado are higher than Wyoming, and thus far more easements have been transacted in Colorado than in Wyoming. Years on the land and connection to community were significant in explaining the acceptance of an easement scenario. The more connected one was to their community, the more likely they were to accept an easement. The longer a respondent had lived on their land, the more likely they were to accept an easement as well. The level of education a respondent had achieved negatively impacted easement acceptance. If an easement was already in place on a respondents€٠property, the likelihood of accepting an easement scenario increased significantly. |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6724&r=agr |
| By: | Liang, Jing; Jensen, Helen H. |
| Abstract: | Recent outbreaks of food-borne illness related to fruit and vegetables have led to increased concerns about the safety of produce. In response, the industry has adopted marketing agreements to ensure consistency of product safety. Contracts now are widely used between processors and growers to specify product safety attributes. This paper uses a principal-agent model to examine how the inclusion of a marketing agreement influences the behavior of growers and processors under processor-grower contracts. We conclude that: (1) the processor offers a contract with a higher premium and a lower base payment under the contract with a marketing agreement (2) contract parameters change in similar manner under the two contracts (3) under a contract with a marketing agreement the processor earns less profit. The individual contract scenarios are discussed in detail. |
| Keywords: | contract, food safety, principal-agent, market agreements, GAPs, on-farm inspection, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6434&r=agr |
| By: | Bonabana-Wabbi, Jackline; Taylor, Daniel B. |
| Abstract: | Two experimental procedures were employed to value both health and environmental benefits from reducing pesticide use in Uganda. The first experiment, an incentive compatible auction involved subjects with incomplete information placing bids to avoid consuming potentially contaminated groundnuts/water in a framed field experimental procedure. Three experimental treatments (information, proxy good, and group treatments) were used. Subjects were endowed with a monetary amount (starting capital) equivalent to half the country€ٳ per capita daily income (in small denominations). Two hundred and fifty seven respondents were involved in a total of 35 experimental sessions in Kampala and Iganga districts. The Kampala sample consisted of urban (professional) residents while the Iganga sample consisted of rural (groundnut farmer) residents. Analyses with Tobit models indicated that subjects are willing to pay significant amounts to avoid ill health outcomes, although these values vary by region, by treatment and by socio-economic characteristics. Gender differences were important in explaining bid behavior, with male respondents in both study areas bidding higher to avoid ill health outcomes than females. Consistent with a priori expectation, rural population€ٳ average willingness to pay to avoid ill health outcomes was lower (by 11.4 percent) than the urban population€ٳ willingness to pay perhaps reflecting the poverty level/low incomes in the rural areas and how it translates into reduced regard for health and environmental improvements. Salaried respondents in Kampala were willing to pay more than those on hourly wages. Tests of hypotheses suggested: (i) providing brief information to subjects just prior to the valuation exercise does not influence bid behavior, (ii) subjects are indifferent to the source of contamination: willingness to pay to avoid health outcomes from potentially contaminated water versus groundnuts are not significantly different, and (iii) the classical tendency to free-ride in public goods provision was observed in both urban and rural areas, and this phenomenon was more pronounced in the urban than the rural area. The second experimental procedure, choice experiments, involved 132 urban respondents making repeated choices from a set of scenarios described by attributes of water quality, an environmental good. Water quality was represented by profiles of water safety levels at varying costs. Analysis using a conditional (fixed effects) logit model showed that urban subjects highly discount unsafe drinking water, and were willing to pay less for safe agricultural water, a result not unexpected considering that the urban population is not directly involved in agricultural activities and thus may not value agricultural water quality as much as drinking water quality. It was also found that subjects€٠utility increased with the cost of a water sample (inconsistent with a downward sloping demand curve), suggesting perhaps that they perceived higher cost water to be associated with higher quality water. Advertisements for bottled water in Uganda would have consumers believe that higher cost bottled water is higher quality. |
| Keywords: | Experimental auctions, Choice experiments, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Health Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6441&r=agr |
| By: | Lee, Youngjae; Kennedy, P. Lynn |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes the historical price response of individual crop acreage in order to determine the impacts of an expansionist policy in bioethanol production on the U.S. agricultural industry. In doing this, this study provides an economic foundation by using a traditional Rotterdam model to simulate a cropland demand system. Within the developed framework, this study estimates own and cross acreage elasticities and scale elasticities to show the impacts of acreage values on crop production and the relationship between total cropland and individual crop acreage. This study found that rice farming is most inelastic to own acreage value. Soybeans, hay, and wheat are shown to be good substitute crops for corn. Corn, soybeans, hay, wheat, cotton, barley, and rice are shown to have positive scale elasticity, while sorghum and oats are shown to have negative scale elasticities. The scale effects of corn, soybeans, hay, and wheat are relatively large, while those of cotton, sorghum, barley, rice, and oats are relatively small. |
| Keywords: | bioethanol, acreage value, Rotterdam model, own acreage elasticity, cross acreage elasticity, scale elasticity, Crop Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6343&r=agr |
| By: | Cacho, Oscar |
| Abstract: | Payment for carbon sequestration by agriculture and forestry can provide incentives for adoption of sustainable agricultural practices. However, a project involving contracts with farmers may face high transaction costs in showing that net emission reductions are real and attributable to the project. This paper presents a model of project participation that includes transaction and abatement costs. A project feasibility frontier (PFF) is derived, which shows the minimum project size that is feasible for any given market price of carbon. The PFF is used to analyse how the design of a climate mitigation program may affect the feasibility of actual projects. |
| Keywords: | Climate Policy, Greenhouse Effect, Carbon Sequestration, Agroforestry, Transaction Costs, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:6007&r=agr |
| By: | Francesca Marchetta (Università degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche) |
| Abstract: | Environmental changes affect the livelihood of the rural population. This is especially true for those households who mainly rely on farming for their subsistence. In Northern Ghana, during the last two decades, soil erosion, the increasing unpredictability of the rains and the raise in the population size - with the ensuing pressure on the land - contributed to make people even more vulnerable to environmental conditions. These factors - together with the adverse market conditions for the local produce and the neglect of the region in the design of adjustment policies - pushed rural population towards income generating activities alternative to farming (i.e. migration and non farm activities). In this paper, we use a multivariate analysis to explore the determinants of income diversification from a household perspective. We find that non agricultural activities represent an option that better-off households - and communities - can resort to, in order to overcome the difficulties of the agricultural sector; while out-rural seasonal migration is emerging as a coping strategy adopted by poor households to meet their basic needs, and it is unlikely to improve their socioeconomic condition in the long run. |
| Keywords: | income diversification, poverty, inequality, migration |
| JEL: | I32 O15 O55 Q12 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2008_16.rdf&r=agr |
| By: | Ollinger, Michael |
| Abstract: | This paper uses plant-level micro-data covering the 1987-2002 and a translog cost function to estimate long-run costs in the meat and poultry industry in order to evaluate the impact of the Pathogen Reduction Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point Rule on cattle, hog and chicken slaughter and prepared pork products and sausage-making industries. Results suggest that costs rose in the cattle and hog slaughter and prepared pork products industries and the cost shares of meat declined and of labor and capital rose. There is little evidence that events over the period favored large or small plants. |
| Keywords: | food safety, structural change, regulation, industrial organization, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Industrial Organization, |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:36747&r=agr |
| By: | Cantore, Nicola; Canavari, Maurizio; Pignatti, Erika |
| Abstract: | Recent literature about gravity models points out the importance of institutional frictions in the international market of agricultural products beyond the traditional economics variables as transport costs reducing the mass of trade in bilateral relationships. In particular, previous contributions stress that harmonization of food standards could decrease transaction costs in trading relationships by stimulating international market. In a previous work we hypothesized that the acknowledgment of equivalence in organic standards may represent a reliable signal of affinity in bilateral relationships which may be useful to identify areas in which transaction costs for both conventional and organic standards are lower. This article represents a step forward, since it assumes that the acknowledgment of equivalence in identifying areas with lower transaction costs in trading relationships for the whole produce could be a strong assumption that may be relaxed through the hypothesis that affinity in market exchange could be simply signaled by the presence of organic standards for the involved countries. Therefore, in our analysis we test if countries setting specific rules for organic standards are more €ܡffineÂ€Ý in trading relationships because of a low common cultural, law and political distance but also if differences in organic standards themselves can be useful to differentiate the level of affinity among regions. Interesting insights for policy makers about the identification of relevant variables for international business arise from an econometric analysis. |
| Keywords: | Gravity models, organic standards, transaction costs, international market, agricultural trade, food products, Agricultural and Food Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q11, Q13, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6159&r=agr |
| By: | Azad, Md Abdus Samad; Liem, Monkia; Ancev, Tihomir; Lee, Lisa Yu-Ting |
| Abstract: | Irrigation enterprises can be evaluated from a perspective of technical and environmental efficiency. This study determines the technical and environmental efficiency in irrigated cotton enterprises. This is achieved by investigating efficiency at cotton enterprise in the case study area of the Mooki Catchment, located in northern New South Wales. Deep drainage loss which contributes to salinity is considered as an environmental detrimental output. Using four different specifications of Data Envelopment Analysis relative efficiency rankings are determined for each agricultural area in the catchment. This result is then compared to biophysical characteristics from previous studies to help identify the particular features of an area which may influence outcomes that are both environmentally sound and economically efficient. With the identification of the most and least efficient cotton irrigating areas in the region, policymakers can construct a relative ranking system to best determine policy directions in order to achieve economic and environmental objectives. |
| Keywords: | Cotton, Irrigation, Deep Drainage, Environmental Efficiency, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:6004&r=agr |
| By: | Mykerezi, Elton; Mills, Bradford F. |
| Abstract: | Replaced by revised version of paper 10/14/08. Former title: Food Insecurity and the Food Stamp Program |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6552&r=agr |
| By: | BRADY, Michael; SOHNGEN, Brent |
| Abstract: | This study takes advantages of recent developments in measuring total factor productivity in output specific directions to examine the influence of technological change in different agricultural sectors on land-use decisions in a cross-section of countries from 1969 to 2001. Results demonstrate a positive relationship between productivity and land in agriculture in most cases. The ruminant sector is an exception where an increase in productivity was negatively associated with amount of pastureland. The analysis also includes variables that have been found to be important determinants in other studies of land-use change. Population is clearly the dominant factor over the time period analyzed, although it is argued that other factors are likely to become more important in upcoming years since population growth has slowed significantly in many countries. |
| Keywords: | Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6420&r=agr |
| By: | Bennett, Jeff; Gillespie, Rob; Dumsday, Rob |
| Abstract: | The populist view of economic development and the environment is that advances in one will necessarily result in a decline in the other. Evidence in the Australian context is that the dual goals can be achieved simultaneously. As economic development progresses, the increasing levels of income stimulate greater demand for environmental improvements. The population engages in more environmentally focused consumption and calls for its governments to introduce more policies designed to rehabilitate and protect environmental assets. Concurrently, the increasing levels of wealth allow for increasing expenditure on research and development into production processes that generate greater productivity and less environmental damage. The Australian agricultural sector provides numerous examples of concurrent improvements in productivity and environmental condition. Zero tillage broad acre grain cultivation practices have led to lower rates of soil erosion and have enriched soil biota while delivering higher productivity. Similarly, the introduction of integrated pest management, including the planting of pest and herbicide tolerant species, has improved water quality in cotton growing areas. A key implication from this analysis is that policies to improve environmental conditions should not be focused on stifling economic growth. Rather, governments should strive for policies that will encourage economic growth--such as the installation of property rights that are both well defined and defended. Concurrently, policies specifically designed to deal with potential environmental problems should be enacted. For instance, the establishment of property rights to water and the setting aside of allocations for environmental flows will encourage both economic development and environmental protection. |
| Keywords: | economic development, environmental protection, agriculture, policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Financial Economics, Political Economy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:6040&r=agr |
| By: | Sauer, Johannes |
| Abstract: | Milk quota trading rules differ across EU member countries. In Denmark a biannual milk quota exchange was set up in 1997 to promote a more efficient reallocation of milk quotas as well as to reduce transaction costs related to the searching and matching of sellers and buyers. Using two comprehensive panel data sets on organic and conventional milk farms this study attempts to disentangle the effects of the introduction of quota transferability on the production structure of those farms as well as the probability of market entry/exit. Bayesian estimation techniques are used to estimate an input oriented generalized Leontief distance function as well as a curvature constrained specification. The results suggest that the deregulation in the quota allocation mechanism led to an increased allocative efficiency of organic as well as conventional milk production as well as a relative shift of the PPF in favor of the production of organic milk. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6425&r=agr |
| By: | Ngugi, Daniel; Mullen, Jeff; Bergstrom, John |
| Abstract: | A model of land allocation at the aggregate watershed level was developed assuming profit/net benefit maximization under risk neutrality. The econometric land use model was analyzed as an equation by equation SURE model as all the independent variables were the same for both equations. In analyzing effect of land use change on water quality, we took year 2005 as our baseline and postulated three land use scenarios. We applied Benefit Transfer techniques to value water quality changes resulting from land use change and estimated lower bounds for WTP to improve water quality to meet the FCB criterion for drinking water supply and fishing waters and BOD (DO) criteria for fishing waters.Water quality modeling revealed that land use change would result in increased runoff, and associated increase in FCB and BOD/DO violations. But the BOD/DO violations could be curtailed by managing urban growth as evidenced absence of BOD violations in the managed growth scenario. Our study finds there may be problems of FCB under all postulated future land use scenarios. The findings also support existing literature that there are problems with FCB violation in the study area at the moment. Finally, it seems that the people of UCRB would be willing to pay a lower bound value between USD 15,785,740 and USD 16,141,230 per year to create and maintain quality standards for fishing and drinking water supply. |
| Keywords: | Ecosystem, Economic value, North Georgia, land use, land use change, fish, water quality, structural time series, willingness to pay, benefit transfer, forecasting, vector autoregression, Upper Chattahoochee River, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6119&r=agr |
| By: | Soman, Sethuram; Misgna, Girmay; Kraft, Steven; Lant, Chris; Beaulieu, Jeff |
| Abstract: | Landowner characteristics influence his/her willingness to change landuse practices to provide more or less environmental benefits. However, most studies of agricultural/environmental polices identify landowners as homogenous. And, the primary cause of failure of many environmental and other polices is the lack of knowledge on how humans may respond to polices based on changes in their behavior (Stern, 1993). From socioeconomic theory and empirical research, landowners can be identified as individuals who make agricultural landuse decisions independently based on their objectives. Identifying possible classes of landowners, assessing how each would potentially respond to policy alternatives, and the resulting pattern of land uses in a watershed or a riparian corridor would be very useful to policy makers as they evaluated alternatives. Agricultural landscapes are important producers of ecosystem services. The mix of ecosystem services and commodity outputs of an agricultural landscape depends on the spatial pattern of land uses emerging from individual land use decisions. However, many empirical studies show that the production of ecosystem services from agricultural landscapes is declining. This is consistent with research conducted over the last few decades showing there is a narrow range of social circumstances under which landowners are willing to make investments in the present to achieve public benefits in the future through investing in natural capital resulting in public goods which are frequently produced as ecosystem services. In this study an agent-based model within a watershed planning context is used to analyze the tradeoffs involved in producing a number of ecosystem services and agricultural commodities given price and policy scenarios while assuming three different types of agents in terms of their goals. The agents represent landowners who have been divided into a number of different groups based on their goals and the size of their farm operations. The multi-agent-based model is developed using a heuristic search and optimization technique called genetic algorithm (GA) (Holland), which belongs to a broader class of evolutionary algorithms. GAs exhibit three properties (1) they start with a population of solution, (2) they explore the solution space through recombination and mutation and (3) they evaluate individual solutions based on their appropriate fitness value(s), for example given profit maximizing agents this would be gross margin. A GA is a heuristic stochastic search and optimization method, which works by mimicking the evolutionary principles and chromosomal processing in natural genetics. The three economic agents that are modeled are based on variations in their objective functions and constraints. This study will help in identifying the tradeoffs associated with various agents in the provision of ecosystem services and agricultural commodities. The agent model developed here will help policy and decision maker identify the various agents within the watershed and assess various policy options based on that information. The study will also help to understand the interaction and feedback between the agents and their environment associated with various policy initiatives. The results of the study indicate that the agent model correctly predicts the actual landuse landcover map by 75 percent. |
| Keywords: | Multifunctional agriculture, Agent based modeling, Genetic Algorithm, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6142&r=agr |
| By: | O'BRIEN, Daniel; WOOLVERTON, Mike; MADDY, Lucas; POZO, Veronica; ROE, Josh; TAJCHMAN, Jenna; YEAGER, Elizabeth |
| Abstract: | The development of grain-based ethanol production in Kansas has had a marked impact upon the feedgrain and livestock industries of the state. The increased focus on feedgrain production stemming from ethanol development impacts the use and sustainability of Kansas water resources, and has changed the proportional mix of crops grown in the state. The need to handle increased amounts of feedgrains and to transport them to ethanol plants has affected the functional role of local grain elevators as well as the directional flow of grain within the state. The grain trucking industry has been dramatically affected by the increase in demand for moving both feedstock inputs and co-product outputs to and from ethanol plants in the state. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Livestock Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6432&r=agr |
| By: | Mishra, Ashok K.; Dedah, Cheikhna |
| Abstract: | According to Ricardian rent theory, the value of farm assets is equal to the discounted present value of future expected net rents from farm returns, and the discounted expected value of the land if converted to nonfarm development. Some recent research has considered modifying this standard present value model by acknowledging that returns from the market may be discounted at a different interest rate than returns from government payments (Goodwin, Mishra, and Ortal-Magne) and also that the discount rate itself may be time-varying. However, very little research has considered how changes in the overall risk to agriculture may affect farmland values. An exception is Moss, Shonkwiler and Schmitz (2004). We use time series panel data from the USDA for United States, 1960-2004 and a structural equations model with latent variables for the rate of return on farm assets and for the real risk-adjusted interest rate. We find that a secondary effect of agricultural policies that reduces the overall risk to agriculture may increase farmland values (and thus farm sector wealth). Government payments are offsetting the negative impact of high volatility of returns to farming. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6569&r=agr |
| By: | Azad, Md Abdus Samad; Mustafi, B.A.A.; Hossian, Mahabub |
| Abstract: | Hybrid rice, one of the viable and proven technologies has been considered as a new frontier to increase rice production for meeting growing demand for staple food in Bangladesh. Using farm survey data this paper examines comparative profitability of hybrid and inbred rice cultivation and estimates a Stochastic Frontier Function to determine the effect of key variables on farm efficiency. Results show that hybrid rice gives substantially higher yield as well as net return compared to inbred rice which leads to increase and sustainable growth of food grain production. Analysis of Stochastic Frontier model shows hybrid rice farms are technically more efficient than inbred. |
| Keywords: | Hybrid Rice, Technology, Economics, Food Self-sufficiency, Crop Production/Industries, International Development, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:5987&r=agr |
| By: | Mishra, Ashok; Harris, J. Michael; Erickson, Kenneth; Hallahan, Charles |
| Abstract: | This study uses a financial approach based on the DuPont expansion to examine the significance of specialization and vertical integration on domestic agriculture. The traditional DuPont Expansion decomposes the rate of return to equity into asset efficiency, gross margins, and solvency. We hypothesize that agricultural specialization directly affects the asset efficiency and gross margin of the farm. Specifically, specialization would tend to decrease asset efficiency while increasing the gross margin. On the other hand, vertical integration may affect the gross margin and solvency directly. The effect on solvency would result from the integrator€ٳ use of credit as an incentive. However, the general type of agricultural enterprise integrated may also have implications for asset efficiency. Specifically, livestock operations may tend to have greater asset efficiency than crops. We estimate a system of equations in log space using annual farm-level data from the USDA€ٳ ARMS data, 1996-2006. We include all production regions in the contiguous 48 states, and all farms. We find that specialization and vertical integration are among the key factors driving farm profitability in the U.S. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6413&r=agr |
| By: | Weerahewa, Jeevika; Meilke, Karl D.; Vyn, Richard J.; Haq, Zahoor |
| Abstract: | This study has examined the determinants of farmland values in Canada. The empirical results for the period 1959-2004 show that farmland values seem to be disconnected from adjusted earnings per acre regardless of model specification. Differences in model specification can change the interpretation of the importance of government payments in influencing farm land values. If a time trend is included in the land value function government payments appear to have no effect on land values; when the time trend is removed they have a statistically significant positive effect on land values. With respect to the other explanatory variables, the higher the population density, the higher farmland values, indicating that urbanization increases farmland values. Furthermore, increases in real interest rates lower farmland value as the capitalization formula suggests. |
| Keywords: | land values, Canada, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:catpwp:43461&r=agr |
| By: | Key, Nigel; McBride, William D.; Ribaudo, Marc |
| Abstract: | In recent years, structural changes in the hog sector, including increasing farm size and regional shifts in production, have altered manure management practices. Over the same period, changes to the Clean Water Act, new state regulations, and increasing local conflicts over odor have influenced manure management decisions. This study uses data from two national surveys of hog farmers to examine how hog manure management practices vary with the scale of production and how these practices evolved between 1998 and 2004. The findings provide insights into the effects of structural changes and recent policies on manure management technologies and practices, the use of nutrient management plans, and manure application rates. |
| Keywords: | hog production, manure management, structural change, environmental regulation, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6071&r=agr |
| By: | Roberts, Michael J.; Key, Nigel |
| Abstract: | Growing farm size has generally been explained by technological advances that have allowed farmers to substitute capital for labor. Another possible factor in explaining recent farm size is the demographic shift: the age distribution of farmers has shifted to the right and older farmers generally operate larger farms than younger farmers. This paper uses data from the 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, and 2002 Agricultural Censuses to examine the relative importance of the demographic shift versus technological factors in explaining overall farm size growth. Results indicate that farm sizes tend to increase with age and that, holding age constant, the typical farm-size has increased over time for all ages, presumably due to technological change. The age-distribution shift is combined with the age-specific farm-size shift, to provide a preliminary estimate of the effect of the age distribution shift and technological change on average farm size growth. |
| Keywords: | farm structure, demographic shift, age distribution, farm size distribution, Farm Management, Industrial Organization, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6087&r=agr |
| By: | Cuthbertson, Bron; Marks, Nicki |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the findings of research on emerging global trends in consumer food preferences with credence attributes. Credence qualities cannot be evaluated in normal use. Instead the assessment of their value requires information sought through the search and experience of a product (Darbi & Karni, 1973). Key trends identified were Health and wellness foods, environmentally sustainable and ethical food production. Key drivers for these trends are corporate social responsibility, media, obesity, technology, an aging population and consumers' environmental attitudes. Conditions to operate in this market are traceability, food safety, trust, accreditation, labeling and branding. |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Relations/Trade, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:5980&r=agr |
| By: | Mabiso, Athur; Weatherspoon, Dave |
| Abstract: | As oil prices continue to skyrocket and food riots surface across the globe, there are growing concerns that food-fuel tradeoffs are beginning to present serious challenges for food security across the world. In South Africa, where the government is embarking on a biofuels expansion strategy, understanding the nature of food-fuels tradeoffs is imperative for effective policy making and ultimately safeguarding consumers' welfare. Using time series monthly data constructed from various sources, this preliminary study makes a step toward explaining the nature of food-fuel tradeoffs in South Africa. By including fuel prices in the estimation of single-equation and seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) estimates of demands for maize meal (the South African staple food) and wheat bread (which is increasingly accounting for a large proportion of total expenditure in South Africa) the study presents preliminary findings. Further construction of the data used in this preliminary analysis is anticipated in order to allow for a systems approach that entails testing of separability between fuel and food, the estimation of cross-price elasticities and simulations of the expansion in the biofuels industry, for the elicitation of more information on the food-fuel tradeoffs in South Africa. |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6126&r=agr |
| By: | Jan, Dawood; Chisti, Anwar; Eberle, Phillip |
| Abstract: | Replaced with revised version of paper 05/21/08. |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6241&r=agr |
| By: | Wendt, Minh |
| Abstract: | Replaced with revised version of paper 08/01/08. |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6571&r=agr |
| By: | Stahlman, Michael; McCann, Laura M.J.; Gedikoglu, Haluk |
| Abstract: | Phytase represents a potential win/win management practice for non-ruminant producers since it can reduce the need for phosphorous supplementation and also result in lower phosphorous runoff. Cost of phytase has decreased and cost of phosphorous has increased. The reported adoption rate for phytase for non-ruminants was 17.2 percent, however it is currently added to virtually all swine and poultry premixes by feed manufacturers due to the cost savings. People were more likely to say they use phytase if they think it is profitable, not time intensive, and improves water quality. |
| Keywords: | manure, phytase, phosphorous, adoption, Environmental Economics and Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:43235&r=agr |
| By: | Leibtag, Ephraim |
| Abstract: | The main area of focus in this paper is variation across regions and over time in the U.S. as estimated by different food price data sets. There are a variety of potential sources for food price data,but it is important to compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of the data sources in order to estimate the magnitude of the variation in average prices from the different sources. No one data source can account for all potential measurement problems,but by estimating average food prices for similar,or even identical products,one can test for whether there are significant differences in average food prices based on the data source. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Demand and Price Analysis, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:5976&r=agr |
| By: | Kukielka, Jessica B.; Johnston, Robert J.; Duke, Joshua M. |
| Abstract: | Despite prior studies examining willingness to pay for farmland preservation there has been no quantitative, systematic analysis of findings across the literature. This paper presents the first statistical meta-analysis of farmland preservation values. Results confirm systematic variations in willingness to pay, with value surfaces corresponding to theoretical expectations. Findings also provide significant insight into the potential for valid meta-analytic, function based benefit transfer. Results suggest, for example, that transfer validity is critically dependent on jurisdictional scale. Transfer errors are modest for community scale farmland preservation, but large for state scale preservation policies in which per acre welfare estimates are small. |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6121&r=agr |
| By: | Nordblom, Tom; Reeson, Andrew; Whitten, Stuart; Finlayson, John D.; Kelly, Jason A.; Hume, Iain H. |
| Abstract: | Shortfalls in water supplies are perhaps the greatest practical NRM policy concern in Australia today, looming larger in many minds than the great international debates on greenhouse gasses, climate change and biodiversity. Because forest land cover uses more water than any other, wide expansion of upstream tree plantations can significantly reduce water yields upon which downstream urban, agricultural and wetlands depend. We consider the economic efficiency and equity (profitability and distributional) consequences of upstream land use change. The €إnvironmental services€٠of concern in our study are the mean annual quantities and qualities (volumes and salt concentrations) of water flowing from upper parts of a catchment to the downstream interests holding entitlements to that water. We consider the presence or absence of high salinity concentrations (C) in a tributary to the water supply of urban and other high-security users; the presence or absence of policy and/or markets giving strong incentives for upstream tree plantations (P); and the presence or absence of a policy that water entitlements (E) must be purchased from existing entitlement holders before new upstream tree plantations are allowed. A factorial experiment examining all eight €عes/no€٠combinations of these conditions is defined to explore the associated distributions of upstream and downstream impacts. |
| Keywords: | experimental economics, land use, rival water uses, MBI, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:6249&r=agr |
| By: | Flanders, Archie; White, Fred; McKissick, John |
| Abstract: | Georgia agricultural production continues on an increasing trend and reached a historical high in 2006. Increases in output have been accompanied by relatively lower levels of input increases. The Tornqvist productivity index indicates an average annual productivity increase of 3.0% during 1960-2006. Productivity increases explain how the Georgia agricultural economy is expanding during a period when farm acreage and the number of farms are declining. An alternative to the Tornqvist productivity index is the Bennet-Bowley productivity indicator. A feature of the Bennet-Bowley indicator is that it is a component of normalized profit change. Profit change can be decomposed into a price change component, as well as a productivity component. Declining output prices relative to input prices during 1960-2006 were not favorable for increased profitability. Results show that Georgia farm profit increased from 1960-2006 due to increased agricultural productivity. |
| Keywords: | Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6110&r=agr |
| By: | Farrell, Terence C. |
| Abstract: | Economic benefits that arise from conservation farming practices need to be assessed over several years to account for improvements in soil structure and nutrient levels. A gross margin model was used to assess benefits over the eight-year period 1999-2006 for 12 regions in the central west of NSW. The annual benefits from improved soil structure ranged from $2.46 to $12.82 per hectare (ha). A reduction in tractor power produced annual savings in the range of $0.60 to $4.05 per ha. The cost of soil compaction by livestock grazing on crop areas ranged from $3.41 to $14.90 per ha. The break-even time to pay back costs for the conversion of machinery for no-till seeding was two to three seasons. |
| Keywords: | No-till, conservation, farming, tillage, cropping systems, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:6177&r=agr |
| By: | Evans, Jason R.; Brown, Cheryl; Collins, Alan R.; D'Souza, Gerard E.; Rayburn, Edward B.; Sperow, Mark |
| Abstract: | The U.S. market for commoditized beef is a dynamic one that has, over the last 30 years, seen decreases in per capita consumption and an increased reliance on large, integrated feedlot facilities that focus on efficient weight gain and producing carcasses deemed desirable according the USDA quality grading system. Because of the problems inherent in the conventional production system and the existence of farm-to-retail price spreads that do not favor primary cow-calf producers, analyses of alternative beef production and marketing strategies that facilitate enhanced profitability and simultaneously address surging consumer demand for specialty food products are necessary. To that end, focus of the current study was on the market potential for grass-fed beef products in the Appalachian region, given that these products embody observed, experience, nutritional, and process attributes that may appeal to a large consumer base. Specifically, a variant of the Becker-DeGroot-Marschack experimental auction mechanism was employed in grocery stores in Morgantown, WV and Pittsburgh, PA in order to determine consumer preferences and willingness to pay for grass-fed steak and ground beef products. A majority of beef consumers sampled preferred the grass-fed products in both steak and ground beef experiments and were willing to pay a price premium in order to obtain them. It was concluded that consumers would respond positively to the availability of these products in the retail sector, based largely on their superior nutritional content and core observed attributes. |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6209&r=agr |
| By: | Gong, Wendy; Sinden, Jack; Jones, Randall |
| Abstract: | Invasive animal pests inflict many kinds of damage on the environment, and threaten native fauna and flora. We attempt to value the benefits from the extra biodiversity that is protected if these threats were removed. The NSW Rural Lands Protection Board is a major agency that undertakes pest control, and is organised into 48 districts across the state. A cross-sectional set of data on Board expenditures, pest abundance, and environmental and climatic characteristics, was compiled by district and analysed. The number of threatened native plant and animal species increases with pest abundance and with the total number of native species present in the district. But the number of threatened species decreases as Board expenditures on pest control increase. The value of preserving an extra species is derived from these changes in expenditure, following conventional economic principles. Then the potential gain in economic surplus is estimated if the threats to biodiversity were removed. The results so far suggest that the value of the total benefit of protecting an extra species is at least $44,250 per year, and the potential gain in surplus for New South Wales if the threats were removed is at least $132m per year. This change in surplus is also the total economic loss because invasive pests threaten native flora and fauna. If only half the native species could be protected, the avoidable economic loss is at least $95.7m per year. The assumptions and limitations of these estimates are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Invasive animal pests, unpriced values, biodiversity gains, native flora and fauna, Environmental Economics and Policy, Political Economy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:5995&r=agr |
| By: | Greiner, Romy; Miller, Owen; Patterson, Louisa |
| Abstract: | The onus on landholders in relation to environmental performance is ever increasing. One tool for achieving environmental improvements is the design and promotion of region-specific €آest management practices€٠(BMPs). These are conservation practices aimed at reducing diffuse source pollution from agricultural lands and thus improving end-of-catchment water quality. A suite of grazing BMPs were developed for the Burdekin Dry Tropics region in a consultative fashion but without explicit consideration of knowledge of adoption processes. It is known from the literature that farmers€٠goals and risk perceptions in particular influence adoption decisions. This paper utilises the data from an earlier grazier survey to explore to what extent grazier motivations and risk perceptions influence the adoption of BMPs. The results demonstrate clear correlations between both motivations and risk attitudes, and the adoption of recommended BMPs, with specific preferences for different BMPs. We conclude that a sound understanding of landholders€٠motivations and risk attitudes is required€ԩn a regional, industry and environmental context€Դo tailor programmes aimed at improving regional environmental performance. |
| Keywords: | conservation practices, adoption, water quality, grazing, Burdekin River catchment, best management practices, risk management, motivations, empirical research, correlations, factor analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:6002&r=agr |
| By: | Nguyen, Duong T. M.; McLaren, Keith; Zhao, Xueyan |
| Abstract: | Existing econometric models for Australian broadacre agricultural production are few and have become dated. This paper estimates a multi-product restricted cost function using a unique quasi-micro farm level dataset from the Australian Agricultural and Grazing Industries Survey. Both the transcendental logarithmic and normalized quadratic functional forms are employed. Heteroskedasticity caused by the particular nature of the quasi-micro data is also assessed and accommodated. Allen partial elasticities of input substitution and own-and cross-price input demand elasticities are computed. The estimated demands for most production factors are inelastic to prices. Hired labour is responsive to own price and cropping input prices. |
| Keywords: | Production Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:6009&r=agr |
| By: | Hertel, Thomas W.; Tyner, Wallace E.; Birur, Dileep K. |
| Abstract: | The recent rise in world oil prices, coupled with heightened interest in the abatement of greenhouse gas emissions, has led to a sharp increase in domestic biofuels production around the world. Previous authors have devoted considerable attention to the impacts of these policies on a country-by-country basis. However, there are also strong interactions among these programs, as they compete in world markets for feedstocks and ultimately for a limited supply of global land. In this paper, we evaluate the interplay between two of the largest biofuels programs, namely the renewable fuel mandates in the US and the EU. We examine how the presence of each of these programs influences the other, and also how their combined impact influences global markets and land use around the world. We begin with an analysis of the origins of the recent bio-fuel boom, using the historical period from 2001-2006 for purposes of model validation. This was a period of rapidly rising oil prices, increased subsidies in the EU, and, in the US, there was a ban on the major competitor to ethanol for gasoline additives. Our analysis of this historical period permits us to evaluate the relative contribution of each of these factors to the global biofuel boom. We also use this historical simulation to establish a 2006 benchmark biofuel economy from which we conduct our analysis of future mandates. Our prospective analysis of the impacts of the biofuels boom on commodity markets focuses on the 2006-2015 time period, during which existing investments and new mandates in the US and EU are expected to substantially increase the share of agricultural products (e.g., corn in the US, oilseeds in the EU, and sugar in Brazil) utilized by the biofuels sector. In the US, this share could more than double from 2006 levels, while the share of oilseeds going to biodiesel in the EU could triple. Having established the baseline 2006-2015 scenario, we proceed to explore the interactions between the US and EU policies. This involves decomposing the contributions of each set of regional policies to the global changes in output and land use. The most dramatic interaction between the two sets of policies is for oilseed production in the US, where the sign of the output change is reversed in the presence of EU mandates (rising rather than falling). In other sectors, the interaction is more modest. However, when it comes to the impacts of these combined mandates on third economies, the two policies combine to have a much greater impact than just the US or just the EU policies alone. |
| Keywords: | Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6526&r=agr |
| By: | ECKER, Olivier; QAIM, Matin |
| Abstract: | Widespread malnutrition in developing countries calls for appropriate interventions, presupposing good knowledge about the nutritional impacts of policies. Little previous work has been carried out in this direction. We present a comprehensive analytical framework, which we apply for Malawi. Using household data and a demand systems approach, we estimate income and price elasticities of food, calorie, and micronutrient consumption. These estimates are used for policy simulations. Given multiple nutrient deficiencies, income-related policies are better suited than price policies to improve nutrition. While consumer subsidies for maize increase calorie and mineral consumption, they contribute to a higher prevalence of vitamin deficiencies. |
| Keywords: | quadratic almost ideal demand system, food security, micronutrient malnutrition, calorie elasticities, nutrient elasticities, Malawi, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6349&r=agr |
| By: | Rios, Ana R.; Masters, William A.; Shively, Gerald E. |
| Abstract: | We build upon international trade literature to analyze the direction of causality between market participation and productivity. Cross-country household data from Tanzania, Vietnam and Guatemala are used in a 2SLS approach with market participation and productivity as endogenous variables. Results indicate that households with higher productivity tend to participate in agricultural markets regardless of market access factors. In contrast, having better market access does not necessarily lead to higher productivity. This finding suggests that investments in market access infrastructure provide minimal, if any, improvements in agricultural productivity; whereas programs targeted at enhancements in farm structure and capital have the potential to increase both productivity and market participation. |
| Keywords: | International Relations/Trade, Marketing, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6145&r=agr |
| By: | Lambert, D.M.; Sullivan, P.; Wojan, T. |
| Abstract: | Farm operators are an integral part of some rural economies. The businesses they operate often hire seasonal and full-time employees and purchase goods and services from local farm implement dealers, input suppliers, and financial institutions. Farm household spending on food, furniture and appliances, trucks and automobiles, and a range of consumer goods also support local jobs and retail businesses in some communities. Based on the 2002 agricultural census and the 2004 Agricultural Resource Management Survey, this paper explores the linkages between farm household/ business expenditures and local communities. |
| Keywords: | Farm business expenditures, farm household spending, employment, community linkage, Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management, Community/Rural/Urban Development, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6367&r=agr |
| By: | Gray, Emily; Ahmadi-Esfahani, Fredoun |
| Abstract: | There is potential for over-provision of environmental harms and under-provision of environmental benefits associated with GM crops. As a result, strong public regulation is needed to ensure that full social values are considered. However, one reason for opposition to GM crops is a lack of public trust in regulatory institutions and science, and the limited opportunities afforded to public-participation and nonscientific concerns. We aim to demonstrate the trade-off between social cost and managing the risks of gene flow arising from environmental release of GM canola in Australia, using the framework of a probabilistic risk assessment and safety-rule decision mechanism. |
| Keywords: | safety-rule, uncertainty, biotechnology regulation, canola, Crop Production/Industries, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:6045&r=agr |
| By: | Pagiola, Stefano; Zhang, Wei; Colom, Ale |
| Abstract: | Payments for Environmental Services (PES) are being increasingly used as conservation instruments, particularly in Latin America. PES programs seek to capture part of the benefits derived from environmental services and channel them to natural resource managers who generate these services, thus increasing their incentive to conserve them. Many have assumed that these payments would go mostly to poor land users, and thus contribute to poverty reduction. There has been little empirical verification of this assumption to date, however. The PES approach was conceptualized as a mechanism to improve the efficiency of natural resource management, and not as a mechanism for poverty reduction. Pagiola et al. (2005) identified three main questions regarding the linkages between PES and poverty: (1) Who are the actual and potential participants in PES programs, and how many of them are poor? (2) Are poorer households able to participate in PES programs? And (3) are poor households affected indirectly by PES programs? We focus here on the first question of eligibility. This study examines whether the recipients of payments for environmental services are likely to be poor. Our focus is on watershed-scale PES mechanisms in which water users make payments to service providers. In Guatemala, as in other countries, it has long been argued that land users in marginal areas such as the steep slopes of upper watersheds tend to be poor. We use data from highland Guatemala to examine this assumed close spatial correlation between areas of high poverty and areas that provide environmental services. We first identify specific watershed areas in which PES mechanisms could potentially be developed, based on the presence of major downstream water uses such as hydroelectric power generation, domestic water supply, and irrigation. We then compare these areas with the spatial distribution of poverty in the country, allowing us to ask two questions that are central to the potential for PES to reach the poor: (1) How many of the potential providers of water services are poor? The local poverty impact of a PES program on poverty will depend on whether potential providers are poor or not. And (2) how many of the poor are potential water service providers? The potential impact of PES on poverty at a national scale will depend on whether many of the poor are in fact in areas where PES mechanisms might be implemented. Even if most potential PES recipients are poor, it may be that few of the poor are potential PES recipients. We map the €طater supply areas€٠by identifying the location of the intakes from which users obtain their water and then delineating the portions of the watershed that contribute to those intakes. About 1.9 million ha have significant potential for development of PES mechanisms through the presence of major water uses. This area is under-estimated as data could only be obtained for a subset of all users. All water supply areas are not equivalent. Some have substantial potential for PES because of the importance of downstream water uses, while others have more limited potential. For each user, we collect information on the nature and magnitude of their water use and construct use-specific indices of the relative importance or €ܶalueÂ€Ý of water supply areas. With about 56% of its population under the poverty line, Guatemala has one of the highest poverty rates in Central America. Using the watershed-level poverty map developed by Nelson and Chomitz (2007), we analyze both the poverty rate and the poverty density in water supply areas. Our analysis shows that both the poverty rate and the poverty density in the water supply areas vary substantially. The average poverty rate in water supply areas is only 44 percent, which is lower than the national average of 53%. There is essentially no correlation between the importance of a water supply area and the poverty rate of people living within it. The total number of poor that could potentially be reached if PES mechanisms were developed in all water supply areas is about 1.76 million, or 73% of the country€ٳ poor. This analysis only considers the potential for PES programs to reach the poor. Even where many of the potential service providers are poor, it does not follow that the poor will get the benefits. A variety of obstacles, including insecure land tenure, lack of title, small farm holdings, and lack of access to credit might limit the participation by the poor in a PES program. The extent to which these problems prove to be obstacles in practice depends on the specific characteristics of the PES program and the conditions under which it is implemented. References: Nelson and Chomitz. 2007. Environment, Development and Sustainability 9(4): 369. Pagiola et al. 2005. World Development 33(2): 237. |
| Keywords: | Payments for Environmental Services (PES), watershed, poverty, Guatemala, Environmental Economics and Policy, International Development, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:42932&r=agr |
| By: | Gifford, Michael; McCalla, Alex |
| Abstract: | There are a number of factors working against a successful Doha Round conclusion. Several of these affect the linkages and trade-offs between the main elements of the Doha Round negotiating agenda, particularly agriculture, non-agricultural market access (NAMA), services, and rules. For most of the past six years, the negotiating difficulties in agriculture were regarded as the main constraint to concluding the Doha Round. However, in recent months, as the shape of the agricultural package became clearer, it has become apparent that there are also major obstacles to be overcome elsewhere in the negotiations; especially in NAMA. |
| Keywords: | International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:catptp:6140&r=agr |
| By: | Nonthakot, Phanin; Villano, Renato |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the relationship between labour migration and agricultural productivity in the Northern Province of Thailand. Drawing on maize production data from a household survey, we estimate a stochastic production function to evaluate the effects of migration, remittances and salient characteristics of migrants on the mean maize output and levels of technical efficiency. Evidence shows that remittances and number of migrant workers facilitate maize production. It was also found that remittances, duration of migration, gender and education of migrants enhance the productive capacity of maize farmers. |
| Keywords: | Migration, stochastic frontier, technical efficiency, maize, Thailand, Crop Production/Industries, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:5981&r=agr |
| By: | Yeung, May T.; Kerr, William A. |
| Abstract: | Currently there are proposals and negotiations regarding the strengthening of protection for geographic indicators (GIs) in the WTO. A major proponent of stronger protection for GIs has been the European Union. One of the arguments it has put forward for stronger protection has been that it will provide an avenue for economic development for agricultural producers in developing countries Â€Ó a way to capture rents in the markets of developed countries. This paper first outlines the proposed changes to the international protection of geographic indicators. Second, the potential for groups of producers to generate and capture rents in foreign markets is assessed under differing assumptions pertaining to industry structure, product differentiation in the short and long run, barriers to entry reputation and the form of legal protection in importing countries. A discussion of the resource requirements to establish and maintain a GI is also provided. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, International Relations/Trade, WTO, GIS, |
| Date: | 2008–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:catpwp:43459&r=agr |
| By: | Farquharson, Bob; Scott, Fiona; Sareth, Chea |
| Abstract: | Agricultural research and development (R&D) has being conducted in the upland districts of Cambodia to develop new farming systems and crop management technologies. Levels of farm income in these areas are relatively low due to small farm sizes and low crop productivity. Work is also planned to encourage the process of adoption of these technologies, and here we investigate how this process can be facilitated. A literature review identifies two important technology characteristics, €زelative advantage€٠and €شrialability€٬ for successful adoption. Minimum or target rates of return on investment in new technologies are discussed as a means of investigating how much improvement in relative advantage might be enough to encourage successful adoption of the technology. A number of economic assessments of new crop methodologies in Cambodian upland districts and farming systems are presented. Some technologies show an encouraging return on investment from the viewpoint of the Cambodian farmer Â€Ó rhizobium inoculation of soybean seed had an indicated return of up to 600% on the investment depending on the cost to the grower. Other issues are also likely to be important in discussing change to farming systems, for instance social issues in the village/community context. We present a proposal for a participatory learning process in which economic and social issues are highlighted, to encourage adoption of new crop technologies in local Cambodian contexts. |
| Keywords: | New technology, adoption, upland crops, Cambodia, economic assessment, social, Crop Production/Industries, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:6008&r=agr |
| By: | Binenbaum, Eran; Mullen, John; Wang, Chang Tao |
| Abstract: | We examine whether there has been a decline in the returns from Australian public investment in research on broadacre agriculture. Complementing a forthcoming paper by Mullen, we use alternative specifications for the regression equation, which employs the log of total factor productivity (TFP) as the dependent variable. The rate of return is computed on an annual basis rather than by using multi-year averages. In contrast to Mullen€ٳ earlier preliminary analysis, we have now found some evidence of a decline in the rate of return on public R&D investment, lending some support to recently voiced concerns on this matter. |
| Keywords: | R&D, rate of return, agricultural productivity, public investment, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:6016&r=agr |
| By: | Cheng, Mei-Luan; Gloy, Brent A. |
| Abstract: | The study presents stochastic optimal control/dynamic programming (SOC/DP) to derive the optimal debt level and consumption in farm models concerning two sources of uncertainty: the return on assets and interest rate. The SOC/DP analytic framework is used to analyze the impacts of risk-reducing farm policies on farm€ٳ financial and risk adjustments. The results show the violations of the risk-balancing concept, which theorizes that risk-reducing farm policies may lead to increases in financial leverage, total risk, and the expected returns. Also, this study examines the extent to which the estimates of the optimal debt level are biased when interest rate risk is ignored. |
| Keywords: | Stochastic Optimal Control/Dynamic Programming, Financial Leverage, Uncertainty, Risk Balancing, Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6546&r=agr |
| By: | Villano, Renato; Fleming, Pauline; Fleming, Euan |
| Abstract: | Scope economies can be used in studies of farming systems to provide a measure of synergies between different farm enterprises and between activities within farm enterprises. In this paper, they are reported for farms in three benchmarking groups in Australia by estimating stochastic input distance functions and calculating an 'economies of scope parameter'. Evidence of significant scope economies between sheep and crop enterprises, and between beef and crop enterprises, is presented and discussed. Similar evidence is reported between wool and lamb activities and wool and mature sheep trading activities within the sheep enterprise. |
| Keywords: | Australia, Crops, Livestock, Sheep, Scope Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Livestock Production/Industries, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Industrial Organization, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:5996&r=agr |
| By: | XIE, Fang; HORAN, Richard D. |
| Abstract: | We investigate private responses to policies that have been proposed to confront a human-wildlife conflict that likely emerged as a result of a management regime designed to address an earlier human-wildlife conflict: specifically, brucellosis in elk that has spread to cattle in Wyoming. We examine population and disease dynamics under several different management options for the Jackson elk herd, where each option involves a combination of changes in elk feeding and population levels. Farmer responses to these dynamics, when vaccination is not required, are modeled along with the associated impacts to livestock dynamics. We also examine livestock management when there is little-to-no consideration given to the risk posed by elk. In practice, the policies and proposals to address elk have been considered separately of the behavioral responses of farmers, with many livestock advocacy groups are pushing for an elimination of the feeding grounds. Overall, our results contradict the conventional wisdom that farmers would benefit from more stringent disease controls in the elk sector. We find that farmers do experience lower herd-level infection rates when more stringent elk controls are implemented. But this is primarily due to increased vaccination by farmers in response to increased risks to cattle that result from elk spending more time on public grazing areas and farmlands as feedgrounds are closed. |
| Keywords: | Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6404&r=agr |
| By: | Walton, Jonathan C.; Roberts, Roland K.; Lambert, Dayton M.; Larson, James A.; English, Burton C.; Larkin, Sherry L.; Martin, Steven W.; Marra, Michele C.; Paxton, Kenneth W.; Reeves, Jeanne M. |
| Abstract: | Technology adoption in precision agriculture has received considerable attention, while abandonment has received little. Our objective was to identify factors motivating adoption and abandonment of precision soil sampling in cotton. Results indicate younger producers who farmed more cotton area, owned more of their cropland, planted more non-cotton area, used a computer, or used a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) were more likely to adopt precision soil sampling. Those with more cotton area or who owned livestock were more likely to abandon, while those who used precision soil sampling longer, used a PDA, or used variable-rate fertilizer application were less likely to abandon. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6215&r=agr |
| By: | Meilke, Karl D. |
| Abstract: | When high prices or natural calamities result in starvation and political unrest in the developing world emergency food aid is the best short run response. However, over a longer time frame it is important to have in place international rules that allow the market to function to help alleviate food shortages rather than making them worse. Given Canada€ٳ trading position we have a huge stake in getting these rules right. Although the future of the Doha Round is unclear there is still time to make a start on developing better rules for export prohibitions, restrictions and export taxes that would serve the world better in times of shortage. A first step would be effective disciplines on the use of export taxes, and export restrictions and embargo€ٳ. |
| Keywords: | WTO, food, crisis, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:catpcp:43467&r=agr |
| By: | Storchmann, Karl |
| Abstract: | Walla Walla enjoys the fastest growing wine industry in the State of Washington, if not in the whole U.S. This paper examines the impact of this extraordinary growth on the revenue of regional hotels and restaurants. Employing a dynamic quarterly panel model at the county level we show that the regional reputation as high quality wine county, as expressed by critical wine points in the national wine press, has a significant effect on the tourism industry. Less than 17% of all restaurant and approximately 40% of all hotel revenue is tied to the wine cluster (2007). However, regional reputation is short-living and needs to be constantly re-earned. |
| Keywords: | wine quality, wine tourism, regional development, dynamic panel, regional economics, Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aawewp:37358&r=agr |
| By: | Key, Nigel; MacDonald, James |
| Abstract: | The exercise of monopsony power by broiler processing firms is plausible because production occurs within localized complexes, which limits the number of integrators with whom growers can contract. In addition, growers face distinct hold-up risks as broiler production requires a substantial investment in specific assets and most production contracts do not involve long-term purchasing commitments by integrators. This paper provides an initial exploration of the links between the local concentration of broiler integrators and grower compensation under production contracts using data from the 2006 broiler version of USDA€ٳ Agricultural Resource Management Survey. Results of this preliminary study, which accounts for characteristics of the operation and specific features of the production contract, suggest a small but economically meaningful effect of concentration on grower concentration. Limitations of the current analysis and future possible model extensions are discussed. |
| Keywords: | poultry, broilers, market power, monopsony, production contracts, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6073&r=agr |
| By: | Duffy, Patricia A.; Zizza, Claire; Zhu, Min; Kinnucan, Henry; Tayie, Francis A. |
| Abstract: | Using data from the 1999-2002 rounds of the continuous National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the inter-relationships between food insecurity, diet quality and body mass index (BMI) were examined. The impact of smoking and alcohol consumption behaviors were also examined. The relationship between BMI and food insecurity was found to be sensitive to the specification of control variables, such as age, income, and race and ethnicity. Smoking was directly associated with lower BMI for both men and women; while alcohol consumption was directly associated with lower BMI only for men. Smoking negatively affected food insecurity and diet quality, as measured by the Healthy Eating Index (HEI). For women, these indirect effects were statistically significant and positive, but extremely small in magnitude compared to the direct effect. For both men and women, level of physical activity was found to be a much more important determinant of body weight than smoking, drinking, and food insecurity. For women, race had a more important impact on body weight than smoking or drinking. |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty, Health Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6155&r=agr |
| By: | Arnade, Carlos; Calvin, Linda; Kuchler, Fred |
| Abstract: | In 2006 FDA announced that consumers should not eat fresh spinach in the wake of a large foodborne illness outbreak of E. coli O157:H7. This paper investigates response of consumers to the announcement. We use an AIDS demand model with 5 food safety shock variables and retail scanner data to analyze market response. Even fifteen months after the outbreak, predicted sales of spinach in bags were still down 10 percent from what they would have been in the absense of the food safety shock. After the outbreak, consumers shifted to other leafy greens such as bulk iceberg lettuce, other bulk lettuce, and bagged salads without spinach. |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6448&r=agr |
| By: | KIESEL, Kristin |
| Abstract: | Replaced with revised version of paper 07/06/08. |
| Keywords: | consumer demand, labeling, media effect, organic food, scanner data, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6351&r=agr |
| By: | Gao, Zhifeng; Schroeder, Ted |
| Abstract: | In the main approaches used to elicit consumer preference for food attributes, only limited attribute information are present. Though useful for ranking and revealing consumer preferences, these methods are not appropriate when results may be dependent upon the information set presented in the surveys. Studies have found out that additional quality information in surveys significantly affected respondents€٠attitudes to or WTP for a specific product attributes. By using cluster analysis we are able to classify respondents into different consumer groups and investigate the difference in responses to new attribute information across consumer groups. Results show that different types of consumer€ٳ WTP for beef steak attributes varies significantly and their responses to new attribute information are different, if a specific attribute is studied. Over all, there was no significant difference between the responses to new information between consumer groups. However, in the case where cue attributes existed, consumers with small family size, less children, lower income, are single and younger, respond significantly intensive to the new information than other consumers. |
| Keywords: | Food Attribute, Willingness-to-Pay, Choice Experiment, Cluster Analysis, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6168&r=agr |
| By: | Tonsor, Glynn T.; Olynk, Nicole; Wolf, Christopher |
| Abstract: | Paper replaced with revised version 06/13/08 |
| Keywords: | animal welfare, economics of legislation, gestation crates, market failure, pork, voluntary labeling, willingness to pay, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6062&r=agr |
| By: | Du, Xiaodong; Hennessy, David A.; Edwards, William M. |
| Abstract: | Based on the Ricardian rent theory, this study employs the variable profit function to analyze the determinants of Iowa cropland cash rental rates using county-level panel data from 1987 to 2005. Accounting for spatial and temporal autocorrelations, responses of local cash rental rates to changes in output prices and other exogenous variables are estimated. We find that Iowa cash rental rates are largely determined by output/input prices, soil quality, relative location, and other county-specific factors. Cash rents go up by $79 for a $1 increase in corn price in the short run. The marginal value of cropland quality, as represented by row-crop corn suitability rating index, is about $1.05. Ethanol plants are not found to have a significant local effect on cash rental rates, impacting local rental markets mainly through the national futures price. Scale of the local livestock industry and adoption of genetically engineered crops have significant impacts on local cash rental rates. In addition, changes in crop output prices are found to have long-run effects on cash rental rates. The long-run change in cash rents is approximately $109-$114 for a $1 change in corn price and is reached in about four years. Our research may be viewed as a test of the Ricardian rent theory. We find limited support for the theory. |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6355&r=agr |
| By: | Serrao, Amilcar |
| Abstract: | This paper develops an environmental performance index by applying the benefit of the doubt weighting and the Malmquist index concepts using Kuosmanen and Kortelainen€ٳ approaches. The main difference between these approaches and other methods is that environmental performance is based on the definition of the eco-efficiency as the ratio of economic value added to the environmental damage index. The overall environmental performance index is also decomposed into two components representing changes due to technological progress (or regress) and due to changes in relative eco-efficiency. The dynamic environmental performance analysis is applied to 15 European agricultures from 1990 to 2004. Model results show that technical progress mostly explain overall environmental performance growth, while relative eco-efficiency changes have been minor for most European agricultures for the sample period. |
| Keywords: | Benefit of the doubt weighting, Data Envelopment Analysis, Eco-efficiency, Environmental performance analysis, Malmquist Index, Agricultural Activity, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q57, C43, C61, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6152&r=agr |
| By: | Plastina, Alejandro; Giannakas, Konstantinos; Pick, Daniel |
| Abstract: | This study provides a new framework of analysis of the market and welfare effects of mandatory country of origin labeling (MCOOL) for fruits and vegetables that accounts for heterogeneous consumer preferences for domestic products, differences in producer agronomic characteristics, and retailer market power when buying and selling these products. The market and welfare effects of MCOOL are shown to be case-specific and dependent on the labeling costs at the farm and retail levels, the strength of consumer preference for domestic products, the market power of retailers, the marketing margin along the supply chain, and the relative costs of imported and domestic products. Simulation results for the US markets of apples and tomatoes indicate that for the regulation to increase total economic welfare in these markets, the consumer demand after MCOOL would need to increase by 2.6% to 7.0% for domestic apples and by 8.2% to 22.4% for domestic tomatoes, depending on the market power of retailers and the size of the labeling costs. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6536&r=agr |
| By: | Hubbs, Todd; Preckel, Paul V.; Schinckel, Allan P.; Deen, John; Foster, Kenneth A.; Curtis, Stanley E.; Johnson, E. Wayne |
| Abstract: | The importance of heterogeneity of animal attributes in livestock production is assessed. Preliminary results indicate that variance and skew measures of attributes may be becoming more important over time. |
| Keywords: | livestock economics, herd management, livestock marketing, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6146&r=agr |
| By: | Sarmiento, Camilo; Wilson, William W. |
| Abstract: | This article estimates factors that impact location decisions by new ethanol plants using logistic regression analysis and spatial correlation techniques. The results indicate that location decisions are impacted by the agricultural characteristics of a county, competition, and state-level subsidies. Spatial competition is particularly important. Existence of a competing ethanol plant reduces the likelihood of making a positive location decision and this impact decreases with distance. State-level subsidies are significant and a very important factor impacting ethanol location decisions. |
| Keywords: | ethanol, location decisions, spatial correlation, Agribusiness, |
| Date: | 2008–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6175&r=agr |
| By: | Song, Feng; Swinton, Scott M. |
| Abstract: | Soybean aphid is a major invasive pest that has caused major yield loss and increased insecticide use in the United States since its discovery in 2000. Using the economic surplus approach, we estimate the economic benefits of U.S. research and outreach for integrated pest management (IPM) of soybean aphid. We calculate ex ante net benefits from adoption of an IPM action threshold (AT). The AT triggers insecticide application only if the value of predicted yield damage from pest scouting is expected to exceed the cost of pest control. Our research finds that gradual adoption of AT-based IPM over the 15 years since soybean aphid IPM research began in 2003 generates a projected economic net benefit of $1.3 billion, for an internal rate of return of 140%. Lower and upper bound sensitivity analysis brackets the estimated net benefit to U.S. consumers and soybean growers in the range of $0.6 to 2.6 billion in 2005 dollars. If a 10% rate of return is attributed to IPM applied research and outreach on soybean aphid, that would leave nearly $800 million to compensate prior basic IPM research. Using benefit functions from two prior studies of consumer willingness to pay to avoid pesticide risk, we find that the nonmarket environmental and human health benefits of reduced insecticide use due to adopting AT-based IPM are less than five percent of the baseline market value estimate of economic net benefit. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Q16, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea08:6117&r=agr |
| By: | Canning, Patrick; Perez, Agnes |
| Abstract: | This study examines wine trade in the United States to assess the impact of higher energy costs on the average distance of world and U.S. regional wine shipments, or wine miles, to U.S. markets. To examine this issue we calibrate a spatial equilibrium model of the U.S. wine industry. The model accounts for (i) consumer preferences for variety, (ii) monopolistic-competition/increasing-returns in the production of differentiated wine products, and (iii) transportation costs. Wine production areas are grouped into nine U.S. and seven world producing regions. U.S. markets are grouped into the 50 States plus the District of Columbia. Results indicate that U.S. consumers are willing to pay substantial transportation costs in order to consume a wide variety of wines from premier U.S. and world wine growing regions. As increasing energy costs drive up the price of freight services, wine mile impacts are limited by the degree of regional product differentiation in U.S. and world producing regions. |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aawewp:43891&r=agr |
| By: | Morales, Luis Emilio; Fleming, Euan; Wright, Vic; Griffith, Garry; Umberger, Wendy |
| Abstract: | Meat Standards Australia (MSA) represents a new beef classification system, derived from consumer preferences, which allows classifying beef in interesting ways to consumers and creates the basis for product differentiation and branding. Currently, branding of beef cuts occurs on a limited scale; however, research has revealed clear segmentation across consumers and premiums for preferred products in niche markets. The objective of this study is to identify the potential for large-scale differentiation and branding in the Australian beef marketing system and how this may best be done given the structure of the supply chain. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, Branding, Australian beef marketing system, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare08:5993&r=agr |