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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2010‒01‒16
35 papers chosen by |
| By: | Cooke, Bryce; Robles, Miguel |
| Keywords: | food crisis, time series, speculation, agricultural commodity prices, granger causality, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:942&r=agr |
| By: | Akramov, Kamiljon T. |
| Keywords: | Decentralization, agricultural services, Input use, household survey data, agricultural services, poor farmers, fertilizer use, government, modern inputs, unobserved heterogeneity, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:941&r=agr |
| By: | Landes, Maurice R.; Burfisher, Mary E. |
| Abstract: | Agriculture is the largest source of employment in India, and food accounts for about half of consumer expenditures. Moving agricultural products from the farm to consumers more efficiently could result in large gains to producers, consumers, and Indiaâs overall economy. This analysis uses a computable general equilibrium model with agricultural commodity detail and households disaggregated by rural, urban, and income class to study the potential impacts of reforms that achieve efficiency gains in agricultural marketing and reduce agricultural input subsidies and import tariffs. More efficient agricultural marketing generates economywide gains in output and wages, raises agricultural producer prices, reduces consumer food prices, and increases private consumption, particularly by low-income households. These gains could help to offset some of the medium-term adjustment costs for some commodity markets and households associated with reducing agricultural subsidies and tariffs. |
| Keywords: | India, agriculture, policy reform, marketing efficiency, tariffs, subsidies, households, computable general equilibrium model., Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:55959&r=agr |
| By: | Malcolm, Scott A.; Aillery, Marcel; Weinberg, Marca |
| Abstract: | The Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 established specifi c targets for the production of biofuel in the United States. Until advanced technologies become commercially viable, meeting these targets will increase demand for traditional agricultural commodities used to produce ethanol, resulting in land-use, production, and price changes throughout the farm sector. This report summarizes the estimated effects of meeting the EISA targets for 2015 on regional agricultural production and the environment. Meeting EISA targets for ethanol production is estimated to expand U.S. cropped acreage by nearly 5 million acres by 2015, an increase of 1.6 percent over what would otherwise be expected. Much of the growth comes from corn acreage, which increases by 3.5 percent over baseline projections. Water quality and soil carbon will also be affected, in some cases by greater percentages than suggested by changes in the amount of cropped land. The economic and environmental implications of displacing a portion of corn ethanol production with ethanol produced from crop residues are also estimated. |
| Keywords: | Biofuels, corn ethanol, regional crop mix, regional environmental effects, water quality, water use, cellulosic ethanol, crop residues, livestock, Regional Environment and Agriculture Programming (REAP) Model, renewable fuel standard, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:55671&r=agr |
| By: | Nickerson, Cynthia; Hand, Michael |
| Abstract: | Beginning, limited-resource, and socially disadvantaged farmers make up as much as 40 percent of all U.S. farms. Some Federal conservation programs contain provisions that encourage participation by such âtargetedâ farmers and the 2008 Farm Act furthered these efforts. This report compares the natural resource characteristics, resource issues, and conservation treatment costs on farms operated by targeted farmers with those of other participants in the largest U.S. working-lands and land retirement conservation programs. Some evidence shows that targeted farmers tend to operate more environmentally sensitive land than other farmers, have different conservation priorities, and receive different levels of payments. Data limitations preclude a defi nitive analysis of whether efforts to improve participation by targeted farmers hinders or enhances the conservation programsâ ability to deliver environmental benefi ts cost effectively. But the different conservation priorities among types of farmers suggest that if a signifi- cantly larger proportion of targeted farmers participates in these programs, the programsâ economic and environmental outcomes could change. |
| Keywords: | Conservation programs, Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), beginning farmers, limited-resource producers, socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Financial Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersib:55641&r=agr |
| By: | Beckmann, Volker; Irawan, Evi; Wesseler, Justus |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of labor organization on integrated pest management (IPM), using cross section data collected from a participatory farming system survey of 157 durian growers in Chanthaburi, Thailand, in 2005. In contrast to many studies of IPM adoption, this work uses the form of farm labor organization as an endogenous factor for identifying the rate of IPM adoption among durian growers. The instrumental variables method was employed to econometrically relate a set of alleged variables as instruments of labor organization to the rate of IPM adoption. Results show that, among others, farms employing hired labor have a significantly lower adoption rate of IPM. |
| Keywords: | Labor Organization, IPM Adoption, 2SLS, Farm Labor, Agricultural Extension, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Financial Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Development, Labor and Human Capital, Land Economics/Use, Political Economy, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q16, J2, J43, |
| Date: | 2009–12–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:huiain:55767&r=agr |
| By: | McBride, William D.; Greene, Catherine |
| Abstract: | Organic milk production has been one of the fastest growing segments of organic agriculture in the United States in recent years. Despite the growing number of organic dairy operations, the characteristics of organic dairy operations and the relative costs of organic and conventional milk production have been diffi cult to analyze. This study, using 2005 ARMS data for U.S. dairy operations, which include a targeted sample of organic milk producers, examines the structure, costs, and challenges of organic milk production. The analysis addresses economies of size, regional differences, and pasture use in organic milk production and compares organic and conventional milk production costs. The findings suggest that economic forces have made organic operations more like conventional operations and that the future structure of the industry may depend on the interpretation and implementation of new organic pasture rules. |
| Keywords: | dairy, organic, milk production, costs of production, pasture, Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2009–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:55952&r=agr |
| By: | Golan, Elise; LeBlanc, Michael; MacDonald, James; Mitchell, Lorraine; Greene, Catherine; Blayney, Donald; Mathews, Kenneth; Stillman, Richard; Price, Michael |
| Abstract: | On January 15, 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued its final risk assessment on the safety of meat and milk from healthy cloned animals, finding that the meat and milk from cattle, swine, and goat clones and their offspring pose no human health concerns. This report presents the fi ndings of an analysis that explores the possible market outcomes resulting from the introduction of meat and milk from cloned cattle and swine and their offspring into the food supply. The report concludes that the introduction of these products could trigger development of markets in which manufacturers distinguish and market products that do not come from cloned animals. This possibility stems from three bodies of evidence. First, current cloning technologies provide potential cost savings to producers/manufacturers and consumers but do not confer unique âcloneâ attributes of value to consumers. Second, new attitude surveys confirm that a group of domestic consumers would prefer nonclone foods. Third, some export markets may demand nonclone foods. Consumer surveys and market developments indicate that differentiation might occur for both products of cloned animals and products of their offspring. Nonclone producers and consumers will pay the costs of differentiation and marketing. If export markets restrict trade of products from cloned animals and their offspring, U.S. producers and manufacturers could initially lose export markets. Traceability infrastructures could potentially help reduce some of the costs of product differentiation and lost markets. |
| Keywords: | Food from cloned animals, food from offspring of cloned animals, PCA (products of cloned animals), PCA/O (products of cloned animals and their offspring), market differentiation, credence attributes, traceability, Agricultural and Food Policy, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2009–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:55840&r=agr |
| By: | Gregmar I. Galinato; Suzette P. Galinato (School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University) |
| Abstract: | This article examines the effect of governance on forest cover in developing countries. We develop a theoretical model that explains how governance, particularly corruption control and politically stability, affects deforestation due to agricultural land expansion. The theoretical model shows the importance of the complementarity or substitutability of technology and land use in determining the effect of governance on agricultural land expansion and, consequently, forest cover. We complement the theoretical model with a structural empirical analysis to measure the effect of corruption control and political stability on deforestation in developing countries through two direct channels of deforestation: agricultural land expansion and road building. We find that political stability has a positive and significant effect on forest cover but corruption control has a negative and significant effect on forest cover due to increased agricultural land expansion. |
| Keywords: | Deforestation, Governance, Corruption, Political stability |
| JEL: | Q23 O10 |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wsu:wpaper:galinato-3&r=agr |
| By: | Idris, Nurjihan; Arshad, Fatimah Mohamed; Radam, Alias; Ali, Noor Azman |
| Abstract: | This study attempts to analyze construct in supply chain and to determine which construct contribute to performance of agricultural cooperatives in Malaysia. The primary data is collected via questionnaire from top level management of agricultural cooperatives using 5-item Likert scale. Factor analysis and structural equations modeling were used to analyze the data. Findings show that cooperatives places importance on quality and technology, logistic, supplier and governance. As a whole, supply chain is significance in determining performance. However, governance alone is not significant in determining performance. The empirical result could be used to improve further studies in supply chain management. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural cooperatives; supply chain management model |
| JEL: | O1 L2 M1 L1 |
| Date: | 2009–12–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19483&r=agr |
| By: | Okoboi, Geofrey |
| Abstract: | We examine the viability of inorganic fertiliser use in Uganda, using the 2005/06 Uganda National Household Survey data. We also explore the farmers’ characteristics under which fertiliser use is more profitable. We find that inorganic fertiliser use is more profitable for only a few crops and less profitable or unprofitable for most crops, even when their yield is high. Furthermore, we find that farmer profit with fertiliser use increases with access to extension services and/or use of improved seeds. Thus, blanket promotion of fertiliser use, without a case-by-case consideration of fertiliser-crop profitability is likely to be counter-productive to the drive of increasing agricultural productivity and household income in Uganda. Hence, the drive to increase fertiliser use in Uganda can succeed only if farmers are widely sensitized not about the potential of fertiliser to increase yield but the crops on which fertiliser use is more profitable and the preconditions for its profitability. |
| Keywords: | Fertiliser use; economic viability; Uganda |
| JEL: | Q16 Q12 |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19428&r=agr |
| By: | Kikulwe, Enoch; Birol, Ekin; Wesseler, Justus; Falck-Zepeda, José |
| Keywords: | genetically modified bananas, Consumers, Choice experiment, latent class model, preference heterogeneity, Science and technology, Genetic resources, Genetically engineered crops, Genetically modified crops, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:938&r=agr |
| By: | Liefert, William; Persuad, Suresh |
| Abstract: | Movements in countriesâ exchange rates can substantially change the prices of goods faced by producers and consumers and thereby affect incentives to produce, consume, and trade goods. Exchange rate changes, however, might not be completely transmitted (passed through) to domestic prices. Empirical evidence shows that price and exchange rate transmission for agricultural products is low in most developing economies, partly because of trade policies but also because of inadequate infrastructure and other market deficiencies. During the last 20 years, developed and developing countries generally have moved away from support policies that impede price and exchange rate transmission toward trade policies that allow transmission, such as tariffs. The Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture of 1994 strongly encouraged this development. Despite these policy changes, market deficiencies remain as a cause of incomplete transmission. Incomplete transmission weakens countriesâ integration into world agricultural markets and thereby reduces agricultural trade potential. Low transmission in developing countries also decreases their own benefits from trade, including the gains they could realize if there is further global agricultural liberalization. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural infrastructure, agricultural policy, agricultural trade, exchange rates, exchange rate transmission, imperfect markets, institutions, price transmission., Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Financial Economics, |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:55942&r=agr |
| By: | Chavez, Eddie C.; Dixon, Bruce L.; Ahendsen, Bruce L.; Wailes, Eric J. |
| Abstract: | This study presents and analyzes the mean financial characteristics of different types of crop and livestock farms in the U.S. in 2005. The eighteen farm types are: poultry, beef cattle, hogs, dairy, general livestock, general cash grain, wheat, corn, soybean, grain sorghum, rice, tobacco, cotton, peanut, general crop, fruits and tree nuts, vegetables, and nursery and greenhouse. Significant, two-way statistical differences in mean farm income statement and farm balance sheet variables are highlighted. Results provide a general indication of the comparative profitability, liquidity, solvency, and financial efficiency of different types of U. S. crop and livestock farms. |
| Keywords: | Farm type, ARMS data, financial characteristics, financial ratios, 2005, Agricultural Finance, Production Economics, Q12, Q14, D21, |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uarksp:55780&r=agr |
| By: | Michael Grimm (International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam); Stephan Klasen |
| Abstract: | There is a well-known debate about the role of institutions in explaining the long-term development of countries. We believe there is value-added to consider the institutions hypothesis at the micro level within a country to analyze the exact transmission channels linking endogenous institutional change to development outcomes. Given the central importance of agricultural productivity improvements for initiating the process of economic development, we focus on the transmission mechanisms that lead to the emergence of institutions relevant for agricultural development, thereby incorporating insights from the literatures on demographic influences of institutional change, induced innovations, as well as the central role of land rights in our analysis. Our main argument is that in conditions of relative land abundance, geographic factors influence rural-rural migration flows to geographically well-endowed regions which in turn give rise to migration-induced land scarcity. Land scarcity in turn, provides incentives to formalize landownership. Eventually, formalized land rights increase investment in land and enhance the adoption of new and better technologies promoting agricultural growth and economic development. We provide empirical evidence for this hypothesis using longitudinal village and household survey data from Indonesia. |
| Keywords: | Geography; migration; land titles; institutions; agricultural development; Indonesia |
| JEL: | K11 O12 Q12 |
| Date: | 2009–09–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:gotcrc:014&r=agr |
| By: | Matsumoto, Tomoya; Yamano, Takashi |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the reasons for the low application of external fertilizers on farms in Kenya and Uganda. The analysis uses a large panel of household data with rich soil fertility data at the plot level. The authors control for maize seed selection and household effects by using a fixed-effects semi-parametric endogenous switching model. The results suggest that Kenyan maize farmers have applied inorganic fertilizer at the optimal level, corresponding to the high nitrogen-maize relative price, in one of the two survey years and also responded to the price change over time. In Uganda, even the low application of inorganic fertilizer is not profitable because of its high relative price. The authors conclude that policies that reduce the relative price of fertilizer could be effective in both countries, while the efficacy of policies based on improving farmers'knowledge about fertilizer use will be limited as long as the relative price of fertilizer remains high. |
| Keywords: | Crops&Crop Management Systems,Climate Change and Agriculture,Climate Change Mitigation and Green House Gases,Fertilizers,Food Security |
| Date: | 2009–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5158&r=agr |
| By: | Panda, Manoj; Ganesh-Kumar, A. |
| Keywords: | food security, Nutrition, Computable general equilibrium (CGE), Globalization, Markets, trade, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:930&r=agr |
| By: | Suzi Kerr (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Wei Zhang (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research) |
| Abstract: | When agricultural emissions are included in the New Zealand Emission Trading System (ETS) the economics of farming will be significantly altered. Under the legislation current in October 2009, in the early years of the system the agricultural sector as a whole would have received NZ units equivalent to 90% of 2005 emissions to ease the transition. Amendments to the Bill passed in November have delayed the start date from 2013 to 2015 and extended the protection even further. This paper addresses one of the key issues for making an agricultural emissions trading system a success: how to use the allocation of NZ units to achieve equitable and acceptable cost sharing and a smoother transition. We first discuss the potential motivations for free allocation and the two extreme potential allocation options that could be associated with the two key motivations. The option finally chosen is likely to be somewhere between these two extremes. Empirical studies can inform assessment of options. Previous empirical studies have addressed a variety of questions, including what the economic impact of the system is and on whom, how much leakage is there likely to be, and what might be the adjustment costs. We discuss each of these, comparing different existing studies and addressing some current gaps in our understanding and knowledge with new empirical work on farm level impacts and on likely responses to the ETS. We conclude by laying out some key options for allocation design and drawing links between these and the empirical material. |
| Keywords: | New Zealand, emission trading, agriculture, free allocation, trade exposure |
| JEL: | Q12 Q52 Q54 Q58 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtu:wpaper:09_16&r=agr |
| By: | Ollinger, Michael; Moore, Danna |
| Abstract: | This report examines the impact of process regulations mandated under the Pathogen Reduction/Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (PR/HACCP) rule by the Food Safety and Inspection Service of USDA on food safety process control. The current level of food safety found in U.S. meat and poultry food products is a result of process and performance regulations and management-determined actions brought about by market incentives. Processing regulations include sanitation and other tasks related to food safety; management-determined actions include capital investment and other actions independent of process regulations, but possibly driven by performance standards. Performance standardsâregulations that allow manufacturers to reach an acceptable level of food safety in any manner they see fi tâare not a subject of this report. This study used the share of samples testing positive for Salmonella spp. as a measure of food safety process control in meat and poultry processing plants and found empirically that management-determined actions account for about two-thirds of the reduction in samples testing positive for Salmonella spp., while process regulations account for about a third of the reduction. The importance of process regulation varies, but accounts for 50 percent or more of process control in about a quarter of plants, and in some plants accounts for the entire process control system. |
| Keywords: | food safety, process regulations, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) rule, food safety regulations, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, |
| Date: | 2009–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:55837&r=agr |
| By: | Suzi Kerr (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Maribeth Todd (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research) |
| Abstract: | Land cover and use are critical for climate change, water quality and use, biodiversity and soil conservation as well as important drivers of rural economic activity and the evolution of rural communities. The Land Use in Rural New Zealand (LURNZ) model is a simulation model that predicts overall shifts in land use at a national scale and then allocates those changes spatially. We create a new dataset that allows us to consider fine scale land cover and use on private rural land and land characteristics associated with those land covers and uses. Second, we produce some summary statistics on the land cover transitions that were observed from 1996 to 2002. We find some evidence that supports our simple model of the relationship between land use changes and observable land quality, and the use of Land Use Capability and slope in rules to simulate the location of changes in land use and cover and also identify some directions for future work. |
| Keywords: | Land use, climate change, water, soil, land use capability, LURNZ, New Zealand, spatial modelling |
| JEL: | R14 Q50 Y1 |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtu:wpaper:09_17&r=agr |
| By: | Deressa, Temesgen T.; Hassan, Rashid M.; Ringler, Claudia |
| Keywords: | Vulnerability to climate extremes, Nile Basin of Ethiopia, Minimum daily income, Climate change, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:935&r=agr |
| By: | Dong, Diansheng; Lin, Biing-Hwan |
| Abstract: | Americansâ diets, particularly those of low-income households, fall short of Government recommendations in the quantity of fruits and vegetables consumed. Some proposals suggest that a price subsidy for those products would encourage low-income Americans to consume more of them. This study estimated that a 10-percent subsidy would encourage low-income Americans to increase their consumption of fruits by 2.1-5.2 percent and vegetables by 2.1-4.9 percent. The annual cost of such a subsidy for lowincome Americans would be about $310 million for fruits and $270 million for vegetables. And most would still not meet Federal dietary recommendations. |
| Keywords: | Price subsidy, demand elasticity, food consumption, fruits and vegetables, low income, Homescan Data, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), and MyPyramid, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, |
| Date: | 2009–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:55835&r=agr |
| By: | Brown, Tristan R.; Elobeid, Amani; Dumortier, Jerome; Hayes, Dermot J. |
| Abstract: | Three recent reports have estimated the market impacts of domestic offset programs, including afforestation, contained in the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). The magnitude of these estimated impacts motivates this study. We show that with carbon prices as low as $30 per metric ton, a significant number of U.S. crop acres would be used to grow trees and this would cause price increases for some U.S. commodities. Although we present only one carbon price scenario, the modeling approach that we use suggests that the acreage and price impacts we describe here would increase at higher carbon prices. |
| Keywords: | afforestation, agricultural sector, commodity prices, land-use change. |
| Date: | 2010–01–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:13154&r=agr |
| By: | Nord, Mark; Golla, Anne Marie |
| Abstract: | Self-selection by more food-needy households into the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called the Food Stamp Program) makes it difficult to observe positive effects of the program in survey data. This study investigates self-selection and ameliorative program effects by examining householdsâ food security month by month for several months prior to initial receipt of SNAP benefi ts and for several months after joining the program.Two-year panels are constructed by matching the same households interviewed in the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement in 2 consecutive years using data from 2001 to 2006. Food security is observed to deteriorate in the 6 months prior to beginning to receive SNAP benefi ts and to improve shortly after. The results clearly demonstrate the self-selection by households into SNAP at a time when they are more severely food insecure. The results are consistent with a moderate ameliorative effect of SNAPâreducing the prevalence of very low food security among recent entrants by about one-thirdâalthough they do not conclusively demonstrate that extent of amelioration. |
| Keywords: | food insecurity, food stamps, food security, hunger, very low food security, SNAP, longitudinal analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:55955&r=agr |
| By: | Swinnen, Johan F.M.; Vandeplas, Anneleen |
| Keywords: | Contract farming, Enforcement, Development, Rent distribution, High-value agriculture, Globalization, Markets, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:932&r=agr |
| By: | Elizaphan J.O. Rao (University of Göttingen); Matin Qaim (University of Göttingen) |
| Abstract: | Supermarkets and high-value exports are currently gaining ground in the agri-food systems of many developing countries. While recent research has analyzed income effects in the small farm sector, impacts on farming efficiency have hardly been studied. Using a survey of Kenyan vegetable growers and a stochastic frontier approach, we show that participation in supermarket channels increases mean technical efficiency by 19%. This gain is bigger at lower levels of efficiency, suggesting the potential for positive income distribution effects. However, disadvantaged farms often have problems in meeting strict supermarket requirements. Innovative market linkage initiatives can increase the probability of participation significantly. |
| Keywords: | supermarkets; small farms; technical efficiency; stochastic frontier; sample selection; Kenya |
| JEL: | Q12 O12 O13 D24 |
| Date: | 2009–11–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:gotcrc:018&r=agr |
| By: | Ferrier, Peyton |
| Abstract: | The United States bans imports of certain agricultural and wildlife goods that can carry pathogens or diseases or whose harvest can threaten wildlife stocks or endanger species. Despite these bans, contraband is regularly uncovered in inspections of cargo containers and in domestic markets. This study characterizes the economic factors affecting agricultural and wildlife smuggling by drawing on inspection and interdiction data from USDA and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and existing economic literature. Findings reveal that agricultural and wildlife smuggling primarily include luxury goods, ethnic foods, and specialty goods, such as traditional medicines. Incidents of detected smuggling are disproportionately higher for agricultural goods originating in China and for wildlife goods originating in Mexico. Fragmentary data show that approximately 1 percent of all commercial wildlife shipments to the United States and 0.40 percent of all U.S. wildlife imports by value are refused entry and suspected of being smuggled. |
| Keywords: | Smuggling, illicit trade, SPS, quarantine, endangered species, CITES, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Financial Economics, |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersrr:55951&r=agr |
| By: | Bachev, Hrabrin |
| Abstract: | In this paper we incorporate achievements of interdisciplinary New Institutional and Transaction Costs Economics (combining Economics, Organization, Law, Sociology, Behavioral and Political Sciences) into analysis of agrarian organizations and suggest a framework for evaluating efficiency of different governing structures in agriculture. This new approach includes: study of farm and other agrarian organizations as a governing rather than production structure; assessment of comparative efficiency of alternative (market, contract, internal, hybrid) modes of governance; analysis of level of transaction costs and their institutional, behavioral (agents preferences, bounded rationality, tendency for opportunism), dimensional (frequency, uncertainty, assets specificity, and appropriability of transactions), and technological factors; determination of effective horizontal and vertical boundaries of farms, and other agrarian organizations; the specification of the economic role of the government and the effective forms of public interventions in agrarian sector. The paper provides new effective tools for improvement of agrarian public policies, farming and business strategies, and academic analysis. |
| Keywords: | agrarian governance; efficiency of farms and agrarian organizations; agrarian policies; transaction costs; new institutional and transaction costs economics |
| JEL: | D21 O13 Q12 Q18 D23 L14 O17 Q13 L22 |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19477&r=agr |
| By: | Suzette P. Galinato; Douglas L. Young; Craig S. Frear; Jonathan K. Yoder (School of Economic Sciences, Washington State University) |
| Abstract: | The study finds that Washington State’s field corn, sugar beet and canola production could satisfy only a small percentage of the State’s annual gasoline or diesel consumption. Linear programming projections for 2008 showed a relatively close match between projected and actual production. Projections for 2009-2011 showed no increase in the State’s capacity to increase biofuel crop feedstocks. In comparison to crop feedstocks, Washington’s total annual lignocellulosic biomass is abundant. However, only a fraction of the biomass could be converted to biofuel due to high costs of collection and processing, competing markets for some biomass, and limitations in current technology. |
| Keywords: | biofuels, biofuel feedstocks, canola, cellulosic inventories, grain corn, linear programming, Washington State |
| JEL: | C61 Q15 Q42 |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wsu:wpaper:sgalinato-1&r=agr |
| By: | Taylor, Philip Eugene |
| Abstract: | Interest in Management Intensive Grazing (MIG) of dairy cattle has increased during the last 2 decades. Most dairy producers utilizing MIG were former confinement or non-intensive pasture operations while the others started their operation with MIG. While research publications tout the financial and other benefits of MIG, often comparing them to non-MIG dairies, and anecdotal evidence in popular farm press has shown MIG in a favorable light, comparing a MIG dairy farm to itself before and after the management switch has not been a subject of research scrutiny. Knowing the potential impact of a switch to MIG prior to making a management decision to do so would be a significant piece of information for a dairy farm to understand if contemplating such a management change. Which farms are candidates for success following a switch? What changes in labor, cost of production, and herd health might be expected? These and other questions were investigated by examining 29 MIG dairy farms in Michigan. These farms experienced similar milk production levels per cow, reduced feed and hired labor cost significantly, reduced the acres of row crops grown, and experienced improved herd health resulting in much lower herd health costs. They did not build farm acres, but rather grew cattle numbers and improved management of pasture forage. Research work remains to be done that will more accurately measure true economic progress and further find management techniques that prove successful for MIG farms. |
| Keywords: | Dairy, Grazing, Economics, Pasture, Management, Farm, Farm Management, Livestock Production/Industries, Production Economics, Q10, Q12, Q19, |
| Date: | 2009 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midagr:56008&r=agr |
| By: | Applanaidu, Shri Dewi; Mohamed Arshad, Fatimah; Abdel Hameed, Amna Awad; Hasanov, Akram; Idris, Nurjihan; Abdullah, Amin Mahir; Shamsudin, Mad Nasir |
| Abstract: | The Malaysian cocoa sector has undergone dramatic changes during the last few decades. In the early years of 1970s, this sector has maintained an upward trend in the area and consequently the production. However, the trend reversed in the late 1980s due to factors such as declining world prices, higher labour costs, widespread of cocoa pod diseases and the pull of more lucrative crops (in particular palm oil). By 2008 only about 19,976 hectares were planted with cocoa compared to a peak of 414,236 ha in 1989. Production of cocoa beans has trended down accordingly. The study combines the econometric and system dynamics approach in modeling the Malaysian cocoa market. A first order system was developed to capture the interdependencies of the major structural elements of the markets such as production, local and export demands, inventory and imports. Nevertheless, the model provides an understanding of the interrelationships between the system components and allows the simulation of policy variables changes. Future work will involve a detail examination of the interaction cocoa supply chain system (from farm to export) to provide a much more comprehensive representations of the dynamics of the market. |
| Keywords: | Econometric methods; system dynamics; Malaysian cocoa market |
| JEL: | C10 O13 |
| Date: | 2009–10–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19569&r=agr |
| By: | Gomez, Miguel I.; Koerner, Julia |
| Abstract: | This investigation examines price transmission asymmetries (PTA) between international and retail coffee prices in the US, France and Germany. Differences in price transmission mechanisms provide evidence for disparities in market structure and market performance across countries. Although all processors of roasted coffee purchase green coffee at the same price in the international markets, one finds significant differences in retail prices among these countries. The study develops an Error Correction (EC) representation model to assess PTA of non-stationary models. Finally, it claims that identifying differences in price transmission asymmetry is an approach to compare market structure across countries. |
| Keywords: | coffee, markets, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2009–09–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:cudawp:55930&r=agr |
| By: | S.J. Rubio (University of Valencia); J.R. García (University of Valencia); J.L. Hueso (University of Valencia) |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates socially optimal patterns of economic growth and environmental quality in a neoclassical growth model with endogenous technological progress. In the model, the environmental quality affects positively not only to utility but also to production. However, cleaner technologies can be used in the economy whether a part of the output is used in environmentally oriented R&D. In this framework, if the initial level of capital is low then the shadow price of a cleaner technology is low relative to the cost of developing it given by the marginal utility of consumption and it is not worth investing in R&D. Thus, there will be a first stage of growth based only on the accumulation of capital with a decreasing environmental quality until the moment that pollution is great enough to make profitable the investment in R&D. After this turning point, if the new technologies are efficient enough, the economy can evolve along a balanced growth path with an increasing environmental quality. The result is that the optimal investment pattern supports an environmental Kuznets curve. |
| Keywords: | Neoclassical Growth Model, Endogenous Technological Progress, External Effects, Environmental Kuznets Curve |
| JEL: | O33 O41 Q55 Q56 |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2009.125&r=agr |
| By: | Chau, Nancy H.; Goto, Hideaki; Kanbur, Ravi |
| Abstract: | In many markets in developing countries, especially in remote areas, middlemen are thought to earn excessive profits. Non-profits come in to counter what is seen as middlemen's market power, and rich country consumers pay a "fair-trade" premium for products marketed by such non-pro fits. This paper provides answers to the following five questions. How exactly do middlemen and non-profits divide up the market? How do the price mark up and price pass-through differ between middleman and non-pro fits? What is the impact of non-profits entry on the wellbeing of the poor? Should the government subsidize the entry of non-profits, or the entry of middlemen? Should wealthy consumers in the North pay a premium for fair trade products, or should they support fair trade non-profits directly? |
| Keywords: | Middlemen, Non-profits, Poverty, Market Access, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Productivity Analysis, F15, I32, L3, |
| Date: | 2009–08–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:cudawp:55931&r=agr |
| By: | Abdel Hamed, Amna Awad; Hasanov, Akram; Idris, Nurjihan; Abdullah, Amin Mahir; Mohamed Arshad, Fatimah; Shamsudin, Mad Nasir |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates a system of supply, demand, and price equations for Malaysian cocoa using annual data over the period 1975-2008. Theoretically, in supply and demand models, the price variable is treated as endogenous. However, Hausman specification test result indicates that there is no simultaneity problem in the model. Thus, we estimate the system of equations utilizing the Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) estimation technique which might be considered a more efficient estimator for supply and demand model of the Malaysian cocoa. The results suggest that the Malaysian cocoa production is mainly affected by the previous year production, price of cocoa beans at lag two as well as the harvested area. In the export demand equation, the real effective exchange rates is statistically significant determinant while the index of industrial production of advanced economies and the world price of cocoa are found to be insignificant. The results also suggest that both Malaysian industrial production index and domestic price of cocoa beans are key determinants of domestic demand for cocoa beans in Malaysia. Finally, the domestic price of cocoa beans is highly sensitive to its domestic consumption, lagged domestic price, and its world price. |
| Keywords: | Supply and Demand; Malaysian Cocoa; SUR technique |
| JEL: | Q11 O13 |
| Date: | 2009–10–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:19568&r=agr |