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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2016‒06‒04
108 papers chosen by |
| By: | Tokgoz, Simla; Majeed, Fahd |
| Abstract: | With growing population, increasing and still uneven income distribution, achieving food and nutrition security is a critical goal for the Government of India (GOI). GOI implements a wide range of agricultural, trade, and domestic policies to achieve this goal, creating a highly regulated environment for consumers and producers. At the same time, there are new policies, such as biofuels market policies, that create new value chains and new income opportunities for the farmers. Income growth leads to higher consumption of vegetable oils and livestock and dairy products, creating higher value added for oilseeds producers by generating larger markets for by-products. This complicated policy environment affects both the producer and the consumer decisions across the entire value chain. In this context, it is crucial to identify which parts of agricultural distortions in India are due to market failure and which parts are due to effective policy intervention. Agricultural distortions, originating from either policy design or other sources, also create and influence value chains within a country. Therefore, measuring distortions along the complete agricultural value chain is necessary for effective policy design. The objective of the paper is to measure the impact of sector-specific and state-specific policies on agricultural incentives in India across agricultural value chains. Specifically, we focus on two value chains: oilseeds value chain (rapeseed and groundnut complex) and biofuels value chain (ethanol-molasses-sugar-sugarcane complex). We utilize state level price data at different points in the market to measure distortions to agricultural incentives at state level for the primary commodities in these value chains and for the entire value chain. The results show that GOI has effectively protected the farmers for the primary commodities included in this analysis. When a primary commodity is part of a value chain that generates additional products through processing, the effective NRPs for the farmers producing the primary commodity increase. This is due to two channels: first farmers receive higher prices for their crop since there is additional value being generated through a larger market. Second, protection of these processed commodities and their higher prices are transmitted to the primary commodity prices. Measuring distortions along the entire value chain are therefore necessary for effective policy design and evaluation. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236087&r=agr |
| By: | Ayieko, Miltone Were; Songqing, Jin; Tschirley, David |
| Abstract: | EFFECTS OF SMALLHOLDER DIVERSIFICATION ON RURAL HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY IN KENYA ABSTRACT Market-oriented economic reforms are now at least 20 years old in most of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Prior to these reforms, most economies were fettered with far-ranging limits on investment, private sector trade, and other initiatives, and on the free movement of agricultural products over space. Kenya is a prime example of these earlier policies, with limits on maize marketing, agricultural inputs marketing and dairy marketing restrictions that were lifted through the reforms. Over this same time, urban populations and rural population densities have increased dramatically, further broadening the scope for trade, and setting off the process of agricultural transformation. In addition, changes in the weather patterns have often affected smallholder agricultural production and consumption decisions. How have the rural farm households been affected by these dramatically different policy, economic and climatic environments, and how have these changes and patterns shaped the welfare of rural households? The effect of smallholder diversification in rural areas is conjectured to be correlated to the agricultural transformation process. In the absence of markets, households are likely to rely solely on own production and they tend to produce mainly for subsistence. As markets begin to function, diversification is likely to increase household income and wealth, but reduce the household’s ability to be food-secure, especially if diversification implies transferring resources from food crops to commercial crops in response to market opportunities. But as markets improve (or as land sizes increase), incomes are likely to be increased through specialization, not diversification, and households no longer have to rely on self-sufficiency to be food-secure. More-specialized households at this stage in the transformation process are likely to be more food-secure. Moreover, studies also show that climate change may affect a farm household choice of income activities that ultimately determine the household welfare. This is more so pertinent in the case of rural household food security. Despite receiving considerable attention in the developing countries, food security continues to be a major challenge. In SSA, for example, it is estimated that about one-quarter of the population, most of whom reside in rural areas where agriculture is the mainstay, are faced with chronic food insecurity. In addition, most rural househlds follow highly diversified agricultural an livelihood portfolios in response to potential risks such as uncertain weather. Yet fewer studies have investigated the effect of smallholder diversification on rural smallholder food security. The purpose of the study is to determine the welfare effects of crop, agricultural and livelihood diversification on farm households food security. It is hypothesized that households diversify income portfolios in order to mitigate the risks to food security. Therefore, the overall objective of this essay is to investigate the welfare effects of agricultural and livelihood diversification at the household level. The specific objectives for the study are to: (a) determine the welfare effects of crop, agricultural and livelihood diversification on rural household food security in the presence of rainfall stress and policy reforms of the 1990s, and (b) examine heterogeneity in household welfare effects of livelihood diversification between groups of households. Using a five-period panel data of 1,243 rural farm households from Kenya collected between 1997 and 2010, this study investigates welfare effects of agricultural and livelihood diversification among smallholder farmers in rural Kenya. Dynamic Panel Data method will be used to investigate the effects of smallholder diversification on rural household food security. The dynamic panel data model is appropriate since it allows for separation of the true state dependence, observed and unobserved heterogeneity. The model assumes no serial correlation of the error term but not independence. Because of potential endogeneity problem caused by, a) the inclusion of the lagged dependent variable and, b) the potential endogeneity of some right-hand side variables, a test for validity of the instrumental variables will be carried out using the Sargan test of overidentifying restrictions. In addition, a test of no serial correlation in the error terms (Arellano-Bond test) will be carried out to ensure correct specification of the model. Household food security (the dependent variable) will be proxied by the amount of maize calories available for consumption at the household per adult equivalent. |
| Keywords: | Household maize security, livelihood diversification, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236218&r=agr |
| By: | Sneeringer, Stacy; Pon, Shirley |
| Abstract: | A much-touted policy tool to reduce nutrient pollution from livestock agriculture is the nutrient management plan (NMP). NMPs can be voluntary or required, and oblige farms to match the nutrients applied as manure or commercial fertilizer with the absorptive capacity of land and crops. However, little research examines whether these plans are implemented, even if farms have records of having plans. In this paper we use nationally-representative Agricultural and Resource Management Survey (ARMS) data on hog producers to compare the nutrient application practices of farms with and without NMPs to see whether having an NMP makes a farm less likely to over-apply nutrients, as well as to adopt other nutrient management practices. We also examine whether the effect of having an NMP on nutrient management is strengthened by state NMP requirements, proximity to urban areas, regional nutrient balance, and watershed water quality oversight. Our preliminary findings suggest that NMPs are effective in encouraging nutrient testing but not in reducing over application of nutrients to farmland; they have the most effect in states with more stringent regulation. |
| Keywords: | hogs, nutrient management, environment, regulation, livestock, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Livestock Production/Industries, Q1, Q5, |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235681&r=agr |
| By: | Luckstead, Jeff; Devadoss, Stephen |
| Abstract: | We develop a model to comprehensively analyze the effects of 2014 Farm Bill wheat policies---loan deficiency payments (LDP), price loss coverage (PLC), agriculture risk coverage-county (ARC-CO), individual revenue protection crop insurance (RP), and supplemental coverage option (SCO)---on input use, yield, certainty equivalent, optimal RP insurance coverage level, expected payments, and premiums. The comparative static results show the directional impact of the coupling, wealth, and insurance effects for each policy. We calibrate the model to a representative dryland wheat farm in Kansas. The simulation results show that the expected LDP payment is zero for 2014, RP causes input use and yield to decline, and ARC-CO, PLC, and SCO result in higher input use and yield. Thus, both the theoretical and empirical results provide evidence of moral hazard associated with RP and SCO insurance. If the farmer selects only RP insurance, then the optimal coverage level is 85%, but drop to 50% if SCO is added. Based on certainty equivalent analysis, the optimal policy combination is RP with ARC-CO. The results also provide evidence that farmers would opt for crop insurance programs even without premium subsidies. |
| Keywords: | Coupling, Wealth, and Insurance Effects, Farm Bill, Moral Hazard, Wheat, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q18, Q12, D24, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235362&r=agr |
| By: | Koppmair, Stefan; Kassie, Menale; Qaim, Matin |
| Abstract: | Farm input subsidies are often criticized to be economically and ecologically unsustainable. The promotion of natural resource management (NRM) technologies are widely seen as more sustainable to increase agricultural productivity and food security. However, relatively little is known about how input subsidies affect farmers’ decisions to adopt NRM technologies. There are concerns of incompatibility, because NRM technologies are one strategy to reduce the use of external inputs in intensive production systems. However, in smallholder systems of Africa, where the average use of external inputs is low, there may possibly be interesting complementarities. Here, we analyze the situation of Malawi’s Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP). Using panel data from smallholder farm households, we develop a multivariate probit model and examine how FISP participation affects farmers’ decisions to adopt various NRM technologies, such as intercropping of maize with legumes, use of organic manure, water conservation practices, and vegetative strips. As expected, FISP increases the use of inorganic fertilizer and improved maize seeds. Yet, we also observe a positive association between FISP and the adoption of certain NRM technologies. For other NRM technologies we find no significant effect. We conclude that input subsidies and the promotion of NRM technologies can be compatible strategies. |
| Keywords: | fertilizer subsidy, technology adoption, sustainable agriculture, small farms, Africa, Malawi, Farm Management, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235313&r=agr |
| By: | Tambo, Justice A.; Wünscher, Tobias |
| Abstract: | With numerous challenges hindering smallholders’ adoption of externally developed technologies, it is often argued that farmer innovation can play an essential role in rural livelihoods. Yet a rigorous assessment of the impact of farmer innovation is lacking. We address this issue by analyzing the effect of farmer innovation on household welfare, measured by income, consumption expenditure, and food security. Using household survey data from northern Ghana and applying endogenous switching regression, we find that farmer innovation significantly increases household income and consumption expenditure for innovators. It also contributes significantly to the reduction of food insecurity among innovative households by increasing household food consumption expenditure, decreasing the duration of food shortage, and reducing the severity of hunger. However, we find that the positive productivity and income effects of farmer innovation do not significantly translate into nutritious diet, measured by household dietary diversity. Overall, our results show positive welfare effects of farmer innovation, hence, support increasing arguments on the need to promote farmer innovation (which has been largely undervalued) as a complement to externally promoted technologies in food security and poverty reduction efforts. |
| Keywords: | Farmer innovation, Household welfare, Impact assessment, Endogenous switching regression, Ghana, Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management, Food Security and Poverty, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, D13, O31, Q12, Q16, |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:235297&r=agr |
| By: | Wang, Tong; Luri, Moses; Janssen, Larry; Hennessy, David; Feng, Hongli; Wimberly, Michael; Arora, Gaurav |
| Abstract: | The extent of United States Great Plains grass agriculture has ebbed and flowed over decades in response to market incentives, government policies, technological innovations and weather patterns. Our thesis is that the land most responsive to these drivers is at the economic margin between grass-based production and cropping. Much of the eastern Dakotas is such an area, primarily under crop-based agriculture although grass remains an important land use. We surveyed land operators in the area on their views about motivators for land use choices. Their views are largely consistent with the economic margin viewpoint. The importance of crop output prices, crop input prices, innovations in cropping equipment and weather patterns on land use decisions grow as one moves north toward the economic margin. Land in more highly sloped areas is more sensitive to crop prices and crop insurance policies. Consistent with human capital theory, older operators are generally less responsive to factors that affect land use. Those renting more land, being more exposed to market forces, are more responsive. As farm size increases, respondents declared higher land use sensitivity to policy issues and technological innovations, suggesting that scale effects render land units more sensitive to land use change drivers. |
| Keywords: | cropping systems, ecosystem services, food-fuel-environment debate, grassland conversion, human dimensions to ecosystems, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2016–08–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235109&r=agr |
| By: | Mekonnen, Dawit; Hira, Channa; Claudia, Ringler |
| Abstract: | Irrigated agriculture accounts for about 80% of total agricultural production in Pakistan, an arid country home to the sixth largest population globally. Almost all irrigated production takes place in the Indus Basin Irrigation System, the world's largest contiguous irrigated area. The extensive system of canals transfers water from the river system to distributaries and from there to watercourses, farms, and eventually to individual farm plots. Given growing water shortages and the resulting increased variability in water flows in the system, it will be important to improve system efficiency to ensure continued increase in agricultural production. A key question remains, however, where to intervene in the system. This paper uses multilevel modeling to explore the relative importance of plots, farms, watercourses, and distributaries on the levels and variance of wheat yield, and identify entry points to improve agricultural water management in a way that can guide prioritization of investments across the different levels of the irrigation network. Our findings suggest that out of the total variation in wheat yield that is not explained by plot specific characteristics, 28% is explained by distributary level effects, 3% by watercourse level effects, and 7% by farm (household) characteristics. These findings suggest that investments that improve irrigation water delivery at the distributary level provide the highest impact per unit of dollar invested in terms of reducing yield gaps among farmers. |
| Keywords: | IMT, Irrigation, Multilevel models, Productivity, Pakistan, Crop Production/Industries, International Development, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, D24, Q12, Q15, Q25, |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235977&r=agr |
| By: | Ben Fradj, Nosra; Jayet, Pierre-Alain |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to analyze the sensitivity of the supply of a perennial crop, i.e, miscanthus for which high interest arises when it is dedicated to second generation biofuels production. We develop a methodology based on the "Faustmann's rule" usually used in forest management fields. We first determine the yield growth function over time and the discounted present value of this crop in a deterministic case. Then, a stochastic process based on a beta distribution is introduced to manage the variability of miscanthus yield. A short-term agricultural model (AROPAj) is used to highlight the large scale impact of annual yield randomization. This analysis details the impact assessment regarding optimal length cycle, land use, N input demand and nitrate losses. Ideally, miscanthus would be grown on marginal land. However, miscanthus profitability causes farmers to cultivate it on the most productive land generally devoted to food crops. An increase in yield potential leads to significant direct and indirect land re-allocation, favoring therefore the competition between food and biofuel production.This change in land use leads to a substantial decrease in N-input application and, consequently, in nitrate losses. Results significantly changes when yields are affected by annual randomized variability. Throughout a sensitivity analysis, we notice that yields, renewal cycle costs and the discount rate may interact with yield randomization and significantly affect the future profitability of miscanthus. |
| Keywords: | bioenergy perennial crop, Faustmann rule, stochastic process, Present Net Value, optimal rotation age, land use change, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235775&r=agr |
| By: | Dumortier, Jerome |
| Abstract: | Farmland in the United States has undergone significant transformation over the last decades. Productivity increases, the introduction of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), and the emergence of the biofuel industry have all contributed to significant land-use changes. The potential to produce cellulosic ethanol as well as climate change will continue to change the agricultural landscape. In this paper, we present preliminary results on the importance of the evolution of agricultural productivity in the future and how it changes the land-use allocation at the county level. In particular, we are interested in yield projections and their implications for ecosystem services. For this purpose, we use a simple optimization model predicting land-use at the county level for three crops and CRP land. Given differential yield increases varying by crop and county, the potential for land-sparing and distinct ecosystem services arises. |
| Keywords: | Yield projections, conservation reserve program, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–05–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235653&r=agr |
| By: | Carriquiry, Miguel; Elobeid, Amani; Goodrich, Ryan |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a review of several of the major factors that will determine the need to incorporate additional land to production in response to a demand increase, for example as a result of biofuel policies. Among the factors reviewed are the potential for yield intensification in response to higher returns (intensification effects), and the limited existing evidence in yield drags as areas are incorporate to crop production (extensification effects). We conduct a review of the recent trends on Amazon deforestation, highlighting the recent interventions and seemingly sustained lower rates than in earlier years. These lower rates, which may be the results of more stringent regulations and control, occur in a period of high agricultural price and demand for land, which calls for some additional research on the direct link between global agricultural demand and deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon. Scenario analysis using an augmented version of the CARD/FAPRI agricultural modeling system (augmented to include planted forests in Brazil) seem to provide evidence in this line. Systematic work in this line is scarce and clearly more research is needed to truly understand the implications of adding the competition with planted forests, different levels of policy enforcement, and potentials for yield (both in terms of crops and pastures) increases on evaluations of agricultural price change, land use change, and environmental impacts. |
| Keywords: | land use change, land use change models, planted forests models, Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235888&r=agr |
| By: | Vrachioli, Maria; Stefanou, Spiro; Grogan, Kelly |
| Abstract: | With the demand for agricultural water expecting to be increased because of the expanding population growth and with water use efficiency in agricultural sector tending to be low, policy recommendations are needed to encourage farmers to increase agricultural water productivity. The main objective of this paper is to develop a spatial model that determines optimal water allocation and to generate measures of agricultural water productivity along a canal, taking into account the head versus tail disparities in water allocation along a canal. The second objective is to analyze agricultural water productivity change into its components, change in variable inputs and change in water usage, and examine the effect of efficient water usage effort on agricultural water productivity. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural water productivity, Spatial model, Quantity and quality of agricultural water, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, D24, Q15, Q25, R32, |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235834&r=agr |
| By: | Codron, J.M.; Adanacioglu, H.; Aubert, M.; Bouhsina, Z.; El Mekki, A.A.; Rousset, S.; Tozanli, S.; Yercan, M. |
| Abstract: | Fresh produce growers are the main source of food contamination by chemical pesticides. In their choice of farming practices, producers are influenced by market forces as well as public and private safety regulations – or “macro-drivers” – as opposed to farm-level micro-drivers. Growers respond to their business and regulatory environment by implementing integrated pest management (IPM) and other good agricultural practices (GAP), where profitable through certification schemes. Our paper attempts to analyse the adoption of sustainable farming practices beyond farm and farmer characteristics, focusing on the role of structural and institutional macro-drivers. The empirical research is based on the comparison between Turkey and Morocco, two Mediterranean countries with high export activity in the fresh tomato sector but with contrasting features in terms of both sustainable farming practices and micro/macro-drivers. With regard to the latter, we simultaneously consider supply-side and demand-side aspects (i.e. the requirements of buyers in importing countries). The analysis draws on the literature examining both IPM/GAP adoption and the impact of food safety regulation on firms' strategies. We call on face-to-face interviews with a relatively large number of tomato growers in the main production areas (N=86 in Morocco and N=186 in Turkey). Our findings show that the average level of sustainable practices is greatly affected by national market and institutional particularities, in particular on the demand side. Moreover the surveys confirm the initial assumption of the major role played by private actors in managing safety risk when there are high business stakes, as in export chains oriented towards rich Western countries. ....French Abstract : La contamination des légumes frais par les pesticides se fait principalement au niveau de la production. Dans leur choix des pratiques agricoles, les producteurs sont influencés par des forces de type macro-économique qui se situent aussi bien au niveau du marché que des régulations publiques et privées. A cela se rajoute une troisième série de forces, qui sont cette fois-ci spécifiques de l'exploitation et de l'exploitant agricoles et donc de type micro-économique. Les producteurs répondent aux exigences de leur environnement commercial et réglementaire en mettant en œuvre des bonnes pratiques agricoles qu'ils font certifier et des systèmes de gestion raisonnée aptes à lutter contre les ravageurs et maladies. Notre papier vise à expliquer l'adoption de pratiques agricoles durables en mobilisant au-delà des caractéristiques de l'exploitant et de l'exploitation agricoles, les forces structurelles et institutionnelles de type macro-économique. La recherche empirique est basée sur la comparaison de ces forces dans deux pays méditerranéens, la Turquie et le Maroc, qui sont tous les deux d'importants exportateurs de tomate mais qui sont très contrastés au niveau des pratiques d'agriculture durable et des facteurs micro ou macro qui influencent ces pratiques. L'identification de ces forces nous conduit à considérer à la fois le côté de l'offre et celui de la demande aussi bien commerciale que réglementaire. Les théories prises en compte sont celles de l'adoption des standards de bonnes pratiques agricoles ou des systèmes de production raisonnée ainsi que celles de l'impact des régulations de sécurité alimentaire sur la stratégie des firmes. Les données ont été collectées en face à face auprès d'un relativement grand nombre de producteurs (N=86 au Maroc et N=186 en Turquie). Les résultats montrent que le niveau moyen des pratiques est fortement déterminé par le marché national et par les particularités institutionnelles, en particulier du côté de la demande. Par ailleurs, les enquêtes confirment l'hypothèse du rôle majeur joué par les acteurs privés dans la gestion du risque sanitaire lorsqu'il y a de gros enjeux économiques, ce qui est le cas des filières d'exportation tournées vers les pays riches occidentaux. |
| Keywords: | FOOD SAFETY; PESTICIDES; INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT; IMP; GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES; GAP; PRIVATE REGULATION; VERTICAL ORGANIZATION; FRESH VEGETABLES; SECURITE DES ALIMENTS; LUTTE RAISONNEE; BONNES PRATIQUES AGRICOLES; REGULATION PRIVEE; COORDINATION VERTICALE; LEGUMES FRAIS |
| JEL: | D23 Q13 Q18 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:umr:wpaper:201603&r=agr |
| By: | Fan, Yubing; Wang, Chenggang; Nan, Zhibiao |
| Abstract: | A great challenge for agricultural production is to produce more food with less water, which can be possibly achieved by increasing crop water use efficiency (WUE). We systematically reviewed 51 cases from 48 empirical studies with field experimental results on wheat and cotton. We estimated the yield-water use relations under both furrow and micro irrigation systems, compared crop water use to achieve maximum WUE and maximum yield, and evaluated the effects of many influential factors using meta-regression analysis. Our results showed significant effects of micro irrigation adoption, farm management practices focusing on crop, soil and water, and some moderator variables related with the empirical studies on crop WUE. Assessments of the publication selection bias and genuine effects illustrated the application of weighted least squares in conducting meta-regression analysis. |
| Keywords: | Water use efficiency, micro-irrigation, farm management practices, wheat, cotton, meta-analysis, publication bias, Farm Management, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Q15, Q25, Q55, |
| Date: | 2016–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236059&r=agr |
| By: | Kojima, Yasutomo; Parcell, Joe; Cain, Jewelwayne |
| Abstract: | This article analyzes global demand for major edible and non-edible vegetable oils using cross-country panel data from 1991 to 2011. A fixed effects model, accounting for spatial dependence of the residuals, is specified. Compared to food use, income elasticities are significantly higher for industrial use, suggesting that demand for non-edible vegetable oils is expected to increase with the rise of global wealth in the future. Income elasticities will be useful for simulation research of estimating how much agricultural land needs to be developed in the future in order to meet an expected increase in demand for biofuel feedstocks. |
| Keywords: | vegetable oil, demand analysis, cross-country panel data, fixed effects model, spatial dependence, soybean oil, rapeseed oil, palm oil, sunflower oil, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Q11, Q41, C21, C23, |
| Date: | 2016–05–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235744&r=agr |
| By: | Ito, Seiro; Ohira, Satoshi; Tsukada, Kazunari |
| Abstract: | We estimate the economic impacts of irrigation using the panel data set from rural Thailand. We employed difference-in-differences estimation and showed that tertiary irrigation has unexpected impacts. Contrary to the local experts predicitions that it should have substantial productivity impacts as it allows better water controls for farmers, we found largely zero profitability impacts. Another unexpected finding is that, while profitability is not affected, we see an increase in cultivation probability with the construction of tertiary canals. This is observed in both wet and dry seasons. This finding suggests that Thai farmers are willing to expand operation scale once they get water. |
| Keywords: | Canals, Infrastructure, Agriculture, Impact evaluation of infrastructure, Tertiary canals, Cultivation |
| JEL: | Q12 Q15 |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jet:dpaper:dpaper596&r=agr |
| By: | Hochman, Gal; Zilberman, David |
| Abstract: | We use data and estimates on biofuel impacts reported in the literature to assess some of the controversy surrounding the introduction of biofuels by conducting meta-analyses on the impacts of corn ethanol on food and fuel prices, greenhouse gases, employment, rural income, balance of trade, the United States government budget, and learning-by-doing. The meta-analyses suggest that corn ethanol has had a relatively significant impact on the income of agricultural and related agribusiness industries, employment in farm states, fuel security in terms of reducing the import of oil from abroad, and the overall balance of trade. These effects are likely the main drivers behind biofuel policies. |
| Keywords: | Biofuels, Energy policy, Impacts, Meta-analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Political Economy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q4, |
| Date: | 2016–05–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235467&r=agr |
| By: | Mittenzwei, Klaus; Mann, Stefan; Refsgaard, Karen; Kvakkestad, Valborg |
| Abstract: | The paper tests the hypothesis that cultural and social background is far more influential to form preferences about policy than the level of fact-based knowledge a person possesses. The data for the case study stem from a web-based survey among a representative sample of the adult population in Norway. The degree of knowledge of agriculture in this paper is operationalized through questions on five key characteristics of Norwegian agriculture that frequently arise in the public discussion. The results show that the amount of fact-based knowledge of agriculture to a very little extent explains differences within the sample. The cultural background of respondents is much more suited to explain agricultural policy preferences. Knowledge, however, shifts the attention from food price issues towards the delivery of public goods. The results allow us to hint at hot cognition as a possible explanation for such findings. |
| Keywords: | hot cognition, preferences, political psychology, Norwegian agriculture, Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212469&r=agr |
| By: | Makombe, Wilfred; Kropp, Jaclyn D. |
| Abstract: | The Tanzanian government has banned the exportation of maize on several occasions since the 1980s. The government argues these bans ensure an adequate domestic food supply and help stabilize consumer prices. While low domestic prices benefit urban consumers, the bans negatively affect farmers’ and traders’ incomes by hindering their access to lucrative prices in international markets. Because the bans are often ad hoc and impromptu, the policy causes market uncertainty which may have long-run implications for future food security and trading opportunities. This study uses cross-sectional household data from 244 randomly selected households collected in October and November of 2015 from the Mufindi district of Tanzania, a key maize producing region, to analyze the policy’s effects on agricultural production decisions, farmers’ responses to price risks generated by the export bans, the implications of the bans on long-run food security, and the effects of the bans on engagement in agricultural activities and investment. While none of the respondents indicate that they stopped producing maize because of the bans, 43 percent indicated that they decreased maize production and started growing other crops. Approximately 63 percent of respondents now produce maize only for household consumption. The survey findings indicate maize farmers are affected by export bans through lower prices and unpredictable markets. The bans caused some farmers to incur negative profits while others were unable to pay inputs suppliers. The bans also reduced investment in maize farming businesses. The majority of respondents indicated that they would reduce acreage allocated to maize production but continue producing maize to meet household consumption needs if the bans are reinstated. |
| Keywords: | export bans, food insecurity, maize, price risk, Tanzania, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Food Security and Poverty, Production Economics, Risk and Uncertainty, Q17, Q18, Q12, |
| Date: | 2016–05–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235499&r=agr |
| By: | Kolady, Deepthi; Srivastava, Shivendra; Singh, Jaspal |
| Abstract: | Conventional wisdom suggests that hunger and malnutrition should be eliminated by economic growth. There is enough evidence on the positive relationship between income growth poverty reduction and consumption expenditure. However, India has been presenting a paradoxical trend since 1970s; a decline in per capita calorie consumption even when economy was growing and per capita real incomes were increasing. For instance, although with fluctuations, India’s annual GDP growth increased from 5.5% in 1990 to 10.3% in 2010 and poverty declined from 45.3% in 1993 to 29.8% in 2009, suggesting a period of robust economy growth and poverty reduction. Paradoxically, per capita calorie consumption declined 5.2 % percent from 2146 in 1993 to 2034 in 2004-5 and a further decline of 1.17% to 2010 in 2009-10. This unexpected decline of per capita calorie consumption is often referred to as “calorie consumption puzzle” in India. However, examination of data from the household consumer expenditure surveys (HCES) conducted by the National Statistical Survey Office (NSSO) in 2011-12, shows a four percent increase in per capita calorie consumption to 2088 in 2011-12. This is the first time since 1970s per capita calorie consumption intake increases in India. This first time reversal raises questions such as, what are the drivers of this increase in per capita calorie consumption intake? and whether this increase in trend will endure in the future? In the available literature focusing on the calorie consumption puzzle in India, considerable attention has been given to explain the consumption puzzle and identify the factors responsible for the puzzle. Most of the available body of research on consumption puzzle in India can be categorized into two broad strands: coercive factors and non-coercive factors. Supporters of theory of coercive factors argue that general rural impoverishment is the cause of the puzzle while supporters of theory of non-coercive factors attribute it to factors such as food budget squeeze, declining subsistence consumption, and diversification of diets, urbanization, changes in occupational structures, declining energy requirements, and improvements in epidemiological environment. There is another strand of explanation which argues that calorie intake in India is not low or declining as reported in the literature, but it is the result of poor data collection and reporting. In contrast, much less is known about the role of agriculture, which provides livelihood for about 55% of India’s total work force, in causing the puzzle or in the reversal of the puzzle. Since 2004-05, India has witnessed unprecedental growth in agriculture, including livestock. To our knowledge, no previous studies has looked at the micro-and macro level effects of this improved agricultural growth on food security and nutrition. In this study, our objectives are three fold. First, identify the factors responsible for the calorie consumption puzzle in India. Second, examine the role of agriculture, if any, in solving the calorie consumption puzzle in rural areas. Third, examine whether the reported increase in calorie intake is due to the improvements in data collection implemented for the 2011-12 HCES survey. We find supporting evidence for our hypotheses. |
| Keywords: | calorie consumption puzzle, food security, nutrition, household consumption and expenditure survey, agriculture, India, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235862&r=agr |
| By: | Karl Kim (Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Hawaii at Manoa); Kimberly Burnett (University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa); Jiwnath Ghimire (Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Hawaii at Manoa) |
| Abstract: | Food and energy security are major concerns in the Pacific and around the world. They are key planning priorities in the state of Hawaii as well. Approximately 90 percent of energy and food resources are imported to Hawaii from the continental USA or other parts of the world. While food and energy independence is a goal in many jurisdictions, assessment of the potential for local food and energy production is lacking. Research is needed to examine how agricultural lands can be used to meet food and energy demands, particularly on islands where land is limited. The contribution of this paper is the development of a community-orientated method for evaluating and prioritizing lands for food and energy self-sufficiency, based on local preferences and production possibilities. Based on a review of the literature, community meetings, and expert interviews, three scenarios were developed to assess food and energy production possibilities on Kauai. The first scenario considers maximum food production, the second assigns equal importance to food and energy production, and the third scenario maximizes energy production. This work broadens policy discussions regarding the preservation of agricultural lands on small islands. |
| Keywords: | Food self-sufficiency, energy production, agricultural zoning, GIS, Kauai |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hae:wpaper:2015-11&r=agr |
| By: | Hejazi, Mina; Grant, Jason H.; Peterson, Everett |
| Abstract: | Sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures are not new, but their significance in international agri-food trade continues to grow. Despite recent data collection efforts, the current literature has not lead to a consensus about the impact of SPS measures on trade nor has it led to a prescribed framework for how to address SPS policy reforms in multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations. In this article we focus on a specific type of SPS measures that features prominently in the current mega-regional trade negotiations, namely food safety standards in the form of maximum residue limits. First, we construct a comprehensive database of country-and-product specific MRLs for global fresh fruit and vegetable trade and develop a novel bilateral stringency index to quantify the degree of MRL regulatory heterogeneity between trading nations for the years 2013 and 2014. Second, a formal econometric model is developed to investigate the trade restricting nature of these measures. The results suggest that for any given fresh fruit or vegetable product, importer MRL standards that are marginally stricter than exporter MRLs can impart significant reductions in bilateral trade. However, when MRL policies are roughly equivalent, as is the case between the US and some of its TPP trading partners, the actual restrictiveness of this SPS policy diminishes dramatically. The results have important implications for the current mega-regional negotiations. |
| Keywords: | fruit and vegetable trade, bilateral trade, maximum residue limits, non-tariff measures, Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Intensive and Extensive Margins of Trade, International Relations/Trade, F13, Q17, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235847&r=agr |
| By: | Carroll, Kathryn A.; Samek, Anya Savikhin; Zepeda, Lydia |
| Abstract: | The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that at least 68% of U.S. adults aged 20 and older are overweight with BMIs of 25+. A major component of this problem is the decision to habitually consume high quantities of low-nutrient, high-calorie foods (NIH, 2012). This study uses an artefactual field experiment on food choice, conducted in a large Midwestern U.S. city during fall 2015, to explore whether product bundles (consisting of primarily fruit & vegetable (F&V) items) can serve as a behavioral intervention to increase F&V selection. Also of interest was determining whether shopping under cognitive load influenced both item and bundle selection using a dual-self framework, and whether bundles need offer a price discount. Study participants shopped a grocery display under one of six different treatments, with differences examined among the proportion of items selected from three categories: Fruit and Vegetables, Junk Food/Snacks, and Protein/Dairy/Grains. The proportions of items selected by category were also analyzed using a fractional multinomial regression model. Results uncover that product bundles need not offer a price discount in order to effectively increase F&V selection. In fact, discounted bundles were counterproductive at increasing F&Vs when shoppers were under high cognitive load. Product bundles may be preferred by consumers as a means through which to lessen the cognitive strain of the shopping process, and could serve as a potential behavioral intervention to increase retail F&V sales. |
| Keywords: | food choice, fruit and vegetable selection, product bundling, cognitive load, artefactual field experiment, dual-self theory, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Marketing, C91, D12, I12, Q13, |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236130&r=agr |
| By: | Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis; Adjognon, Serge; Reardon, Thomas |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a recently available panel dataset from Nigeria to explore some implications of the rapidly transforming food system in Sub Saharan Africa. We find that urban and rural households in Nigeria have rapidly transforming diets. Consumption has diversified greatly, shifting beyond self-sufficiency into heavy reliance on food purchases and with a heavy shift into consumption of processed foods. We find that the growing demand for processed foods has important implications for the midstream (processing and wholesale) and downstream (retail) sector of food systems. The rise of these two segments (on the supply side) paralleling the rise of processed and prepared foods (on the demand side) creates opportunities for employment and income generation. Furthermore the availability of processed foods (to serve as substitutes for home food processing and preparation, usually a heavy use of time for women in traditional settings) appears to have reduced women’s time constraint and freed up time for them to engage more in non-farm activities in the local area – just as it did a half century ago in the US. These findings demonstrate the potential benefits from the transforming foods systems that could increase employment and improve household welfare in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Development, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236284&r=agr |
| By: | Hungerford, Ashley; Rosch, Stephanie |
| Abstract: | We examine how reducing subsidies for federal crop insurance affects the risk management portfolios of US soybean producers. We apply the portfolio optimization approach of Das and Statman \citeyearpar{das2013options} to model how producers’ risk management portfolios change as subsidies for federal crop insurance premiums change, and examine how the changes to the risk management portfolios impact farmers’ on-farm income and exposure to downside risk. We optimize farmers’ risk management portfolio by adjusting the budget shares dedicated to each of four risk management tools: returns on production, forward contracting, savings, and crop insurance. |
| Keywords: | crop insurance, soybeans, risk management, agricultural finance, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Farm Management, Risk and Uncertainty, Q14, Q18, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235341&r=agr |
| By: | Dulys, Elena; Swinton, Scott M.; Klammer, Sarah |
| Abstract: | Timber residues, a wood production byproduct, are a low cost source of biomass that avoids the environmental and food market consequences of other feedstocks. We studied the effect that price, acreage owned, environmental amenities, and disamenities have on the decision to harvest for non-commercial private forest owners in northern Michigan and Wisconsin. Over 60% of landowners were willing to provide timber residues at timber harvest or stand improvement (tree thinning) at prices starting at just $15 per acre. Important drivers of willingness to supply timber residues include the price offered for timber residue, single-species forest acreage owned, bioenergy attitudes, and the aversion to disamenities, but the price effect is relatively small. The propensity to supply timber residues was highest among owners of larger scale, single-species forest and ones favoring bioenergy. |
| Keywords: | Bioenergy, timber residue, willingness to accept, non-industrial private forest, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q23, Q42, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235752&r=agr |
| By: | Nuñez, Hector M. |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to develop a framework to forecast biofuel policies impacts about fifteen years ahead in Mexico, where there have been several attempts to introduce biofuels into the market but so far no success. Technically, we develop an endogenous-price mathematical programming model emphasizing the Mexican agricultural and fuel sectors, which are embedded in a multi-region, multi-product, spatial partial equilibrium model of the world economy. There is a module for the U.S. and another for Rest of the World. Mexico is disaggregated into 193 crop districts. Production functions are specified for 14 major crops as well as livestock. Biofuel can be produced both from dedicated crops and from agroindustrial residues. We consider three policy alternatives as well as a base case in which, as now, liquid fuels are all derived from fossil sources. The first alternative consists of subsidies to biofuel producers, the second of blending mandates and the third of both combined. Biofuel imports are allowed in all cases. Results show some losses for fuel and agricultural consumers, that are not offset by both ethanol producer and GHG emissions reduction gains. This suggests that some compensating redistribution may be needed if these policies are to be seen as politically sustainable. |
| Keywords: | Mexico, Land Use, Biofuels, Gasoline, Fuel Policies, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, C61, Q10, Q42, Q48, Q54, |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236067&r=agr |
| By: | Katchova, Ani; Ahearn, Mary |
| Abstract: | This study considers the issue of the transition and growth of new farmers into U.S. agriculture, by examining land ownership and leasing trends. Our approach is to characterize the entire distribution by farmer age and farmer experience rather than using young versus old and beginning versus established farmer categories. We also use a linked-farms longitudinal approach instead of a repeated cross-sectional approach to show trends over time in farmland expansion and contraction. Differences in farm size are more pronounced based on farmer experience than farmer age, as farms operated by older beginning farmers tend to be smaller and do not tend to grow over time. We find that it is mostly young farmers as opposed to all beginning farmers that rapidly expand their farm operations after entering agriculture. Our findings inform policy makers about the strategies that young and beginning farmers use to start their businesses and expand over time and suggest more effective approaches for targeting loan programs to young and beginning farmers. |
| Keywords: | farmland ownership, farmland leasing, beginning farmers, young farmers., Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, Q12, Q15, Q18, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:211839&r=agr |
| By: | Liverpool-Tasie, Saweda; Adjognon, Serge G.; Reardon, Thomas A. |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a recently available panel dataset from Nigeria to explore some implications of the rapidly transforming food system in Sub Saharan Africa. We find that urban and rural households in Nigeria have rapidly transforming diets. Consumption has diversified greatly, shifting beyond self-sufficiency into heavy reliance on food purchases and with a heavy shift into consumption of processed foods. We find that the growing demand for processed foods has important implications for the midstream (processing and wholesale) and downstream (retail) sector of food systems. The rise of these two segments (on the supply side) paralleling the rise of processed and prepared foods (on the demand side) creates opportunities for employment and income generation. Furthermore the availability of processed foods (to serve as substitutes for home food processing and preparation, usually a heavy use of time for women in traditional settings) appears to have reduced women’s time constraint and freed up time for them to engage more in non-farm activities in the local area – just as it did a half century ago in the US. These findings demonstrate the potential benefits from the transforming foods systems that could increase employment and improve household welfare in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236277&r=agr |
| By: | Deng, Tinghe; Chen, Qihui; Bai, Junfei |
| Abstract: | This paper attempts to provide an understanding of the widely-documented retirement-consumption puzzle from the perspective of food consumption. Exploiting urban China's "forced" retirement system, we use the legal retirement age cut-off as an instrumental variable for one's retirement status to estimate the causal impacts of retirement on four major aspects of food consumption for males aged 50-70 in urban China: food expenditure, time spent on food acquisition, the quantity, and quality of food consumed. Our fuzzy regression-discontinuity analysis of the China Health and Nutrition Survey data finds that, consistent with the retirement-consumption puzzle, retirement reduces individuals' total food expenditure by 49%. However, retirement barely changes the quantity of food consumption measured by total calorie intakes. Serving to reconcile the differential retirement impacts on elderly males' food expenditure and consumption, retirees are found to substitute their time for money in food acquisition upon retirement. However, they have to sacrifice some quality for quantity of food consumption while smoothing the latter. Given the criteria provided by the Chinese Nutrition Association, retirement negatively affects retirees' diet balance. They consume significantly less food with animal origins (and thus less fat and protein) and more grains (and thus more carbohydrate) upon retirement. |
| Keywords: | Food expenditure, Food consumption, Resource substitution, Retirement, Urban China, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, E20, J14, J26, |
| Date: | 2016–08–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235540&r=agr |
| By: | Holderieath, Jason |
| Abstract: | Species are often viewed as either beneficial or detrimental. The determination of beneficial or detrimental depends on the evaluator, often with disagreement within disciplines such as agriculture or wildlife biology. One common argument against a species revolves around its status as native or non-native, with the latter as a negative characteristic. Defining native and non-native is highly subjective, with a common North American delineation as an introduction before and after Columbus, respectively (Nelson 2010). However, in the past, native species such as the American buffalo (Bison bison) have been targets of eradication campaigns and even today white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and Canadian geese (Branta Canadensis) populations are managed to limit the damage they inflict on agriculture. It is also acknowledged that these example species have intrinsic value in the ecosystem and value as a recreationally hunted species in the case of white-tailed deer and Canadian geese. Non-native species can be viewed beneficially, as most agricultural species are introduced, for recreational use, and even as a replacement for extirpated native species (Schlaepfer, Sax and Olden 2011; Zivin, Hueth and Zilberman 2000). In the US, one contentious species is feral swine (Sus scrofa). Federal removal and control efforts are underway as some private landowners encourage their growth on their property (Bevins et al. 2014; Bannerman and Cole 2014). Feral swine are a vector for diseases, cause ecosystem damage, and inflict physical losses to agriculture (Pimentel, Zuniga and Morrison 2005; Cozzens 2010; Seward et al. 2004). However, feral swine are a valuable recreational species. With benefits and costs often accruing to different people, conflict over management is inevitable. As in most externality problems, property lines do not inhibit damage. Unique to most externality problems is the way the damage causing agent can multiply and spread unaided once introduced. Stakeholders include agricultural landowners, recreational landowners, private conservationists, and government entities. Agriculturalists may be sensitive to crop damage and unwilling to sell hunting licenses on their property to offset the damage. Recreational users may enjoy the opportunity to hunt feral swine or may be sensitive to habitat damage and predation of other game species. Private individuals may also own land with the expressed purpose of native habitat conservation. This division between agriculturalist, recreationists, and conservationists is in reality too strong. Landowners are often a mix of the three. Landowners may also exhibit inconsistent preferences or a lack of information, implying a need to relax rationality assumptions. Rational choice theory, or the rationality assumptions, require that a consumer's actions exhibit completeness, transitivity, and perfect information. Finally, government entities are responsible for many goals including preservation of native species, maintenance of protective structures such as levees, and preventing outbreaks of dangerous diseases. These varying objectives can result in inconsistent policymaker actions (Karp et al. 2015). Management decisions by one stakeholder will affect the outcomes of all stakeholders. The variety of opinions and the interaction between landowners, government agencies, and the swine themselves make an optimal policy solution, here defined as the policy solution with the highest total welfare gain, hard to determine. Previous work has ignored interaction between people and swine, spatial issues, temporal characteristics of feral swine spread, or the variety of values held among stakeholders. To address these shortcomings, an agent-based modeling approach is used to determine the optimal management solution, as well as how varying stakeholder opinions and rationality can change the optimal solution. Agent-based modeling promises to be able to model a rich diversity in objectives across time and space (Heckbert, Baynes and Reeson 2010). Applications of agent-based modeling demonstrate its capabilities with interactive heterogeneous agents and spatiotemporally explicit modeling (Evans and Kelley 2004; Schreinemachers et al. 2009; Berger and Troost 2014). Agents can be modeled maintaining traditional compatibility with economic theory (e.g. utility maximizing rational agents), with varying degrees of rationality and awareness of their surroundings, and established tools such as linear programming can be used to help agents make decisions (Berger 2001; Schreinemachers et al. 2009). ABMs have been shown to be suited for analysis of policy intended to address previously unseen events such as the effects of climate change or a new trade agreement (Berger 2001; Berger and Troost 2014). This paper will demonstrate the importance of the interaction between individuals across time and space over management decisions in a way that has not previously been published. Management paths have been established for heterogeneous groups of agriculturalists, recreational land users, private conservationists and governmental entities with varying motivations. The setting for the simulations is a hypothetical rural environment with the potential for feral swine and damage to crops, livestock, and habitat. Results from these simulations are being compared to situations with individuals of heterogeneous preferences. Preliminary results indicate that both locality and individual characteristics matter in determining the optimal outcome. The code for the ABM is being written in a program that provides striking visuals in addition to the quantitative data needed for analysis. These visualizations, the research goals, and the subject matter of feral swine have not failed to generate substantial discussion when presented. The model, properly calibrated, can be used to simulate a potential management area to determine the best path forward. Results of the analysis are expected to inform policymakers to help guide hunting license protocol and public management efforts to manage feral swine in a humane, environmentally sustainable, and socially responsible manner. |
| Keywords: | feral swine, wild pigs, ABM, agent-based modeling, wildlife, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Land Economics/Use, Q15, Q18, Q59, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235850&r=agr |
| By: | Yang, Shang-Ho; Souza Monteiro, Diogo |
| Abstract: | Traditional markets in Asian countries still account for the majority of fresh meat, fish and vegetable purchases. One of the reasons for their popularity is the relational trust between vendors and buyers. This trust may justify the limited availability of information on origin or production methods and other attributes of foods sold in these markets. However, a number of recent food safety outbreaks and food fraud cases raised consumer and government concerns on over the level information in these markets and ignited a reflection of possible action. This study aims to determine the consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for fresh meat traceability and free growth hormone information traditional markets in Taiwan. To estimate the values of information the payment card method was employed and to account for the starting point bias, the sample was divided into different treatments each with a different price of meat. A total of 2,381 completed survey were collected in mid-July, 2015. An interval regression model is utilized to examine how much consumers would be willing to pay for addition product information. The results suggest that WTP of information not consistent among groups with different starting point scenarios. There was a significant difference between respondents that were not given any indication of the price per quantity of meat and those that were prompted with a market price. Interestingly, we found that consumers treat the information of growth hormone-free examination and traceability differently. |
| Keywords: | starting-point bias, WTP, traceability, growth hormone-free, wet markets, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235766&r=agr |
| By: | Lyu, Ya-Pin; Chang, Ching-Cheng; Chen, Shu-Ling |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to unveil the nature of individual’s preference for PPP flood insurance alternatives under climate change using the choice experiment method and a case study in Tainan City in Taiwan. Our estimates shows that respondents who perceived increasingly higher risks in agriculture and fishery industry were less likely to buy flood insurance. Several reasons could account for their inactiveness in insurance purchase, including insufficient knowledge and financial capacity, over-reliance on government relief, and the lack of diverse insurance alternatives to meet local industrial needs. The simulated market penetration under different climate scenarios also reveals the market potentials do exist and will grow in the future while climate conditions get worse. |
| Keywords: | Private-Public-Participation, Flood Insurance, Choice Experiment, Market Penetration, Risk Perception, Demand and Price Analysis, Financial Economics, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Risk and Uncertainty, Q54, Q58, G22, G32, |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235983&r=agr |
| By: | Lara Cockx; Nathalie Francken |
| Abstract: | In the aftermath of the world food price crisis, the issue of food and nutrition security has received a high level of political attention and the international donor community has repeatedly underlined its commitment to combat hunger in the world. In order to enhance the effectiveness of the international community’s efforts in addressing the widespread problem of malnutrition, we need to improve our knowledge on what activities donors are currently engaging in and which interventions have been shown to be successful. This paper offers both an overview of the aid for food and nutrition security landscape and how it has changed and an extensive review of the available evidence on the impact of a wide array of interventions aimed at addressing all four dimensions of food and nutrition security; availability, access, utilization and stability. We find that despite the renewed interest and elevated levels of funding for food and nutrition security assistance in developing countries, the empirical evidence base for the effectiveness of these interventions in improving beneficiaries’ food and nutrition security – although in several cases promising – is weak. In particular, the question whether different interventions improve the quality of food consumption and consequently nutrient intake and status, remains largely unanswered. Moreover, few studies assess longer-term effects and there exists relatively little rigorous evidence that compares different interventions. It is therefore strongly recommended to undertake additional research to improve the evidence base as this would allow researchers and policy makers to establish the type of approaches that improve food and nutrition security in the most efficient and cost-effective manner. Finally, in order to facilitate this process, there is a need for a clear and uniform definition of food and nutrition security assistance on the one hand as well as agreed upon, comprehensive indicators on the other hand. |
| Date: | 2016–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:licosp:540512&r=agr |
| By: | Jin Hyeung, Kim; Sung Ho, Park; Young Chan, Choe |
| Abstract: | This study compares consumer characteristics of processed rice and meat products on food-related lifestyles. As the social environment changes and household income improves, the trend of diet change and single-person households is diversifying the food consumption patterns of consumers. The food industry and production technology has developed and the consumption of processed or convenience food is increasing. The existing studies are mostly related to the riskiness and disease-causing factors of processed food. In the Asian markets such as Korea and Japan and the North American and European markets, the processed rice industry is rapidly developing. In this study, we analyze the purchasing characteristics of processed rice consumption as compared to processed meat products. We used consumer panel purchase data of 703 housewives in South Korea from the Rural Development Administration. The data includes household purchasing scanner panel data for the year 2014 and questionnaires related to food-related lifestyle. We used confirmatory factor analysis and the beta regression model to identify processed food consumer characteristics. The purchase rate of processed food over the total amount has a range from ‘0’ to ‘1’. To correct for heteroscedasticity and statistical errors in the dependent variable, we use the beta regression model for the rate from ‘0’ to ‘1’. . The social democratic variables such as age and number of family members from the beta regression have a negative relationship and the eating out purchase amount has a positive relationship with both processed rice and meat products (p <0.05). The food-related lifestyles variables of the price criteria for quality and the cost performance for ways of shopping and eating out in a consumption situation increased the rate of purchasing processed meat. However, health quality decreased the consumption rate of processed meat (p <0.05). In the case of processed rice, the propensity to seek a cooking method increased the rate of purchasing processed rice (p <0.05), and the price criteria for ways to shop and propensity to cook with a plan decreased the rate of purchasing amount (p <0.05). According to the results, consumers who purchase a high proportion of processed meat usually consider more price information and consume relatively less healthy products. However, consumers of processed rice tend to purchasing for a new cooking method and consider less a price criteria and cooking plan for consumption. |
| Keywords: | processed rice products, processed meat products, food-related-lifestyle, beta regression model, Agribusiness, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235871&r=agr |
| By: | Bruno Lanz (IHEID, The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva); Simon Dietz (LSE, London School of Economics and Political Science); Tim Swanson (IHEID, The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva) |
| Abstract: | We structurally estimate a two-sector Schumpeterian growth model with endogenous population and finite land reserves to study the long-run evolution of global population, technological progress and the demand for food. The estimated model closely replicates trajectories for world population, GDP, sectoral productivity growth and crop land area from 1960 to 2010. Projections from 2010 onwards show a slowdown of technological progress, and, because it is a key determinant of fertility costs, significant population growth. By 2100 global population reaches 12.4 billion and agricultural production doubles, but the land constraint does not bind because of capital investment and technological progress. |
| Keywords: | Global population; Technological progress; Economic growth; Agriculture; Environment; Malthusian constraints; Land conversion; Structural estimation |
| JEL: | O11 O13 J11 C53 C61 Q15 Q24 Q50 |
| Date: | 2016–05–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gii:giihei:heidwp04-2016&r=agr |
| By: | Meemken, Eva-Marie; Veettil, Prakashan Chellattan; Qaim, Matin |
| Abstract: | Farmers’ preferences for sustainability certification are analyzed, building on a choice experiment conducted with smallholder coffee growers in Uganda. Farmers have positive general attitudes towards certification. While they dislike bans of productivity-enhancing inputs, benefits associated with agricultural training and special female support are appreciated. Many also see requirements that have to be met for certification as a welcome nudge to invest in better farm management and quality upgrading. Gender-disaggregated data reveal that female farmers have a higher preference for sustainability certification than male farmers. Also within households, significant preference heterogeneity between males and females is found for some certification attributes. |
| Keywords: | Choice experiment, farmer preferences, food standards, gender, mixed logit models, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Security and Poverty, Q01, Q12, Q13, Q18, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235473&r=agr |
| By: | Jones, Jason P.H.; McCarl, Bruce A. |
| Abstract: | U.S. agricultural commodity prices have been volatile in recent years, attributed to many factors, including renewable fuel standard (RFS) mandates. While the RFS is legislatively able to be altered, the mandate largely required the same volume of corn for ethanol in the 2012 drought year as it would have if 2012 were a normal production year. This contributed to a surge in corn prices, having significant economic ramifications throughout the agricultural industry. An important question that arose from these events was if this variability was avoidable with a RFS relaxation policy? In this work, the economic effects of a policy that relaxes ethanol mandates in cases of major corn production shortfalls is investigated to determine the market relationships between RFS policy and commodity markets. This is done in a three step process. First the historical incidence of shortfalls is addressed by developing a stationary probability distribution of total and regional production using econometric procedures. Second, the short-run economic impact of RFS relaxation alternatives is investigated using an optimization modeling framework where crop mix and livestock breeding herds are held fixed. Third, the long-run implications of RFS relaxation are investigated by incorporating a stochastic optimization framework of ag-producer decisions with recourse. When a shortfall driven relaxation policy is in place, crop mix/livestock breeding decisions are able to adjust. The results show RFS relaxation has a significant impact on reducing price spikes and livestock production impacts due to reduced feeding costs when shortfalls occur. Although an ethanol waiver benefits consumers through decreased commodity prices, the reduction in producer welfare was found to be larger, resulting in an overall negative agricultural sector welfare impact. In the long-run, the RFS relaxation mitigates price spikes during production shortfall years but also stimulates a producer response of decreasing corn acreage due to lower expected prices. This caused corn prices in non-shortfall years to increase, resulting in a negligible impact on the average long-run corn prices, while reducing commodity price variability. The model findings demonstrated that risk reduction implications could exist from a production-dependent conventional ethanol waiver, with limited long-run changes to future expected prices. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236258&r=agr |
| By: | Avila-Santamaria, Jorge; Useche, Pilar |
| Abstract: | This study examines the intra-household bargaining its impact on the productivity of coffee and other crops functions and on the gender productivity gap, using household-level data from 615 farmers in Colombia and Ecuador. The OLS estimates and the Oaxaca-Blinder (O-B) decomposition method corroborate the hypothesis that given a gain bargaining power through the distribution factor “female participation in the intra-household decision-making” would exacerbate household productivity and the gender gap as long this bargaining is not balanced and wives do not obtain fair benefits from agricultural activities. The results also confirm that differences in observed factors between female and male-headed households are the main reason for the gender gap. |
| Keywords: | Gender Productivity Gap, Bargaining Power, Coffee Production, Collective Model., Consumer/Household Economics, Productivity Analysis, D13, J16, Q12, |
| Date: | 2016–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236156&r=agr |
| By: | Aiko Endo (Research Department, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature); Izumi Tsurita (Department of Cultural Anthropology, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo); Kimberly Burnett (University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, University of Hawaii at Manoa); Pedcris M. Orencio (Catholic Relief Service Philippines (Manila Office) Urban Disaster Risk Reduction Department) |
| Abstract: | 1. Study region Asia, Europe, Oceania, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa. 2. Study focus The purpose of this paper is to review and analyze the water, energy, and food nexus and regions of study, nexus keywords and stakeholders in order to understand the current state of nexus research. 3. New hydrological insights Through selected 37 projects, four types of nexus research were identified including water-food, water-energy-food, water-energy, and climate related. Among them, six projects (16%) had a close linkage with water-food, 11 (30%) with water-energy-food, 12 (32%) with water-energy, and eight (22%) with climate. The regions were divided into Asia, Europe, Oceania, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa. North America and Oceania had a tendency to focus on a specific nexus type, water-energy (46%) and climate (43%), while Africa had less focus on water-energy (7%). Regarding keywords, out of 37 nexus projects, 16 projects listed keywords in their articles. There were 84 keywords in total, which were categorized by the author team depending on its relevance to water, food, energy, climate, and combination of water-food-energy-climate, and 40 out of 84 keywords were linked with water and only 4 were linked with climate. As for stakeholders, 77 out of 137 organizations were related to research and only two organizations had a role in media. |
| Keywords: | nexus type; nexus region; nexus keywords; nexus stakeholders |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hae:wpaper:2016-7&r=agr |
| By: | Moon, Wanki; Pino, Gabriel; Asirvatham, Jebaraj |
| Abstract: | The extant explanations of agricultural protection centers around domestic factors such as interest group politics within countries. Relatively little research effort has been paid to factors relating to conflictual international relations. The paper considers the state as a major decision-making unit and inter-state relations as an additional force shaping agricultural protectionism. The paper pursues two objectives: (i) developing a theory concerning states’ behavior in terms of protecting their agricultural sectors from foreign competition and promoting domestic agriculture; and (ii) developing empirical models to test the theory. The theory highlights inter-state conflicts and competition as a fundamental force driving agricultural protection that would be designed to promote domestic agricultural production capacity that would fit each state’s economic, political, and ecological conditions. The empirical models testing the theory would shed light on the role of the state’s desire to promote national food security in explaining agricultural protectionism in developed and developing countries. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural protection, state-centered political economy, international political economy, national food security, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2016–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236118&r=agr |
| By: | McFadden, Brandon; Lusk, Jayson |
| Abstract: | In the debates surrounding biotechnology and genetically modified (GM) food, data from consumer polls are often presented as evidence for precaution and labeling. But, how much do consumers actually know about the issue? New data collected from a nationwide U.S. survey reveals low levels of knowledge and numerous misperceptions about GM food. Nearly equal numbers of consumers prefer mandatory labeling of foods containing DNA as do those preferring mandatory labeling of GM foods. When given the option, the majority of consumers prefer that decisions about GM food be taken out of their hands and be made by experts. After answering a list of questions testing objective knowledge of GM food, subjective, self-reported knowledge declines somewhat and beliefs about GM food safety increases slightly. Results suggest consumers think they know more than they actually do about GM food, and queries about GM facts cause respondents to re-assess how much they know. The findings question the usefulness of results from opinion polls as motivation for public policy surrounding GM food. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235325&r=agr |
| By: | Acharya, Ram |
| Abstract: | The primary objective of this study is to examine the impact of food insecurity on child stunting using household survey data from Tanzania. A recursive bivariate probit model is estimated to examine the relationship between food insecurity and stunting. The results show that while programs like income support and human capital formation through education can be effective in enhancing food security, more targeted programs to increase mother’s education and promote health, nutrition, and sanitary practices are likely to be effective in reducing the incidence of stunting in Tanzania. |
| Keywords: | Hunger, Food Insecurity, Stunting, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, D13, O15, I10, |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236080&r=agr |
| By: | Wang, Yangyang; Atallah, Shady; Shao, Guofan |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a spatially explicit analysis of the nutrient retention ecosystem service responses to changes in forest management in the White River Basin (WRB), Indiana. We use a modified version of the Integrated Valuation of Environmental Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) model and ArcGIS to simulate and value the magnitude of nutrient retention service, assess the prediction power of the InVEST water yield and nutrient retention model, estimate changes in the quantity and value of nutrient retention service with hypothetical increases in enrollment in a forest conservation program, the Classified Forest and Wildlands (CFW) Program, and rank candidate scenarios using a conservation return on investment (ROI) measure. The results suggest that the benefits from a single ecosystem service of nutrient retention can exceed the cost of the tax deductions for both forest conservation scenarios considered but not for the current CFW enrollment. In particular, expanding the CFW program in contaminated sub-watershed yields a higher ROI than expanding the CFW program along river forks. Consequently, substantial savings can be achieved by applying the ROI analysis to guide conservation policies, compared to prioritization merely on the quantity measures of nutrient retention service or compared to program expansion that is not spatially targeted. |
| Keywords: | Nutrient retention, Conservation ROI, Forest conservation, Environmental Economics and Policy, Financial Economics, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236154&r=agr |
| By: | Mignouna, D.B.; Abdoulaye, T.; Alene, A.; Akinola, A.A.; Manyong, V.M. |
| Abstract: | Participation in agricultural markets could be the main weapon against hunger to lift millions of poor farmers out of poverty traps. Unfortunately, most of the potential beneficiaries are constrained by several factors in their quest to participate in the yam market. This study, thus, clarified the underpinning drivers of market participation among small-scale farmers in yam belt of West Africa. Using a multistage random sample of 1400 households, the study tests the hypothesis that factors affecting farmers’ decision to participate are not necessarily the same as those affecting the extent of participation. Non-price constraints played a significant role in determining decisions on market participation. Policies that reduce transactions costs and induce farmers to commercialize could be critical alternatives to policies based on price to promote a marketed surplus and the commercialization of agriculture by yam farmers and thereby alleviate poverty. |
| Keywords: | Market participation, Double-Hurdle model, yam, Nigeria, Ghana., Farm Management, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:230219&r=agr |
| By: | Dsouza, Alwin; Mishra, Ashok. K. |
| Abstract: | Conservation agriculture (CA) has been promoted as sustainable agricultural system which can increase food production with economic use of resources and negligible impact on the environment. Given the well-established benefits of packaged technologies (defined as a collection of technologies/practices that fall under the three themes of CA), adoption as a package has not picked up in South Asia and Sub Saharan Africa. Surprisingly, various isolated components of CA technologies, such as zero tillage drill, land laser leveling, direct seeded rice have been popular in this region. However, considering just a single CA technology would be unjustifiable as this would under-estimate the actual complementary nature of various technologies/practices. Under “partial” adoption and abandonment of CA technologies/practices in Nepal, India and Bangladesh, we found that social networks played an influential role both in the adoption and abandonment decisions while involvement of spouses only influenced the adoption of CA technologies/practices. These factors were found to positively influence adoption and negatively influence abandonment of CA. Results also reveal that education, better quality of information, labor constraints increase adoption of CA technologies/practices. Whereas, land constraints, credit constraints and poor quality of information are more likely to push towards abandonment of CA technologies/practices. |
| Keywords: | Conservation agriculture, adoption, abandonment, spouses, social networks, South Asia, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235243&r=agr |
| By: | Krishna, Vijesh; Euler, Michael; Siregar, Hermanto; Qaim, Matin |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of oil palm expansion on smallholder livelihoods in Indonesia, using farm-household survey data. Treatment-effects and endogenous switching regression models suggest that smallholders benefit from oil palm adoption on average. Part of the benefit stems from the fact that oil palm requires less labour than rubber, the main alternative crop. This allows oil palm adopters to allocate more labour to off-farm activities and/or to expand their farmland. Households with a lower land-to-labour ratio are typically better-off with rubber. Depending on various social and institutional factors, households’ access to land, labour, and capital varies, contributing to impact heterogeneity. |
| Keywords: | social heterogeneity, welfare impact, transmigrant programme, Jambi Province, Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235218&r=agr |
| By: | Grant, Jason; Arita, Shawn |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2016–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236137&r=agr |
| By: | Amanda Barroso Lima (IPC-IG); Beatriz Abreu dos Santos (IPC-IG); Isadora Cardoso Vasconcelos (IPC-IG) |
| Abstract: | "In Brazil, smallholder farmers account for around 70 per cent of the food market for some crops. Family farming can contribute to reducing poverty and improving food security. Women are important actors in agriculture and rural development, accounting for 43 per cent of the total workforce in rural areas of developing countries (FAO 2015) and approximately 30 per cent of the total rural workforce in Brazil (IBGE 2006). Women spend an average of 372 hours per year on rural activities versus the 368 spent by men (FAO 2015)." (?) |
| Keywords: | challenges, perspectives, rural, women, Brazil, 2030 Agenda, Sustainable Development |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipc:opager:319&r=agr |
| By: | Mugabe, Douglas; Etienne, Xiaoli L. |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we estimate the efficiency of resource use for maize production among smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe. We collect a total of 176 questionnaires from Mazowe South district, consisting of both A1 (less than 10 hectares of land) and A2 (greater than 10 hectares of land) farms. Findings based on parametric Stochastic Frontier models show that smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe are not efficiently utilizing their available agricultural resources when producing maize. The average technical efficiencies are only 36.75% and 38.6% for A1 and A2 farms, respectively. About 60% of A1 and all A2 farmers have technical efficiency scores between 0.3 and 0.5. In the non-parametric analysis, however, we find a much higher technical efficiency for both types of farms, over 60% and 75% for A1 and A2 farms, respectively. Still, these numbers are lower than those found in other countries. Among other factors examined, attaining tertiary education and access to extension services by the head of the household can significantly improve production efficiency. |
| Keywords: | Resource Use Efficiency, Technical Efficiency, A1 and A2 smallholder farmer, Stochastic Frontier model, Inefficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis, Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235938&r=agr |
| By: | Liu, Min; Dries, Liesbeth; Heijman, Wim; Huang, Jikun; Deng, Xiangzheng |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the degree of divergences among different groups of stakeholders in allocation of the four types of rural land: cultivated, range, forest and other land, and the optimal allocation from the social perspective of balancing economic and ecological benefits. The preference of stakeholders stemming from stakeholders’ different ecological and economic interests on four types of rural land was quantified by the Analytic Hierarchy Process. Weights for stakeholders in the social welfare function were derived for three social-economic scenarios. Welfare economics was employed then to determine the ‘individual’ or ‘private’ optimal allocation of each stakeholder by maximizing its utility function, and social optimal allocation by maximizing the social welfare function. A county located in the eco-fragile areas of Northern China was taken as a case to present the empirical analysis. Our results provide policy insights on how to regulate the divergences and achieve an efficient allocation of rural land. |
| Keywords: | land tenure, private use, grassland condition, fixed effects, panel data, Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212052&r=agr |
| By: | Mahaffey, Harry; Taheripour, Farzad; Tyner, Wallace E. |
| Abstract: | The objective of this research is to assess the global economic and greenhouse gas emission impacts of GMO crops. This is done by modeling two counterfactual scenarios and evaluating them apart and in combination. The first scenario models the impact of a global GMO ban. The second scenario models the impact of increased GMO penetration. The focus is on the price and welfare impacts, and land use change greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with GMO technologies. Much of the prior work on the economic impacts of GMO technology has relied on a combination of partial equilibrium analysis and econometric techniques. However, Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) modelling is a way of analyzing economy-wide impacts that takes into account the linkages in the global economy. Though it has been used in the context of GMO crops, the focus has been on the effects of various trade policies and regulatory regimes. Here the goal is to contribute to the literature on the benefits of GMO technology by estimating the impacts on price, supply and welfare. Food price impacts range from an increase of 0.27% to 2.2%, depending on the region. Total welfare losses associated with loss of GMO technology total up to $9.75 billion. The loss of GMO traits as an intensification technology has not only economic impacts, but also environmental ones. The full environmental analysis of GMO is not undertaken here. Rather we model the land use change owing to the loss of GMO traits and calculate the associated increase in GHG emissions. We predict a substantial increase in GHG emissions if GMO technology is banned. |
| Keywords: | GMO Crops, Productivity, Computable General Equilibrium, Economic Impacts, Land Use Change, Land Use Emissions, Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235591&r=agr |
| By: | Heerman, Kari E.R.; Cooper, Joseph; Johansson, Robert; Worth, Thomas |
| Abstract: | Understanding how farmers respond to premium subsidies and other incentives to purchase crop insurance is fundamental to evaluating how changes in these incentives affect the use of federal crop insurance and thus the Federal savings that can be expected. We use contract-level data for corn enterprise units in 2008 and 2009 to examine how modifications to the out-of-pocket cost of crop insurance affect farmers’ insurance coverage level decisions and government expenditures. Unlike previous studies that have examined this question, we use a specialized discrete choice framework, an ordered generalized extreme value (OGEV) model. This approach explicitly accounts for the natural ordering of the choice set from low to high coverage. Our results suggest a significant difference in the response to changes in the unit price of federal crop insurance for farmers that are observed to choose a low coverage level versus those that are observed to choose a high coverage level. This has significant implications for the potential government cost savings and change in average farmer coverage level that can be expected from a change in the structure of premium subsidies. |
| Keywords: | crop insurance, premium subsidies, discrete choice, generalized extreme value, ordered alternatives, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Q18, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235967&r=agr |
| By: | Pates, Nicholas J.; Hendricks, Nathan P. |
| Abstract: | Voluntary incentive payments, also known green subsidies are a popular method to incentivize farmers into adopting environmentally friendly practices. The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) latest budget directs over 4.5 billion dollars toward programs like the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), and the Conservation Stewardship Program (CStP) and plans to have 380 million acres enrolled in these programs in 2016. The prominence of these programs mean both conservationists and taxpayers have a serious stake in their effectiveness. One concern with these programs is that they may provide little additional environmental benefits relative to what would have occurred in the absence of the program. This paper performs a discrete dynamic optimization simulation to study additionality in a dynamic environment. This allows us to directly study moral hazard as it relates to non-additionality and even delayed adoption from green payment programs. We show that larger programs do not necessarily generate more additionality and that especially poor policies can slow green practice diffusion. |
| Keywords: | additionality, diffusion, moral hazard, adverse selection, dynamic, policy, environmental, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236066&r=agr |
| By: | Okrent, Abigail; Sweitzer, Megan |
| Abstract: | This study examines the price responsiveness of individuals by body weight status in the United States by comparing demand estimates across BMI groups. We find differences in eating patterns of households that have an overweight and obese primary shopper with those of normal weight. We test whether body weight status modifies price sensitivity by estimating demand for food by these BMI groups using the almost ideal demand system. |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236251&r=agr |
| By: | Nehring, Richard; erickson, kenneth; harris, michael; Hallahan, Charlie; katchova, ani |
| Abstract: | This study uses stochastic production frontier (SPF) methods to estimate the impact of urban influence on the cost of production for traditional corn/soybeans farms in the Heartland (excepting Missouri), the Southern Seaboard (excepting Virginia and Alabama) and the Prairie Gateway. We hypothesize that urban influence decreases the technical efficiency of these farms. Although these regions are not entirely subject to urban influence, some parts of these areas are. We find that farmers in urban-influenced locations are less technically efficient than farmers in rural locations in all three regions examined. During 2002-2014, stochastic production frontier procedures indicate that increasing urban influence leads to a significant decrease in technical efficiency. Our statistical analysis clearly bears out the refrain in popular literature that urban proximity raises the cost for, and decreases the viability of, traditional farms. |
| Keywords: | input distance function, scale efficiency, stochastic production frontier, technical efficiency, urban-influence., Consumer/Household Economics, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235920&r=agr |
| By: | Adelaja, Adesoji |
| Abstract: | Several studies have examined the causes and consequences of major national security problems, especially terrorism, which has become a major challenge across the globe. Other studies have examined terrorists target behavior. While food security is widely accepted as an important element of national security, few studies, if any, have explored the nexus between both. By focusing on terrorism and using the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria as a case study, this paper explores three dimensions of the food-national security nexus. First, it presents a conceptual framework to explain food security as a root cause of terrorism. Second, it presents a conceptual and a theoretical framework for explaining why and how terrorists target agriculture and food security and presents empirical evidence to support a number of related hypotheses. Third, it presents yet another conceptual framework for explaining the consequences of terrorism and explores several effects on agriculture and food security. The paper concludes by presenting important reasons why the nexus between food security and national security should be more aptly investigated and discusses the benefits of such investigation. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Terrorism, Inclusive Growth, Root Causes, Food Security, Boko Haram, Nigeria., Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Development, Public Economics, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235909&r=agr |
| By: | Bazzani, Claudia; Gustavsen, Geir W.; Nayga, Rodolfo M. Jr.; Rickertsen, Kyrre |
| Abstract: | Food values in Europe and the US may influence each other and be influenced by similar external factors. While a number of studies have focused on comparing consumers’ preferences for specific food attributes in the US and different European countries, this is the first study that compares food values. We compare food values in the US and Norway by using the Best-Worst scaling approach. Identical surveys involving about 1000 respondents were conducted in each country. The surveys included a series of choice sets where respondents were asked to indicate which food value they considered as the most and the least important. The food values included in the choice sets were naturalness, taste, price, safety, convenience, nutrition, novelty, origin, fairness, appearance, environmental impact, and animal welfare. The results show many similarities in preferences. Safety and taste are ranked as the most important values and novelty as the least important value in both countries. However, US respondents considered price as more important than did the Norwegian respondents. |
| Keywords: | Food Values, Best Worst Scaling, Consumers’ Preferences, Discrete Choice Models, U.S., Norway, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2016–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235844&r=agr |
| By: | Liu, Wan Yu |
| Abstract: | Appropriate forest thinning is beneficial for growing forests and protecting ecological environments. To find a beneficial way for both economic and environmental aspects, carbon sequestration and emission due to forest thinning activities can be traded. However, previous works on forest planning did not consider forest thinning, nor carbon trading. Hence, this study proposes the spatial forest thinning planning problem with carbon trading, which decides forest thinning schedules over a planning period so that the total thinned timber volume over the period and the revenue from carbon trading are maximized, under some spatial constraints. This study creates a novel mathematical programming model. |
| Keywords: | Forest thinning, carbon trading, spatial forest planning, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–08–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235463&r=agr |
| By: | Mancino, Lisa; Ver Ploeg, Michele; Lin, Biing-Hwan; Joanne, Guthrie |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235647&r=agr |
| By: | PRADESHA, ANGGA; ROBINSON, SHERMAN |
| Keywords: | Climate Change, Adaptation Strategies, Food Policy, Computable General Equilibrium, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236029&r=agr |
| By: | Ifft, Jenny; Rajagopal, Deepak; Ryan, Weldzius |
| Keywords: | corn, ethanol refineries, biofuels, Renewable Fuel Standard, Conservation Reserve Program, agricultural land use, land use change, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Political Economy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q14, Q15, Q16, Q18, |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236178&r=agr |
| By: | Osei, Edward |
| Abstract: | The Upper Washita River basin in southwestern Oklahoma has been the subject of extensive research since the 1930s and is also a participating watershed in the long-term USDA Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) effort. Much of the research has focused on developing and testing computer models and tools to simulate the impacts of agricultural management practices on soil and water resources. While a substantial portion of these research efforts have focused on the environmental impacts of management practices, economic considerations are now receiving greater attention since funding agencies are better appreciating the link between farm economics and producer adoption of the conservation practices. This paper contributes to a better understanding of how resource conservation benefits of limited available funds can be maximized by optimal distribution of the practices based on publicly available spatial distributions of the biophysical attributes of agricultural lands. We specifically determine optimal conservation practice distributions for two sub-basins of the Upper Washita River basin: the Fort Cobb Reservoir Experimental Watershed (FCREW) and the Little Washita River Experimental Watershed (LWREW). |
| Keywords: | optimization, conservation practices, economics, no-till, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q15, Q34, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236013&r=agr |
| By: | Gerling, Michael; Lawson, Linda; Weaber, Jillayne; Dotts, Alan; Vardeman, Andrew; Wilson, Eric |
| Abstract: | The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) surveys farmers and ranchers across the United States and Puerto Rico in order to estimate crop production and number of livestock, to assess production practices, and to identify economic trends. The June Agricultural Survey (JAS) is an annual survey that provides information on U.S. crops, livestock, grain storage capacity, and number, type and size of farms. The JAS is comprised of two components, the List Survey and the Area Survey. The List Survey is comprised of agricultural operations known to NASS. The Area Survey is comprised of designated land areas known as segments and is utilized in measuring the incompleteness of the List. This study is focused on the Area portion, which will be abbreviated as JAS. The JAS sample is comprised of nearly 11,000 designated land areas known as segments. A typical segment is about one square mile -- equivalent to 640 acres. Each segment is outlined on an aerial photo (typically 2’ by 2’ in size) and provided to NASS’s field interviewers. Field interviewers visit these segments and identify the owners/operators of all land within the segment. Land is then categorized as agricultural or non-agricultural. For land where agricultural activity is occurring, a separate paper questionnaire is completed for each agricultural operation operating land within the segment. A team composed of staff from NASS and Iowa State University Center for Survey Statistics and Methodology developed a Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) instrument to conduct the JAS aerial imagery portion and collect field level information. Also, the team was tasked with testing field enumeration of grid segments (a new type of segment) that could make the JAS sample preparation process more efficient. The JAS-CAPI instrument was field tested in Pennsylvania, Indiana and Washington. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, CAPI, Data Collection, GIS, Area Frame Survey, Land Economics/Use, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:unasrr:234386&r=agr |
| By: | Pokharel, Krishna P; Featherstone, Allen M |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this research is to estimate product-specific and multiproduct economies of scale and economies of scope using a nonparametric data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach. Product-specific economies of scale exist for other product sales, but not for grain and farm inputs sales. Overall, multiproduct economies of scale and economies of scope exist. However, the median value of multiproduct scale economies are higher and greater than one for small cooperatives, which imply that cooperatives mergers likely to continue to exhaust the benefits from economies of scale. |
| Keywords: | Multiproduct, Product-specific, Scale, Scope, Economies, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236182&r=agr |
| By: | Lai, Wangyang |
| Abstract: | This paper provides the first quasi-experimental evidence that pesticides adversely affect health outcomes through drinking water by linking provincial pesticide usage reports from several Chinese statistical yearbooks (1998-2011) with the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (1998-2011). First, we follow a difference-in-difference-in-differences (DDD) framework to compare health outcomes between people who drink surface water and ground water in regions with high and low intensity of rice pesticide use before and after 2004, when China shifted from taxing agriculture to subsidizing agricultural programs. Second, we measure the downstream effect of pesticide use from upstream provinces. Our results indicate that a 10% increase in rice pesticide use unfavorably alters the index of dependence (ADL) by 2.51% and 0.33% for local and downstream residents (65 and older), respectively. This is equivalent to 168.8 and 55.89 million dollars in medical costs and offspring’s human capital losses, respectively (in total, 1.92% of rice production profits). Our results are robust to a variety of robustness checks and falsification tests. |
| Keywords: | Pesticide, Drinking Water, Public Health, Triple Difference Estimator, Medical and Human Capital Costs, China, Environmental Economics and Policy, Health Economics and Policy, Q1, Q5, I1, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235439&r=agr |
| By: | Smale, Melinda; Haider, Hamza; Theriault, Veronique |
| Abstract: | We contribute to the understanding of technology adoption decisions by complex farm households in the Sudano-Sahelian region of West Africa, where production is organized collectively under the leadership of a senior head who also allocates individual fields to members. Farm families span generations and encompass several nuclear households. We examine the nature of the linkage between fertilizer use decisions on collective and individual plots based on a conceptual model of intra-household bargaining that enables us to draw inferences about efficiency of input allocation. Although the share of individual maize plots receiving fertilizer is lower, use rates on maize tend to be higher than on collective fields. Adoption of fertilizer on a collective plot contributes to a 0.32 rise in adoption probability on an individual plot, but the converse is not true. The marginal effect of application rates on collective plots is positively associated with intensity of use on individual plots but of a magnitude consistent with inefficiency of resource allocation. Determinants of adoption differ between individual and collective fields, and between the decision to use fertilizer and the intensity of use. Findings have implications for the design of extension programs and policies to support agricultural intensification in the region. |
| Keywords: | fertilizer, adoption, gender, household farm, Burkina Faso, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, International Development, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235542&r=agr |
| By: | Tran, Van; Yiannaka, Amalia; Giannakas, Konstantinos |
| Abstract: | A survey instrument was developed to examine the factors that shape consumers’ risks and benefits perceptions and the effects of the provision of balanced information on consumers’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) for nano-based packaging that could improve food safety. We also examine and contrast the effect of loss and gain information framings and investigate whether the framing increased acceptance and WTP by emphasizing the enhanced attributes of nanotechnology or whether it produced, instead, anxiety that spilled over to nanotechnology. The empirical findings show that, even though consumers are willing to pay a premium for nanotechnology-based packaging that improves food safety, they discount such packaging when informed that nanotechnology is used to produce it. Preference for organic production practices, concern about foodborne bacteria, involvement with the issues outlined in the survey, work status, income, race, age, number of children, trust in the food industry and political affiliation all had a statistically significant impact on WTP. In addition, the study provides evidence of positive associations between consumers’ risk tolerance of food nanotechnology and the expected probability of buying a nanofood product as well as WTP for food nanotechnology innovations. Comparisons of consumers’ WTP for the use of nanotechnology in food packaging across information treatments reveal a statistically significant negative effect of the provision of additional information, albeit a balanced one, on consumers’ WTP. In addition, the provision of gain and loss framed information reinforces the effects of balanced information on consumers’ WTP for nano-food packaging that reduces food safety risks. However, the effect of information framings on consumers’ WTP when balanced information is also provided is not statistically significant. |
| Keywords: | Food nanotechnology, consumer perceptions, willingness-to-pay, information framings, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235918&r=agr |
| By: | Tran, Dat; Kurkalova, Lyubov |
| Abstract: | Recent agronomic and soil science research draws attention to the importance of continuous conservation tillage (CCT), as many environmental benefits of this conservation tillage are realized only when it is used continuously over a period of years. However, little is known about the dynamics of farmers’ tillage choices. To address the need for quantitative estimates of time patterns of tillage practices and the factors that affect the use of CCT, the paper to be presented develops and estimates a dynamic model of bundled tillage-crop choices for the state of Iowa. We develop a first-order, four-state Markov chain model of tillage-crop dynamics for corn and soybean production systems. We assume that matrixes of transition from one tillage-crop state to another could vary by county but remain stationary from 1992 to 1997, and use quadratic programming to estimate the transition matrix for each of the 99 counties in the state using county-average, year–and crop–specific tillage data from Conservation Technology Information Center for 1992-1997. Analysis of Variance of the estimated county-specific transition matrixes shows that CCT occurs more often on Highly Erodible Land (HEL) when compared to other cropland. Also, the county-average probabilities of rotational conservation tillage (RCT), i.e., the farming systems in which CT is rotated with conventional tillage systems, are higher in the counties that have higher proportion of HEL. In addition, we identified a significant effect of crop rotations on tillage dynamics: the cropland under corn monoculture is less likely to be in RCT when compared to land in corn-soybean rotation. The results of the study indicate that both natural conditions (soil erodibility) and other economic choices (crop rotations) affect farmers’ choices of CCT and RCT in Iowa. |
| Keywords: | Continuous conservation tillage, Highly Erodible Land, Quadratic programming, Markov chain model, Tillage-crop dynamics., Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q24, C35, Q15, |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235831&r=agr |
| By: | Zepeda, Lydia; Reznickova, Anna |
| Abstract: | We conducted 59 interviews at six sites across the US to assess the impact of mobile markets that had received Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) grants. We found that while mobile markets can be important outlets for producers and improve access to fresh produce for consumers, they are often costly to operate and dwarfed by the distribution of free produce by mobile food pantries operated by food banks. Several of the sites provide innovative partnerships that enhanced the sustainability of the mobile markets and complemented mobile pantries. The interviews highlight the need for coordinated efforts by non-profits and policy makers in addressing markets for producers, especially beginning or small producers, and access to healthy food by the food insecure. |
| Keywords: | mobile markets, local food, food access, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2016–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235892&r=agr |
| By: | Grashuis, Jasper; Cook, Michael |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a unique descriptive and empirical study of governance and performance in the U.S. agri-food industry with specific emphasis on the boards of directors of firms and cooperatives. Per the summary statistics, the average firm has more assets, more sales, and more profits, yet efficiency and profitability ratios indicate the average cooperative is superior. Using seven board and management characteristics, a three-stage least squares model is specified for two samples of 128 firms and 456 cooperatives in order to address the hypothesized endogenous nature of the governance-performance relationship. For the cooperative sample, the impact of board size on performance is estimated to be negative, while female directorship, director independence, and director ownership have a positive and significant causal relationship to various proxies of performance. Overall, in relation to financial performance, governance as proxied by board and management characteristics is concluded to be more impactful for the cooperative sample, which implies a significant difference between corporate and cooperative governance. |
| Keywords: | Governance, Agricultural Cooperative, Three Stage Least Squares, Comparative Study, Agribusiness, Industrial Organization, Q13, Q14, Q15, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235676&r=agr |
| By: | Gallardo, R. Karina; Yue, Chengyan; McCracken, Vicki; Luby, James; McFerson, James |
| Abstract: | WTP research is typically applied to consumer groups. Scant applied economics research has been done to elicit producers’ preferences and values for fruit quality, despite the important role producers play in the supply chain, as they take the financial risk to invest in a promising cultivar, making it accessible to the consumer in the marketplace through a sometimes complex supply chain. Our results show evidence that fresh market fruit producers are generally aligned with consumer preferences, as flavor and textural components were consistently given the highest WTP value among other fruit quality characteristics. However, market intermediaries (e.g., shippers, packers, marketers) do not exhibit the same preferences across all crops. The specific economic valuation placed by growers, market intermediaries, and consumers on individual attributes can now provide breeding programs more specific information to evaluate the fruit quality trait, and the targeted levels for that trait, within their programs. |
| Keywords: | WTP, consumers, producers, intermediaries, quality, fruit, Agribusiness, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Q13, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235548&r=agr |
| By: | Bizimana, Jean-Claude; Bessler, David A.; Angerer, Jay P. |
| Abstract: | Livestock rearing is an important risk reduction strategy for vulnerable communities in developing countries and a major provider of nutrients and traction for crop production. However there is a great concern for pastoral population in the arid and semi-arid zones of East Africa due to recurring drought. Drought leads to the decline in forage and water availability which in return deteriorates the overall livestock health and reduces livestock prices and revenues. This study analyzes the level of price interaction among livestock markets in Ethiopia and Kenya and the impact of the 2010-2011’s drought on cattle prices using time series analysis. The results on cattle price dynamics show limited interaction among cattle markets in both countries. The structural break analysis indicates the period around 2010-2011 as a predominant break date for the markets in Ethiopia and Kenya. A lack of market integration in addition to drought prevent cattle herders from using markets as a mitigating mechanism against drought, by selling livestock to destock during drought and buying livestock to restock after drought. In brief, a high level of livestock markets integration can lower the risk of losing animals during a drought. |
| Keywords: | livestock, drought, market integration vector auto-regression, directed acyclic graph, structural break, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:saea16:229991&r=agr |
| By: | Ho, Shuay-Tsyr; Qu, Mingyang; Rickard, Bradley; Costanigro, Marco; McLaughlin, Edward |
| Abstract: | The repeal of the Prohibition Act in 1933 introduced many state-specific regulations in alcohol markets. As one example of this, several states currently have laws that restrict specific alcoholic beverages in grocery stores, and some states have recently considered lifting these restrictions. Some opponents of such legislative changes claim that allowing alcohol to be more widely distributed would put smaller liquor stores out of business and eventually lead to a narrower set of product choices available to consumers. Here we use the Nielsen Homescan dataset that describes alcoholic beverage purchasing patterns for approximately 70,000 households between 2004 and 2012 to examine this issue empirically. Our results show that, even when controlling for preferences for variety, consumers in states that allow beer and wine sales in grocery stores have greater diversity in their purchases of beer and wine. Overall, the findings suggest that expanding the retail availability of beer and wine may actually increase the diversity of alcoholic beverage products purchased by consumers in those states. |
| Keywords: | Entropy Index, Grocery stores, Product diversity, Regulation, Wine, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, D12, K23, Q18, |
| Date: | 2016–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235913&r=agr |
| By: | Wang, Haoluan; Qiu, Feng |
| Abstract: | This article adopts a quantile regression model to assess the impacts of multiple drivers on agricultural land conversion. The key findings include that (1) the significance and magnitude of influences vary by the current conversion status; overall, drivers have larger effects in the higher quantile ranges (corresponding to areas that have experienced more extensive conversions); (2) Land suitability for agricultural uses is significant only in the mature cities and their surrounding areas; and (3) Road construction is a main determinant for farmland conversion. Results from this study contribute to a better understanding of the agricultural land conversion issue and have important implications for designing tailored policies for specific municipalities under different levels of conversion pressure and at different locations. |
| Keywords: | agricultural land conversion, quantile regression model, status-dependent analysis, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235526&r=agr |
| By: | Liverpool-Tasie, L. S. O.; Omonona, B.T.; Sanou, A.; Ogunleye, W. |
| Abstract: | Inorganic fertilizer use across sub Saharan Africa is generally considered to be low. Yet, the notion that fertilizer use is too low is predicated on the assumption that it is profitable to use rates higher than currently observed if indeed we consider rural farmers to be rationale expected profit maximizes. As a result of this assumption, the literature generally looks to other constraints to its adoption (financial market imperfections (credit/insurance/savings), knowledge, or lack of demand and thus the realization of economies of scale on the supply side (agro-dealer network), or lack of access to markets to sell the produce, but these all link again to profitability issues. Consequently this brief summarizes a study that focuses on the profitability of fertilizer use as a likely explanatory factor for observed fertilizer use rates in Nigeria. |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:midcpb:234949&r=agr |
| By: | Tadesse, Getaw; Bahiigwa, Godfrey |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of mobile phones on farmers’ marketing decisions (spatial arbitrage, buyer’s choice, frequency of selling, and size of transaction) and prices they receive based on household and village level information collected from rural Ethiopia. It explains the reason for the weak impact of mobile phones observed in this study as well as in previous studies in Africa. We argue that even though many farmers participate in information searching, the number of farmers who use mobile phones for information searching is very small. The reason for such low use of mobile phones for information searching seems lack of quality information that can be accessed through mobile phones. |
| Keywords: | mobile phones, agricultural marketing, producer prices, smallholder farmers, Ethiopia, Farm Management, International Development, Marketing, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212685&r=agr |
| By: | Loy, Jens-Peter; Glauben, Thomas |
| Abstract: | Many food products show a high level of vertical and horizontal product differentiation. Manufacturers may instrument product differentiation to limit competition and to increase price dispersion. In this paper, we estimate a panel error correction cost pass-through model for the German yoghurt market over a six year period (t = 312) to determine the impact of product differentiation on price competition between individual brands and varieties of yoghurt. We find that more differentiated products show higher markups, reduced equilibrium cost pass-through and lower speed of cost-price adjustments. The results indicate that manufacturers (and/or retailers) use product differentiation to limit price competition. |
| Keywords: | cost pass-through, product differentiation, yoghurt, Agribusiness, Demand and Price Analysis, Industrial Organization, D4, L11, R32, |
| Date: | 2016–07–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235400&r=agr |
| By: | Li, Xiaokang; Guo, Hongdong; Li, Lin |
| Abstract: | Contract farming in development countries has become popular, and this is the same for vegetable production in China. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of production attributes of different vegetables on farmers’ decision of contract farming participation, as well as examine the impact of marketing contracts on net returns. The results revealed that the harvest and marketing times, perishability, certification of the vegetables, and price fluctuation have significantly positive effect on vegetable farmers’ contract farming participation, respectively. A PSM method is employed to estimate the impact of contract farming on net returns of vegetable production, and find out the effect is insignificant. |
| Keywords: | contract farming, vegetable production, transaction cost, China, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235573&r=agr |
| By: | Alia, Didier; Yoko, Kusunose; Veronique, Theriault3 |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Land Economics/Use, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2016–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236169&r=agr |
| By: | Gallardo, R. Karina; McCluskey, Jill J.; Rickard, Bradley J.; Akhundjanov, Sherzod B. |
| Abstract: | This research is motivated by the sharp increase in the number of patented fruit varieties developed by breeding programs at public universities in the United States. Such varieties are licensed to growers as a way to generate revenue for universities through the use of fees and royalties. Although the use of fees and royalties for patents has been well discussed in the economic literature, there is very little empirical work that examines these questions for varietal innovations in agriculture. Horticultural variety innovations are particularly interesting as they typically involve a demand-enhancing innovation rather than a cost-inducing innovation, and because, in most cases, the new varieties are only intended to replace a small share of production dedicated to existing varieties. We found evidence that fixed-fees under an exclusive contract was the most profitable for growers. For the innovator, the most profitable scheme was the exclusive per-box royalty contract. Our findings on potential profits for both adopters and innovators signal that exclusive contracting would outperform the non-exclusive licensing schemes. Given that the innovations are occurring at land-grant universities and that the technology is largely being distributed to U.S. growers, further work might consider the net societal impacts of the various licensing strategies; this would extend our analysis to consider the economic effects from licensing for the innovator as well as the effects for producers. |
| Keywords: | intellectual property, apple varieties, university innovators, Demand and Price Analysis, Marketing, Q13, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235940&r=agr |
| By: | Silva, Felipe; Fulginiti, Lilyan; Perrin, Richard |
| Abstract: | Agriculture has led to deforestation in the northern states of Brazil during the last decades, generating a tradeoff between forest and agricultural commodities. In this study we estimate this tradeoff for the Brazilian Amazon region. To calculate the tradeoff, we use a directional distance function to estimate a production possibility frontier and the marginal rate of transformation between deforestation and agricultural activities. Using this information and market prices we calculate the shadow price of deforestation in terms of agricultural GDP foregone. Results indicate that, on average, US$ 129.48 in agricultural GDP has to be foregone to keep one hectare of virgin tropical forest. Marginal rates of transformation suggest a higher tradeoff between livestock and deforestation given the currently extensive production in the region. Also, we found that these rates vary across states due to the relevance of each agricultural activity for them, illustrating the heterogeneity of the region with respect to agricultural production. We also found an average perpetuity shadow price of a ton of CO2 emissions of US$4.16. A market-price equilibrium for tCO2 at this average price would lead to a reduction of at least 468 thousand hectares, around 43% of 2006 deforestation. |
| Keywords: | Amazon Forest, Agriculture, Deforestation, Trade-off., Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics, Q51, Q54, C61, |
| Date: | 2016–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235800&r=agr |
| By: | Russell, Levi A.; Langemeier, Michael R.; Ibendahl, Gregory A.; Biermacher, Jon T. |
| Keywords: | ethanol, downside risk, risk, Agricultural and Food Policy, Risk and Uncertainty, Q18, G31, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235789&r=agr |
| By: | Gundersen, Craig; Fan, Linlin; Baylis, Kathy; Dys, Theresa DelVecchio; Park, Timothy |
| Keywords: | food pantry, soup kitchen, low-income households, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236172&r=agr |
| By: | Ray, Mukesh; Maredia, Mywish; Shupp, Robert |
| Keywords: | International Development, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2016–05–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235731&r=agr |
| By: | Gottlieb, Paul D.; Lubeck, Meggan; Marxen, Lucas |
| Abstract: | This study looks for one unintended consequence of large-lot zoning: the possibility that it will increase the amount of land converted from rural land cover to suburban lawn, even as it reduces the number of homes that are built in a community. This is one definition of “urban sprawl.” Few zoning studies consider selection bias in the choice of the zoning treatment. When the dependent variable measures parcel development (0 or 1) or land cover change (% of land converted), controls for selection bias are even less common, because these models employ nonlinear link functions. The present study uses inverse propensity score weighting to control for selection bias across six zoning classes in a study of the percentage of land cover change in northwestern New Jersey from 1995 to 2002 |
| Keywords: | land use, land cover, zoning, rural preservation, urban sprawl, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q15, Q24, R14, R31, R38, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235358&r=agr |
| By: | Bozzola, Martina; Smale, Melinda; Di Falco, Salvatore |
| Abstract: | We explore how climate, climate risk and weather affect maize intensification among smallholders in Kenya. We find that each plays an important role in maize intensification choice. The economic implications of this choice are also analyzed. We find that the share of maize area planted to hybrid seeds contributes positively to expected crop income, without increasing exposure to income variability or downside risk. The promotion of maize hybrids is potentially a valuable adaptation strategy to support the well-being of smallholder farmers, especially if these prove tolerant to a wide range of conditions. |
| Keywords: | Climate Change, Maize, Smallholder farmer, Vulnerability, Kenya, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Food Security and Poverty, Productivity Analysis, Risk and Uncertainty, D81, O13, Q12, Q18, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235601&r=agr |
| By: | Maertens, Annemie; Michelson, Hope |
| Abstract: | We combine panel survey data with a randomized controlled trial conducted among 250 villages in Malawi to test the effectiveness of a standard agricultural extension service. The two main tools of the service are a mid-season farmer field day and farmer club managed demonstration plots. We find that farmers in villages who were invited to attend the farmer field days display an increased knowledge of Integrated Soil Fertility Management Practices and a higher probability of adoption (plans), with the majority of the effects concentrated among non-attendees. However, when combined with in-village demonstration plots, farmers who participate in the demonstration plots display a higher knowledge of what we refer to as “detailed” production knowledge, such as types of inputs, quantity of inputs, and increased likelihood of planning to adopt these. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural technology adoption, ISFM, learning, demonstration plots, farmer field days, Farm Management, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235475&r=agr |
| By: | Gammans, Matthew; Mérel, Pierre; Oriz-Bobea, Ariel |
| Abstract: | Climate change is predicted to reduce crop productivity in several world regions. A growing literature has examined climate change impacts on crop yields by statistically estimating the historical relationship between weather variables and yield and projecting it into predicted future climate. We estimate a flexible statistical model using panel data from France over the period 1950-2014 to investigate the impacts of climate change on winter wheat, winter barley, and spring barley yields. For winter crops, our model captures the differential impacts of weather on yield growth over cold (fall-winter) and warm (spring-summer) seasons. Temperatures above 33 °C during the warm season appear harmful to all three crops. For winter crops, cold-season temperatures have a negligible effect on crop growth. Cereal yields are predicted to decline due to climate change under a wide range of climate models and emissions scenarios. Impacts are almost exclusively driven by increased heat exposure during the warm season. Under the most rapid warming scenario (RCP8.5) and holding growing areas constant, our model ensemble predicts a 16% decline in winter wheat yield, a 20% decline in winter barley yield, and a 42% decline in spring barley yield by the end of the century. Under this scenario, uncertainty stemming from climate model projections clearly dominates that stemming from the historically estimated climate-yield relationship. A comparison of our results with those from a recent study for Kansas wheat points to the critical role of local climatology on the marginal yield response to extreme temperature exposure. |
| Keywords: | climate change, agriculture, wheat, barley, yield, Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235570&r=agr |
| By: | He, Xi; Lopez, Rigoberto |
| Abstract: | Based on a model that incorporates brand entry deterrence through advertising and pricing strategies, this paper investigates whether firms’ advertising and pricing policies deviate from their short-run profit maximization strategies and how advertising and pricing entry deterrence strategies vary with market conditions. We estimate the advertising and pricing response of incumbents to entrants in four food industries: beer, carbonated soft drinks, ready-to-eat cereal and yogurt, and find that incumbents deviate significantly from profit maximization advertising and pricing policies. There is a U-shaped relationship between the potential market share of an entrant and incumbents’ pricing but an inverse U-shape with respect to advertising level. This means that incumbents are more likely to price higher and advertise less to deter entry when potential entrants are more competitive in terms of potential market share. Empirically, we show this to be the case in the four food industries studied. |
| Keywords: | Incumbents, entrants, food industries, advertising and pricing, Industrial Organization, Marketing, L11, L21, M37, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235436&r=agr |
| By: | Pambo, Kennedy Otieno; Otieno, David Jakinda; Okello, Julius Juma |
| Abstract: | Paper prepared for presentation at the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA) 24th annual world symposium to be held in Cape Town, South Africa, 16-17 June, 2014 |
| Keywords: | Fortification, vitamin-A, consumer awareness, binary logit, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:miscpa:173483&r=agr |
| By: | Steele, Marie; Weatherspoon, Dave |
| Abstract: | Fruits and vegetables are essential for a healthy diet. An ideal diet not only includes a variety of fruits and vegetables but also a variety of colors of fruits and vegetables because the different colors provide unique vitamins, minerals and protective plant compounds associated with different health benefits. Previous research that explores fruit and vegetable demand either focus on individual fruits and vegetables or aggregate all fruits and aggregate all vegetables. When analysis is conducted in either manner the importance of the color variety is ignored. The objective of this study was to explore the demand for fruit and vegetable colors of low income consumers in a primarily Hispanic neighborhood. This study used the Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System approach and found all color own price elasticities were negative and all color expenditure elasticities were positive, as expected. The consumers were most price responsive to the yellow/orange fruits and to the white vegetables. Results show that if these consumers had more fruit and vegetable expenditure it would be spent mostly on the red/blue/purple colored fruits and vegetables and least on the white colored. The results also show that consumers view the different colors as substitutes, when ideally they should be viewed as complements. Policies should emphasize and promote variety of colors in attempt to change this view. Supermarkets could also help in the effort by organizing the produce departments by color. |
| Keywords: | fruit and vegetable colors, quaids, low income, Hispanic, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235912&r=agr |
| By: | Zhao, Yuanfeng; Zhang, Xuguang |
| Abstract: | A major problem facing dairy farmers is production risk, and dairy cattle insurance is one alternative for reducing this risk. The primary objective of this paper is to test the effects of dairy cattle insurance on farmers’ anti-risk inputs. Based on the survey data of dairy farmers in 2015, this paper selects the main area of dairy farming in China-the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as the study area, using treatment-effects model for empirical test and analysis. The findings indicates that the existing dairy cattle insurance policies in China do not have a significant effect on farmers’ anti-risk inputs. Due to the low insurance payments and the narrow insurance coverage for the death of dairy cattle, the farmers who participate in dairy cattle insurance, will not weaken their health management measures for dairy cattle, and they do not have negative anti-risk behaviors in the process of dairy production. |
| Keywords: | Dairy farming, Dairy cattle insurance, Anti-risk inputs, Moral hazard, Agricultural Finance, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236231&r=agr |
| By: | Harris, J. Michael; Mishra, Ashok K. |
| Abstract: | Using the 2013 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) and 2014 TOTAL survey data we find that nearly 30 percent of U.S. farm businesses have a succession plan and forty percent of the designated successors are family members. Twenty-one percent of ARMS farms indicate they will retire in 5 years and 38 percent of these farm businesses plan to turn over management and operation of their farm business but retain some ownership. Only 19 percent will sell and 15 percent will rent. The TOTAL survey also indicates that 36 percent of farms planning to retire in 5 years have succession plans and 30 percent will be sold to relatives and 58 percent is planned to be transferred by some form of legal transfer. |
| Keywords: | farm transition, farm succession, ARMS, TOTAL, farmland transfer, Agricultural Finance, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Financial Economics, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235954&r=agr |
| By: | Bonanno, Alessandro; Countryman, Amanda; Hadrich, Joleen |
| Abstract: | In December 2015 the US Congress repealed the Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) requirement for some agricultural commodities to avoid potential retaliatory tariffs from Canada and Mexico that were authorized by the WTO. In this analysis we simulate and compare the potential welfare effects that such tariffs could have had on two sectors that were likely to be affected by them (dairy and beef) vis-à-vis a scenario where COOL was maintained, using a modified Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model and a sector specific- disaggregated database. |
| Keywords: | Country of Origin Labeling, Agricultural Trade, Beef, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236020&r=agr |
| By: | Ofori, Eric; Osei-Asare, Yaw |
| Abstract: | Agribusinesses are an essential part of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) economies. Skilled human resource is however required for the creation and sustainable growth of these agribusinesses. This study uses data collected from final year agricultural students of the University of Ghana to analyze the likelihood of agricultural students venturing into self-employed agribusinesses. We also look into the factors that influence this likelihood as well as the forms of agribusinesses that students are likely to venture into. We find that, there is 84 percent probability that an agricultural student would venture into an agribusiness. The probability that an agricultural student would venture into an agribusiness is higher for male students. Also, the probability that a student would venture into an agribusiness is higher for students who perceive agribusinesses to be prestigious and profitable. We find that students are more likely to venture into forms of agribusinesses related to subjects in which they receive the highest levels of training. This study is important for informing educational policy decisions as well as ways to incentivize more agricultural students to venture into sustainable agribusinesses. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, venture, sustainable, policies, likelihood, economy, Agribusiness, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235999&r=agr |
| By: | Larson, Ronald B. |
| Abstract: | Many food retailers offer private-label products because of the strategic benefits they provide. Growing private-label sales could be advantageous for both retailers and private-label manufacturers. Conventional wisdom leads us to believe it would be ineffective to use traditional market segmentation and targeting to grow private-label sales because socio-demographics are not strongly linked with private-label attitudes or purchases. However, many studies found that perceived risks are associated with private-label attitudes and purchases. This study uses a survey to identify individuals who perceive there to be significant risks with private-label purchases or use. The profile of these private-label avoiders could provide retailers and private-label manufacturers with segmentation and targeting information and help them grow their businesses. |
| Keywords: | Private Label, Store Brand, Perceived Risk, Retail Marketing, Consumer Survey, Agribusiness, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Industrial Organization, Marketing, L25, M30, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235823&r=agr |
| By: | Li, Haoyang; Zhao, Jinhua |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study the role of water rights in limiting the rebound effects of LEPA irrigation in the High Plains Aquifer region of Kansas, and farmer incentives to preserve their water rights. We find that the rebound effect is moderated by water rights and is high only when a well has large water rights, and limiting water rights raises farmer incentives to adopt LEPA. Reducing water rights thus can limit the undesirable rebound effects of new technologies without hurting incentives to adopt them. A significant portion of the effects of LEPA in raising water uses is through farmers switching to more water intensive crops such as corn and soybean, and through farmers raising their irrigated acreages after the adoption of LEPA. We also find that farmers have incentive to preserve water rights even when irrigation is not needed in the current period. The incentive is the highest if the farmer expects to use a large volume of water to irrigate, and is the lowest if the farmer expects not to use any water at all in the next period. |
| Keywords: | rebound effect, LEPA, water rights, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q15, Q25, |
| Date: | 2016–08–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235966&r=agr |
| By: | Ge, Houtian; Goetz, Stephan |
| Abstract: | While demand for locally produced food has increased sharply in recent years, interest in supporting local food systems is rising among Federal, State, and local policymakers. This study explores the idea of endogenous hub location on the fresh produce value chains. To overcome limitations in the literature, we integrate the effect of economies of scale and production seasonality into our models. Three experimental models are designed to assess effect of the application of yearly, seasonal and monthly data on model solutions. We then make explicit comparisons between solutions of models. Although solved using the same method, the three models generate varying solutions and in many respects they lead to different conclusions. |
| Keywords: | fresh produce value chain, hub location, economies of scale, seasonal data, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2016–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235826&r=agr |
| By: | Peterson, Everett; Grant, Jason; Sydow, Sharon |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2016–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236143&r=agr |
| By: | Kym Anderson; Joseph Francois; Douglas Nelson; Glyn Wittwer |
| Abstract: | This paper overviews the current structure and dynamics of international trade in wine with an emphasis on its intra-industry features. Using network analytic methods, we illustrate developments in the world’s wine markets since the mid-1960s around a relatively stable core of countries. Those developments include both evolving demands for wine and, on the supply side, a rapidly emerging group of countries entering the core without displacing the original members. Not surprisingly, given that the analysis is based on bilateral trade in a single product, the developing patterns of intra-industry trade are quite consistent with the patterns revealed in the network analysis. |
| Keywords: | International intra-industry trade, wine trade, network methods |
| JEL: | F1 L7 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pas:papers:2016-06&r=agr |
| By: | McLaughlin, Patrick; Dicken, Christopher |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Industrial Organization, |
| Date: | 2016–05–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236077&r=agr |
| By: | Fan, Linlin |
| Keywords: | discrete choice model, food deserts, spaital competition, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Industrial Organization, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236162&r=agr |
| By: | Bolotova, Yuliya V. |
| Abstract: | The private Exchange spot cheese market has historically performed a primary price-discovery function in the U.S. cheese industry. Since 1997 the spot cheese trade takes place at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). The Exchange spot cheese prices have been used as reference prices in cheese contracts used to transact the vast majority of cheese produced in the country. Furthermore, the Exchange spot cheese prices have been influencing prices paid for milk used in cheese manufacturing within the system of Federal Milk Marketing Orders (FMMOs). The objective of this research is to analyze the conduct and performance of the Exchange spot cheese market during three FMMOs milk pricing regimes (1983-2015). First, the patterns of trading activities (actual sales, unfilled bids and uncovered offers) and the behavior of spot cheddar cheese prices are analyzed. Second, to evaluate the role of the Exchange spot cheese market in the entire U.S. cheese industry, the performance of the natural cheddar cheese industry segment is evaluated by analyzing changes in milk price, wholesale cheddar cheese price, retail price of natural cheddar cheese and associated margins over time. |
| Keywords: | cheese pricing, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, spot cheese market, milk pricing, public pricing system, thin market., Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Industrial Organization, Marketing, L1, L2, L5, L6, Q11, Q13, Q18., |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235529&r=agr |
| By: | Cruz, Jose Cesar Jr.; Silveira, Rodrigo L. F.; Capitani, Daniel H. D.; Urso, Fabiana S. P.; Martines, Joao G. Filho |
| Abstract: | This study aims to examine if the most recent changes in the Brazilian corn and soybean production have caused significant changes in prices and volatility transmission between Brazilian and U.S. markets. In addition to using econometric time-series methods tests to analyze price transmission among grain and oilseeds markets, we investigated the volatility spillover across U.S. and Brazil markets using causality in variance tests. Since structural break tests indicated the presence of one breakpoint, the sample was split in two periods: 1996-2006 and 2007-2014. Results suggest that the level of market integration has increased during the second period (2007-2014) with higher sensibility to price changes compared to the first period (1996-2006). |
| Keywords: | corn, soybeans, price, volatility, Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance, Demand and Price Analysis, Financial Economics, Q02, Q10, Q13, Q14, C32, |
| Date: | 2016–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236127&r=agr |
| By: | Pozo, Veronica F.; Bejan, Vladimir; Tejeda, Hernan |
| Keywords: | Livestock Mandatory Price Reporting Act, Live Cattle market, Supply Elasticity, Demand Elasticity, Sign Restrictions, Demand and Price Analysis, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236234&r=agr |
| By: | Pham, Matthew; Roe, Brian |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235706&r=agr |
| By: | Kadjo, Didier; Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob; Tahirou, Abdoulaye; BACO, Nasser |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Health Economics and Policy, International Development, Marketing, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2016–05–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235703&r=agr |