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on Agricultural Economics |
|
Issue of 2016‒06‒18
ninety papers chosen by |
| By: | Seidel, Valerie; Yacobellis, Paul; Fountain, John |
| Abstract: | Water resource managers must consider supply constraints, planning horizons, climatic trends and competing uses to understand where water will be needed most in the future. Agricultural water demand is an important consideration, with Australian agriculture consuming 10,730,000 ML of water in 2014. While models exist to predict water use for individual farms, predicting future agricultural water use in Australia at the state or national level is more challenging. The Balmoral Group developed a model to predict agricultural water demand for the entire state of Florida, USA as part of the Florida Statewide Agricultural Irrigation Demand (FSAID) project. Balmoral prepared a Statewide, property-level geodatabase of irrigated agricultural lands using aerial imagery, permit information, and computation of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. Water applied for irrigation was estimated using an econometric model based on the water use of 3,200 farms over three years, and the demand for irrigation water for a range of biophysical and economic factors relevant to each farm. The coefficients in the model were used to populate water use for the remaining farms across the State using spatially specific, farm-level data. Special situation water-uses such as frost protection, fertigation and crop establishment water for annuals were evaluated before preparing agricultural acreage projections and associated water requirements. Future projections of irrigated area and water use were estimated using auto-regressive forecasts of landuse change and net crop prices. A similar approach could be applied here in Australia to help plan for and manage the future demand for agricultural water. |
| Keywords: | GIS, Modelling, Water, Agriculture, Water use, Land use, Demand, Forecasts, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235305&r=agr |
| By: | Brian, Kuns; Visser, Oane |
| Abstract: | A significant post-Soviet agricultural trend is the rise of super-large scale agroholdings. The emergence of these farming companies has occasioned a debate on whether such farms are economically and socially optimal: are they are more efficient than smaller scale farms, and are they squeezing out smaller producers from the market? In this debate, 'agroholding' is used as a blanket term covering a diversity of different types of farms. This was adequate when this trend was first emerging, but now it is increasingly inadequate to describe the many different types of farms with different orientations that are developing. With the purpose of better defining different kinds of large-scale farms in the former Soviet Union, we propose in this research to develop a critical and empirically grounded typology of different farm companies, differentiating farms according to degree and kind of integration (horizontal or vertical), main orientation (primary crop production or food processing), and origin of capital (foreign, local, stock market, private equity). These distinctions will help to distinguish more successful business models from less successful, provide greater understanding of recent trends in the agricultural sector in the region, and help understand the future role such farm organizations might have in food production. |
| Keywords: | Agroholdings, Russia, Ukraine, Corporate Governance, Large-scale Farming, Financialization, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Q100 Agriculture: General, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236326&r=agr |
| By: | Blandford, David; Gaasland, Ivar; Vardal, Erling |
| Abstract: | We examine how to achieve Norway’s commitment for a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the 2015 UN climate change agreement in the agricultural sector. Norway also aims to ensure food security, defined in terms of a target level of calorie availability from domestic food production. Imposing the GHG reduction commitment considerably reduces the policy space, but can be achieved by shifting by shifting production away from ruminant products to vegetable products. Using a detailed sectoral model of Norwegian agriculture we examine the use of a carbon tax to achieve the required GHG reduction. Differentiating between lower emission dairy products and high emission red meat (beef and sheepmeat) we show that the GHG and food security targets can be achieved while substantially maintaining dairy farming – which is a core activity in Norway’s rural areas. The imposition of a carbon tax in agriculture may pose technical and political challenges. We demonstrate that by rebalancing existing domestic support policies, in particular, reducing the subsidies provided to ruminant meat production we can achieve an outcome that is broadly similar to the carbon tax. |
| Keywords: | UN climate agreement, greenhouse gas mitigation, economic model, Norway, ruminants, taxes, subsidies, Environmental Economics and Policy, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q15, Q18, Q54, Q58, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236330&r=agr |
| By: | Vigani, Mauro; Kathage, Jonas |
| Abstract: | Wheat is a key staple crop for global food security, but its production is strongly concentrated in a few regions, among which the EU is the first producer. EU farmers are struggling to keep high productivity levels due to global market and climate challenges. Risk management practices (RMP) are often advocated as viable tools to cope against these uncertainties, but their adoption can also subtract resources to the production activity, resulting in a controversial impact on the overall farm productivity. This paper analysis whether and how much four RMP contribute to wheat farming efficiency in France and Hungary using i) a stochastic frontier model to obtain a measure of farms efficiency; ii) an endogenous switching regression model to quantify the RMP impact. Results show that RMP can benefit farm efficiency, but not all the RMP have the same effect. While insurance, diversification and contract farming can positively affect farm efficiency, cultivating different varieties can reduce farm efficiency of about 10% depending on the production conditions. |
| Keywords: | risk management, wheat, productivity, stochastic frontier, endogenous switching regression, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty, J43, G22, G32, Q12, Q18, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236352&r=agr |
| By: | Nomoto, Takaaki |
| Abstract: | The present and emerging climate change highlights the need to understand the impact of weather shocks on the economy in the context of macroeconomic dynamism. In this regard, the present paper develops an empirical framework applicable to macro-data such as GDP to distinguish the impact of weather shocks on agricultural production, the indirect impact on non-agricultural production through its impact on agriculture, and the direct impact on non-agricultural production. For policymakers, distinguishing the direct and indirect impact on non-agriculture is critical in deciding the proper and efficient allocation of limited resources to adaptation and mitigation efforts. The present paper applies the developed framework to assess the impact of rainfall variability on India’s macroeconomic performance during 1952 to 2013 as a case study, finding that rainfall’s impact on non-agriculture is mostly rooted in its impact on agriculture. In this way, the paper contributes to the growing climate-economy literature. |
| Keywords: | Business cycle, Environment and Development, Monsoon, Agriculture, Kalman filter |
| JEL: | E32 O11 O53 Q54 Q56 |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:71976&r=agr |
| By: | Takahashi, Taro; Maruya, Kaori; Nakajima, Toru |
| Abstract: | With the farming population aging across the developed world, securing a new generation of agricultural producers is an important step towards overcoming global food problems. The vast majority of the existing literature on new entry to agriculture base their analysis on data obtained from existing farms and farmers, an approach not necessarily adequate because the people who actually make decisions about entry are non-farmers. In this paper, we report the results of a large-scale choice experiment conducted in Japan to investigate the willingness of the country’s non-farming population to enter the agricultural industry. The results of a random parameter logit estimation showed that, in the absence of farmland, technical support and guaranteed sales, the agricultural income required to induce entry of an average Japanese person is approximately ¥22.0M (£121,000), a level well above their present income of ¥5.4M (£29,700); however, when all three services are provided, this value drastically lowers to ¥4.6M (£25,300). In addition, a ¥1M (£5,500) increase in agricultural income raises a person’s likelihood to enter the industry by 1.6 percentage points. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to quantitatively investigate non-farmers’ willingness to enter the agricultural industry. |
| Keywords: | Choice experiment, new entry, random parameter model, structural change, Agricultural and Food Policy, J43, Q13, Q18, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236368&r=agr |
| By: | Daniel Ayalew Mekonnen; Nicolas Gerber |
| Abstract: | Despite some improvements in recent years, poverty and food insecurity remain widespread and the main challenges in Ethiopia. Using individual and household level data collected in rural Ethiopia, we examine if aspirations are strongly associated with well-being outcomes, as posited in the aspirations failure framework articulated by Ray (2006) and others. We employ both bivariate and multivariate analyses. We find that aspirations (particularly that of the household head) are indeed strongly associated with the household per-capita income and expenditure and with various triangulating measures of household food (in)security including per-capita calorie consumption, the food consumption score (FCS), the household dietary diversity score (HDDS), and the household food insecurity access scale (HFIAS). Contrary to a few other studies, we also find strong evidence that, in rural Ethiopia, aspirations are positively associated with satisfaction in life and/or happiness. Findings in this study provide suggestive evidence that policies aimed at improving well-being outcomes might benefit from multiple effects (both direct and indirect) if they incorporate aspirations raising strategies. |
| JEL: | D1 O1 Q1 Q12 Q16 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fsc:fspubl:51&r=agr |
| By: | Lynch, John; Donnellan, Trevor; Hanrahan, Kevin |
| Abstract: | The UK and Ireland both have large greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets under the EU Effort Sharing Decision (ESD). The ESD covers non-emission trading sector (Non-ETS) emissions, of which agriculture is an important component, representing 44% of the non-ETS emissions for Ireland. In the UK this figure is lower, at 16%, but the composition varies significantly between the constituent countries. Though the reductions targets and means of achieving them differ, reductions in agricultural emissions will be necessary for both the UK and Ireland, and on-going negotiations setting reductions targets for 2030 are likely to result in even stricter limits for emissions from the non ETS sector. This paper examines the implications of achievement of possible 2020 and 2030 GHG reductions targets in the agriculture sector for the UK and Ireland. The paper considers the achievability of the reduction targets based on technical means alone, suggesting that under current carbon budgets the UK aims to make sufficient agricultural emissions reductions, while Ireland will require a reduction in agricultural activity or alternative policy interventions. The implications for food production in the UK and Ireland and associated trade are then assessed. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, agricultural production, agricultural trade, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q100 Agriculture: General, Q54 Global Warming, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236370&r=agr |
| By: | Le Coënt, Philippe; Preget, Raphaele; Thoyer, Sophie |
| Abstract: | In the economic literature on the motivations underlying voluntary contributions to environmental public goods, little attention is granted to the way the overall objective of the environmental program is framed. A program which contributes to an increase of environmental quality can be perceived differently from a program designed to bring back the environmental quality to its original level, after it was damaged by human intervention, even if net environmental gain is equivalent in both programs. How does it impact participation rates and contribution levels? This paper addresses this issue in the context of agri-environmental contracts for biodiversity conservation. It compares farmers’ willingness to participate in two equivalent agri-environmental schemes, one being framed as part of a biodiversity offset program, the other one as a biodiversity conservation program. We demonstrate with a discrete choice experiment that biodiversity –offsets programs must offer a greater payment to enroll farmers compared to the latter. This is explained by the sensitivity of farmers to environmental issues. |
| Keywords: | biodiversity offsets, agri-environmental contrcts, choice experiments, behaviour, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q15, Q18, Q57, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236365&r=agr |
| By: | Kyureghian, Gayaneh; Soler, Louis-Georges |
| Abstract: | Over the next few decades, the share of the elderly population in France (i.e., aged 65 and older) will increase steadily. There is concern that upon retirement aging people cannot maintain the pre-retirement level of consumption, giving rise to nutrition and health deprivation, even food insecurity. Compounded by the increasing proportion of the aging population, this can quickly become a public health threat. Although there is empirical evidence that the expenditure for durables decreases as households age, there does not seem to be any evidence whether the quantity, quality or the structure of food baskets change in France. The objective of this research is to investigate this issue. In particular, we establish that aging households pay effectively lower prices through changing shopping tactics, leaving the food quantities practically uncompromised. |
| Keywords: | Aging, Life cycle consumption, Home production function, Food Demand, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, D12, D91, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236785&r=agr |
| By: | Ohajianya, D. O.; Asiabaka, C. C. |
| Abstract: | This study analyzed farmland value systems and productivity of cassava in ecologically vulnerable areas of Imo State, Nigeria. The study estimated productivity of farmland systems and factors affecting them, and farmland suitability. Data were collected with questionnaire from 360 randomly selected cassava farmers and analyzed using descriptive statistics, suitability model, productivity model, and multiple regression techniques. Farmland suitability index ranges from 0.107 to 0.712 with a mean of 0.493. Majority (62.4%) of the cassava farmers cultivate on non-suitable farmlands, 33.7% of them cultivate on marginally suitable farmlands, while 3.9% of them cultivate on suitable farmlands. Productivity of farmland were 1.38, 2.00 and 3.16 for non-suitable, marginally suitable and suitable value systems respectively, indicating that marginally suitable and suitable farmlands were higher in productivity than non-suitable farmlands. Land rent, quantity of fertilizer, and household size have significant and negative effect on non-suitable farmland productivity. Farm size, land rent, fertilizer applied, education and extension have significant effect on marginally suitable farmlands productivity. Farm size, fertilizer, farming experience and household size significantly affect suitable farmland productivity. Farmers cultivating suitable farmlands should increase their cassava output and improve their farm income through allocation of more production resources to cassava production in an optimal manner. |
| Keywords: | Farmland, Suitability, Productivity, Ecologically Vulnerable, Cassava, Farmers, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Agricultural Economics, Q1, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236332&r=agr |
| By: | Danzer, Alexander M. (Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt); Grundke, Robert (University of Munich) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the economic fortunes of coerced vs. free workers in a global supply chain. To identify the differential treatment of otherwise similar workers we resort to a unique exogenous labor demand shock that affects wages in voluntary and involuntary labor relations differently. We identify the wage pass-through by capitalizing on Tajikistan's geographic variation in the suitability for cotton production combined with a surge in the world market price of cotton in 2010/11 in two types of firms: randomly privatized small farms and not yet privatized parastatal farms, the latter of which command political capital to coerce workers. The expansion in land attributed to cotton production led to increases in labor demand and wages for cotton pickers; however, the price hike benefits only workers on entrepreneurial private farms, whereas coerced workers of parastatal enterprises miss out. The results provide evidence for the political economy of labor coercion and for the dependence of the economic lives of many poor on the competitive structure of local labor markets. |
| Keywords: | coerced labor, export price, price pass-through, cotton, wage, local labor market, Tajikistan |
| JEL: | J47 J43 F16 O13 Q12 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9971&r=agr |
| By: | Michler, Jeffrey; Shively, Gerald |
| Abstract: | We pose the simple question: how large of a role does the weather play in determining variability of agricultural production in India? Despite the long standing interest in agricultural economics of estimating the effect of weather on crop output, few quantitative measures of impact exist. We use a long panel of parcel level data from six villages in India that covers $44$ seasons from 1976 to 2011. Estimation the impact of weather variability on yield is complicated by the role of technological change over this period. In our descriptive analysis we generate several stylized facts about how agricultural production in the subcontinent has changed over the last $40$ years. Most importantly, mean yields have increased and the variance in crop production, measured relative to the mean, has decreased. In a regression context, using a multilevel model, we find strong evidence of technical change and that weather variability makes up only a small share of total variability in yield. We conclude that Green Revolution technologies have reduced the amount of weather related risk faced by farmers, even when we account for greater amounts of variation in weather due to climate change |
| Keywords: | Weather Risk, Agricultural Production, Technical Change, Multilevel Models, Rural India, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, International Development, Production Economics, Risk and Uncertainty, C11, D81, O12, O13, Q16, Q12, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236342&r=agr |
| By: | Potts, Jason |
| Abstract: | Agriculture is often represented as a case study in perfect competition, with a large number of small price-taking producers choosing an optimal input mix from a simple production function to maximize profits. Entrepreneurship and innovation do not seem to enter into this story, and nor do institutions. But this characterization misrepresents the complexity and niche competition in agricultural markets and the opportunities for cooperation. Old models of innovation policy emphasized market failure and recommended more or less direct government support to fund R&D investment. Examples were public funding of agricultural science. But new approaches to economics of innovation emphasise the role of entrepreneurial or market (rather than technical) discovery, and the increasing use of private institutions to solve the innovation problem through pooling innovation resources in the ‘commons’. This shift from market failure to collective action models of the innovation problem, and from government solutions to governance solutions, represents a fundamental shift in modern economic thinking about how industries grow through entrepreneurship and innovation, and the role of government in this process. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235504&r=agr |
| By: | Rolfe, John; Windle, Jill |
| Abstract: | Funding programs to improve water quality into the GBR are difficult to evaluate, and administering agencies typically need to allocate funds without a clear assessment of the cost-effectiveness of proposals. This is particularly the case for agri-environmental schemes where policy makers set targets for improvements in water quality from agricultural lands and then need to identify funds and programs to encourage changes in practices. The priorities for actions are often driven by bio-physical assessments of risks on the natural environment with little information about the opportunity costs and challenges in changing land management. The goal of the research reported in this paper is to develop a supply function for water quality improvements in agricultural lands in the Great Barrier Reef catchments. Costs of supply have been estimated from multiple sources, including modelling, expert opinion, and the analysis of water quality tenders and Reef Rescue grant programs. The study addresses challenges in reconciling cost estimates from different sources, dealing with heterogeneity across industries and catchments, and managing different influences on costs from factors such as risks, adoption issues and transaction costs. |
| Keywords: | Supply costs, Agri-environmental schemes, Great Barrier Reef, Water quality, Modelling, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235510&r=agr |
| By: | Marmai, Nadin; Franco Villoria, Maria; Guerzoni, Marco (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | Climate change constitutes a rising challenge to the agricultural base of developing countries. Most of the literature has focused on the impact of changes in the means of weather variables on mean changes in production and has found very little impact of weather upon agricultural production. Instead, a more recent stream of literature showed that we can assess the impact of weather on production by looking at extreme weather events. Based on this evidence, we surmise that there is a missing link in the literature consisting of relating the extreme events in weather with extreme losses in crop production. Indeed, extreme events are of the greatest interest for scholars and policy makers only when they carry extraordinary negative effects. We build on this idea and for the first time, we adapt a conditional dependence model for multivariate extreme values to understand the impact of extreme weather on agricultural production. Specifically, we look at the probability that an extreme event drastically reduces the harvest of any of the major crops. This analysis, which is run on data for six different crops and four different weather variables in a vast array of countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, shows that extremes in weather and yield losses of major staples are associated events. |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201608&r=agr |
| By: | Hovhannisyan, Vardges |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes the structure of food demand in urban China based on the most recent household expenditure survey data. Consumer food preferences are represented by an Exact Affine Stone Index (EASI) demand model, which accounts for unobserved consumer heterogeneity and allows for arbitrary Engel curve shapes. Further, we account for unobserved province-level heterogeneity in food preferences via province fixed-effects. Our findings indicate that seafood, fruit, and vegetables are income and expenditure elastic, while commodities such as grains and eggs are less than unitary elastic. |
| Keywords: | EASI demand, expenditure endogeneity, price endogeneity, food demand, urban China., Demand and Price Analysis, Q11, Q13, Q17, |
| Date: | 2016–05–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236889&r=agr |
| By: | Zinchenko, Aleksey |
| Abstract: | The article is devoted to statistical analysis of efficiency of dairy cattle breeding of the Russian Federation in view of production at enterprises conjugate products - milk and livestock production, as well as beef cattle, during the implementation of the sovereign-governmental programs for the development of agriculture and regulation of agricultural products, raw materials and food. |
| Keywords: | cattle, the state program, the efficiency of production of milk and meat products as a conjugate, animal productivity, costs and prices, the intensity of production. |
| JEL: | C18 Q1 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:71833&r=agr |
| By: | Shrestha, Shailesh; Glenk, Klaus |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the economic trade-off space between effects on yield and input costs of management measures aimed at enhancing soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks to maintain soil fertility while providing important ecosystem services. An optimising dynamic farm level model, ScotFarm, was used to investigate the financial impacts of 4 SOC management measures (cover crops, zero tillage, minimum tillage and residue management) for three groups of Scottish crop farms. A sensitivity analysis was carried out to test the robustness of the model results on crop yields and costs of production for each measure. The results suggest that financially, tillage management is the only positive measure for Scottish farms at baseline levels of yield effects and input costs. Residue management is expected to have a negative impact on farm margins for the farms. The projected maximum positive financial impact was less than 10%. Results of the sensitivity analysis indicate that financial impacts of SOC management measures on farm margins are more sensitive to a change in crop yields than to changes in input costs. The findings point to further research needs with respect to the investigated trade-off space, and have implications for agricultural policy design aimed at enhancing SOC stocks under a changing climate. |
| Keywords: | Soil Organic Carbon, Farm level modeling, Scottish crop farms, SOC management measures, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236363&r=agr |
| By: | Kostov, Philip; Davidova, Sophia; Bailey, Alastair |
| Abstract: | There is very little empirical evidence supporting the claims that family farming is a ‘superior’ form of organisation for agricultural production. This paper investigates the comparative output effects of family labour in several EU Member States. No positive output effects can be discerned when farms are characterised by a low level of technical efficiency. In the case of efficient farms, the incremental effects of family labour are characterised by a number of thresholds. The paper only finds limited support for the claimed positive output effects of family farming and these only materialise after a considerable family involvement is committed. |
| Keywords: | family farms, quantile regression, production effects, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, C21, L25, Q12, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236358&r=agr |
| By: | Rupa, Jesmin A.; Umberger, Wendy J.; Ahmed, Sharmina |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235594&r=agr |
| By: | Costa-Font, Montserrat; Revoredo-Giha, Cesar |
| Abstract: | Manufacturers and retailers are major influences in shaping consumers’ food preferences and choices through a variety of activities such as the distribution formats they create, the ways they operate them and the new food and drink products that they introduce. This paper focuses on the UK food and drink market and its purpose is to explore the role of retailers and manufacturers, as agents of change, when introducing food and drink products with sustainability attributes. In particular the following questions were investigated: whether there is trend as regards food and drink products with sustainability related claims in the UK market and what companies are leading the introduction of new products with sustainable claims and in what categories. The data analysed in this paper were extracted from Mintel’s Global New Products Database (GNPD), which provides information about new products launched in selected countries. The data was subject to a statistical analysis to answer the two aforementioned questions. The analysis revealed that products with sustainability claims show a positive trend, with ‘environmentally friendly package’ being the most popular claim. Overall, the results indicate that the sustainability message is increasingly present in the development of new products of retailers and manufacturers in the UK and retailers through their private labels are playing an important role except for the case of products with carbon neutral calims. |
| Keywords: | New product development, UK food industry, sustainability, Agricultural and Food Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236354&r=agr |
| By: | Akaichi, Faical; Glenk, Klaus; Revoredo-Giha, Cesar |
| Abstract: | A choice experiment was carried out in Scotland to assess consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for four popular food attributes (i.e. animal welfare, organic, local and low fat attributes) and determine whether these attributes are independent, complement or substitutes. The results showed that the majority of consumers have positive preferences and are willing to pay a price premium for the four attributes. Furthermore, the results from the interactions between attributes showed that labelling organic pork as local could significantly increase its demand. The results also show that the co-existence of animal welfare and organic/local/low fat labels is likely to generate a discounting effect on consumers’ total premium for these bundles of food attributes (i.e. these attributes are perceived by consumers as overlapping). Organic and local attributes were found to be independent. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236336&r=agr |
| By: | Bo Xiong; John C. Beghin (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD)) |
| Abstract: | A possible Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement will further integrate agricultural markets between the United States and the European Union. The elimination of tariffs and cooperation on sanitary and phytosanitary measures will promote cross-Atlantic trade. We empirically estimate the impacts of tariffs and Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) on trade in plant products between the two partners. Furthermore, we simulate trade expansions under plausible negotiation outcomes. We find that a TTIP agreement promotes cross-Atlantic trade in plant products, in both directions, by over 60% if tariffs are removed and MRLs are mutually recognized or harmonized to Codex levels. |
| Keywords: | Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP, maximum residue limit, MRL, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, tariff, trade agreement, NTM JEL: Q17, F15 |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ias:fpaper:16-wp566&r=agr |
| By: | Dwyer, Janet; Vigani, Mauro |
| Abstract: | This paper represents the start of a research programme to investigate in detail the economics of English upland farming, in order to pursue greater economic, environmental and social sustainability in future. The Farm Business Survey sample of farms in the English LFA is analysed, examining economic performance over 4 years (2010 to 2013), looking for potential determinants of efficiency. The analysis examines technical efficiency as a first indicator, and analyses data for the 263 LFA grazing livestock farms in the dataset. A stochastic frontier approach is used to test hypotheses concerning whether farm scale, and/or various indicators of farming intensity, CAP subsidy and risk management, have significant influence upon performance. The results highlight some of the challenges in identifying and applying suitable indicators and suggest that the LFA may best be analysed by differentiating between higher-altitude and lower-lying farms, as the economic characteristics of these two groups are distinct. Within these groups we identify specific strategies as potentially significant, including early recruitment of ewe lambs into breeding and the sale of wool, as well as diversification off the holding, for lower lying farms; while agri-environment support and extensification appear influential among the higher-altitude group. Planned next steps include applying meta-frontier techniques; also analysing for determinants of profitability; and building a discussion and exchange forum with farmers and other stakeholders, through the Uplands Alliance, to maximise the value of these analyses via a wider community of learning. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236340&r=agr |
| By: | Mu, Jianhong E.; Mihiar, Christopher; Lewis, David J.; Sleeter, Benjamin; Abatzoglou, John T. |
| Abstract: | This paper uses most recent plot-level data from the National Resource Inventory (NRI) over the period 2002 to 2012. Using these data with county-level land-use net returns, we first examine the land-use transitions among crop, pasture, range, forest, urban and Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and find that land-use net returns are the main determinants from land-use transitions and land with low soil quality is more likely to be used for low-productive land activities, such as grazing. Second, we predict land-use changes under future climate projections using projected land-use net returns from hedonic regressions for crop, pasture, range, forest and urban. Our estimation results of the land-use model are consistent to economic theory as well as to previous literature that we have positive coefficients on crop and urban land use net returns and negative coefficients on the transition costs. We also find that crop and pasture land use net returns increase as the mean precipitation increase and pastureland net return is reduced if growing season degree-days are increased, suggesting the substation effects between crop and pasture land use when the temperature is optimal for plant growing. When predict into the future, we find the expansion of urban land with expenses of crop and CRP land. |
| Keywords: | climate change, land-use transition, hedonic regression, uncertainty, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236643&r=agr |
| By: | Liesivaara, Petri; Myyrä, Sami |
| Abstract: | Larger price volatility in agricultural markets and decreasing subsidy levels have increased the market risks in Finnish hog production. One option for the Finnish government to strengthen risk management in the pig sector is to introduce an income stabilisation tool (IST). An IST was included as part of rural development legislation in the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU in 2014. In this paper, we introduce a gross margin index for the Finnish pig sector on which the IST could be based and empirically evaluate the index itself and individual time series composing the index. The results reveal that the volatility of the pig meat price was the most significant factor in the volatility of the pig gross margin. The results also indicate that the pig meat price series is persistent and thus has a long memory. The obtained results have major implications for the design and simulation of an IST scheme in Finland. |
| Keywords: | Income stabilisation tool, random walk hypothesis, Agricultural and Food Policy, Production Economics, Q14, Q18, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236360&r=agr |
| By: | Paul Pichler; Gerhard Sorger |
| Abstract: | We analyze a stylized model of a world consisting of a large number of countries, which derive utility from energy consumption but suffer both from the emission of greenhouse gases (smog, black carbon, etc.) as well as from the external effects caused by climate change. The countries decide individually on investments in clean (i.e., emission free) technologies for energy production, whereas a supranational environmental authority decides for each country on the maximally permitted amount of emissions of greenhouse gases. We demonstrate that the authority faces a dynamic inconsistency problem that leads to welfare losses. Yet these welfare losses can be kept small if the mandate for the authority penalizes the local cost of emissions very heavily but puts little or no weight at all on the cost of climate change. |
| JEL: | F53 H87 O33 O44 Q43 Q54 |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vie:viennp:1604&r=agr |
| By: | International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) |
| Abstract: | 在现今国际社会所面临的诸多挑战中，营养 不良问题显得尤为严峻：全球有三分之一 的人口营养不良。营养不良有很多不同的表现 形式：儿童生长与发育不良；个体消瘦或易受 感染；过度肥胖或高血糖、高血压、高血脂或 高胆固醇；缺乏重要的维生素或矿物质。就目 前来看，营养不良和不健康饮食是造成全球疾 病负担的最大因素：各国都面临着营养不良造 成的严峻公共卫生挑战。在非洲和亚洲，每年 营养不良造成的经济损失相当于11%的国内生 产总值（GDP），而在预防营养不良方面每投 入1美元便可带来16美元的投资回报。虽然世界 各国已就营养目标达成共识，而且近年来也取 得了一些进展，但是全球尚未走上实现这些目 标的正轨。这份对世界营养状况的第三次全面 评估为扭转这一趋势并在2030年前消除一切形 式的营养不良指明了方向。 |
| Keywords: | nutrition; malnutrition; nutrition policies; anemia; stunting; obesity; overweight; wasting disease; diabetes; children; micronutrients; health; climate change; private sector; agricultural development; agricultural policies; economic development; food systems; sustainability; poverty; breast feeding; indicators; HIV/AIDS; capacity building; public expenditure; children; sustainable development goals; wasting; burden of disease; undernourishment; undernutrition; noncommunicable diseases (NCD); child growth; Latin America; Africa south of Sahara; Oceania; South East Asia; South Asia; South America; Middle East; North Africa; Africa; Asia |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:synops:9780896292215&r=agr |
| By: | Farquharson, Bob; Ramilan, Thiagarajah; Goodwin, Ian; O'Connell, Mark |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235299&r=agr |
| By: | Hoffmann, Sandra |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235330&r=agr |
| By: | Sulistyaningrum, Eny |
| Abstract: | Natural disasters are always associated with the disruption of local economies and hurting the local people. Households usually respond to those difficulties by cutting their consumption especially for non-necessity goods. Hence this paper discusses the pattern of food demand when the earthquake occurs. In addition, it also observes the price and expenditure elasticities of food demand by estimating a Linear Approximate Almost Ideal Demand System (LA-AIDS). This paper also examines the effect of earthquake on living standards of households. It finds that food demand estimations on rice and oil have price inelastic demand, while vegetable, meat, and fish are price elastic. Furthermore, poor households are more likely to have a greater negative impact than rich households although the effect is quite small. |
| Keywords: | Earthquake, food demand, LA-AIDS, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, D12, I30, I31, I32, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236334&r=agr |
| By: | Asante, Bright; Villano, Renato; Patrick, Ian; Battese, George |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235254&r=agr |
| By: | White, Ben; Day, Cheryl; Christopher, Mandy; van Klinken, Rieks |
| Abstract: | Investing in pre-breeding for exotic pests and diseases in cereals is characterised as investing in an option of preparedness regardless of whether an incursion occurs. The return to pre-breeding depends on the likelihood of pest arrival, its spread across cereal producing regions and how damaging it will be through time. Any delay in the release of resistant varieties after an incursion translates into yield losses, chemical costs and, for some pests and diseases, price discounts. However, returns to pre-breeding investment are limited by delay time without pre-breeding, management alternatives and the adoption rates for resistant varieties by producers. Our analysis has estimated returns to investment for pre-breeding for six high priority exotic wheat and barley pests and diseases. The methods developed here allows for regional disaggregation and regional pest suitability across Australia’s cereal production landscape. Results indicate that pre-breeding investment is viable for only half of the pest and diseases studied. The relatively high return to these can be explained by significant yield effects, rapid spread and widespread pest suitability across regions. Furthermore, a higher average yield loss can offset lower incursion probability. In contrast, those not viable are due to slow spread, small or erratic yield effect and biosecurity trade issues not addressed by resistance. Investing in pre-breeding is highly risky as the modal investment return for all pests and diseases is zero and returns to breeders are short lived. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural investment, Biosecurity, Bioeconomic modelling, Cereal breeding, Risk assessment, CLIMEX, Real options, Karnal bunt, exotic wheat stem rust, barley stripe rust, Russian wheat aphid, Hessian fly, sunn pest, Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics, Risk and Uncertainty, Q1, O31, O32, |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uwauwp:236736&r=agr |
| By: | Boufateh, Talel |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to study the simultaneous effects of Dutsh Disease (DD) phenomenon on the industrial and agricultural sectors for five oilexporting countries with different development levels. To proceed, we propose to study the dynamic relationship between oil rent, industrial added value and agricultural added value in a structural multivariate framework. The idea is to capture both short and long term dynamics of this relationship, by performing the model’s cycle-trend dichotomy using SVECM approach. The results have shown that the DD phenomenon effects both agricultural and industrial sectors in the considered countries with one exception for each sector. The impacts and adverse effects that might have the DD phenomenon on each sector accordingly whether it is permanent or transient, depend on the economy nature and the strategy adopted. The findings confirmed that the DD phenomenon affecting the industrial sector ephemerally however the agricultural sector is rather being affected in the long term.The results also, have indicated that developing countries notably Morocco, is model to consolidate, and that the case of great emerging countr |
| Keywords: | Dutch Disease, industrial sector, agricol sector, cycle-trend, SVECM |
| JEL: | Q10 Q40 |
| Date: | 2016–06–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:71741&r=agr |
| By: | Zinngrebe, Yves |
| Abstract: | Conservation movements in developing countries, such as Peru, arise in relation to predominant perceptions concerning development and progress. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Peruvian government adopted a development vision that promoted the colonisation of the Amazon region, which led to the expansion of agricultural, infrastructural and extractive projects. As reaction to this development paradigm, citizens formed various conservationist groups to push the protection of biodiversity onto the political agenda. This article analyses how these different groups emerged and started to develop a discourse on biodiversity conservation. After conducting qualitative interviews with stakeholders, discourse groups were identified and described with regard to their historical appearance. For example, in the 1980s, a group of mainly biologists started forming NGOs and supporting projects in and around protected areas. Contrastingly, another group is looking at conservation as a traditional, cultural activity of indigenous people. With the ratification of the Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD) in the early 1990s, a new political momentum led to important legislative and institutional changes, which stood in contrast to the general development agenda of resource based growth. A new perspective started to enter the discourse with the creation of regional governments in 2002, which led to new practical questions about local biodiversity management. After studies like the Millennium Ecosystem report and the TEEB assessment (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity), economic approaches to biodiversity conservation initiated a new perspective on biodiversity policy. While those different discourse groups do not automatically contradict or exclude each other, this article sheds light on the different historical situations and motivations underlying these discourses. |
| Keywords: | Environmental discourse, natural capital, megadiverse country, Peru, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–05–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gadadp:236243&r=agr |
| By: | Johns, Craig; Umberger, Wendy; Stringer, Randy |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235340&r=agr |
| By: | Evan Borkum; Seth B. Morgan; Jane Fortson; Alexander Johann; Kenneth Fortson |
| Abstract: | This report describes the baseline findings from the 2013-2014 Farm Operator Survey for the evaluation of the Transition to High-Value Agriculture Project in Moldova. |
| Keywords: | agriculture, irrigation, Moldova, International |
| JEL: | F Z |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:333d17defbb84cc4a30230e68f42d920&r=agr |
| By: | Butler, Allan |
| Abstract: | Recognition that an economy is complex is not new. Frederick von Hayek, for example, made explicit that markets are complex systems in the 1960s. Contemporary proponents of complexity, movement across the sciences including economics, argue that an economy is a complex system in which economic agents (whether consumers, banks, firms or farmers) continually adjust and react to market behaviour of others. A major claim by these 2 proponents is that economics is going through its most profound change in over a hundred years. A further claim is that the neoclassical era in economics, upon which many agricultural economics principles are grounded, is being replaced by the complexity era. Indeed, is there some evidence that concepts such as agent-based modelling path dependency, self-organisation and network analysis used by the complexity movement are making inroads into agricultural economics research? This paper through a survey of literature of leading agricultural economic journals and the online repository, AgEcon Search, seeks to understand the degree that concepts from the complexity movement are emerging in agricultural economics research. Are they merely an adjunct to standard economic modelling or does it represent a more profound change in the way of analysing an economy? |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Economics, Complexity Theory, Complex Adaptive Systems, Agent-Based Modelling, Literature Survey, Agricultural and Food Policy, B590 Current Heterodox Approaches: Other, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236287&r=agr |
| By: | Gammans, Matthew; Mérel, Pierre; Ortiz-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 33ºC 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: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236322&r=agr |
| By: | Morton, Douglas |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao16:236624&r=agr |
| By: | d'Errico, Marco; Pietrelli, Rebecca; Romano, Donato |
| Abstract: | Resilience has become one of the keywords in the recent scholarly and policy debates on food security. However, household resilience to food insecurity is unobservable ex ante. Therefore, the two key issues in empirical research and program implementation are how to estimate a proxy index of household resilience on the basis of observable variables and assess whether this index is a good indicator of the construct it intends to measure, i.e. household resilience. This paper contributes to this literature providing evidence based on two case studies: Tanzania and Uganda. Specifically, the paper: (i) proposes a method to estimate a resilience index and analyses what are the most important components of household resilience, (ii) tests whether the household resilience index is a good predictor of future food security status and food security recovery capacity after a shock, and (iii) explores how idiosyncratic and covariate shocks affects resilience and household food security. The analysis shows that: (i) in both countries adaptive capacity is the most important dimension contributing to household resilience, (ii) the resilience index positively influences future household food security status, decreases the probability of suffering a food security loss should a shock occur and speeds up the recovery after the loss occurrence, and (iii) shocks have a negative effect on food security and resilience contributes to reduce the negative impacts of these shocks, though this is not proven for self-reported and idiosyncratic shocks. |
| Keywords: | Resilience, food security, structural equation model, panel data, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, D10, Q18, I32, O55, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236350&r=agr |
| By: | Lynch, Brendan; Kragt, Marit; Umberger, Wendy; Llewellyn, Rick |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235379&r=agr |
| By: | Gundersen, Craig; Crumbaugh, Amy S.; Waxman, Elaine; Engelhard, Emily |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235321&r=agr |
| By: | Giovanni Marin (IRCrES-CNR); Francesca Lotti (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the productivity effects of eco-innovations at the firm level using a modified version of the CDM model (Crepon et al., 1998). The distinctive nature of environmental innovations, especially as regards the need for government intervention to create market opportunities, is likely to affect the way they are pursued and their effect on productivity. The analysis is based on an unbalanced panel sample of Italian manufacturing firms merged with data on patent applications and balance sheet information. When looking at innovation’s return on productivity , we observe that eco-innovations exhibit a generally lower return relative to other innovations, at least in the short run. This differential effect is more pronounced for polluting firms, which are likely to face higher compliance costs for environmental regulations than other firms. This result holds for both the extensive (probability of patenting) and intensive (patent count) margin. |
| Keywords: | R&D, innovation, productivity, patents, eco-patents. |
| JEL: | L60 Q55 |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_1067_16&r=agr |
| By: | Fraser, Rob |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235307&r=agr |
| By: | René Roy; Paul J. Thomassin |
| Date: | 2016–06–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2016s-30&r=agr |
| By: | Hughes, Neal |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235332&r=agr |
| By: | Melo, P. C.; Abdul-Salam, Yakubu; Roberts, D.; Colen, L.; Mary, S.; Gomez Y Paloma, S. |
| Abstract: | Regional differences in dietary patterns, food supply, and food culture can influence the relationship between income and food demand and thus the impact of income-oriented policies on undernutrition across Africa. In order to test for evidence of regional differences in income elasticities for food demand in Africa, we conduct a meta-analysis using 1,768 food-income elasticity estimates for different categories of food, 324 nutrient-income elasticity estimates, and 103 calorie-income elasticity estimates, extracted from 66 studies covering 48 African countries. One key contribution of this study is that it considers nutrient- and food-income elasticities besides calorie-income elasticities, allowing us to explore issues relating to calorie (i.e. energy) deficiency as well as malnutrition. We find that heterogeneity in the income elasticities can be explained by both differences in primary study characteristics (e.g. data, methodology) and the characteristics of the countries to which the income elasticities refer. The findings for food groups suggest there are significant regional differences in the size of the income elasticities. Some of the regional differences can be related to differences in diet and food supply structures across Africa but there may be other factors captured by the geographic variables (e.g. socio-cultural practices). In terms of country-level characteristics, the demand for calories, nutrients, and food becomes less responsive to changes in income as countries become more urbanised. The effect of economic growth is complex and appears to vary according to the type of income elasticity. The overall food-income elasticity appears to decline with income growth, and the relation holds for cereals, dairy and fruit and vegetables, although it is weaker for the other main food groups. Interestingly, we find a positive relation between a country’s economic growth and the magnitude of the nutrient-income elasticity and that economic growth is associated with increased demand for foods with greater nutrient content but fewer, or no additional, calories. Further country-specific analysis is needed to ensure that income-based policies targeting undernourishment and malnutrition in Africa achieve their goals. |
| Keywords: | Food demand, malnutrition, income elasticities, meta-analysis, Africa, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis (D12), Agricultural Policy, Food Policy (Q18), |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236372&r=agr |
| By: | Lu, Jiao; Wu, Linhai; Wang, Shuxian; Xu, Lingling |
| Abstract: | The China market for traceable food has developed gradually over the past decade. This study surveyed 1380 consumers in seven pilot cities designated by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce for the construction of a meat and vegetable circulation traceability system. A choice-based conjoint analysis and multinomial logit model were used to study consumer preferences and demand for traceable pork attributes. The results demonstrated that certification of traceable information was the most important characteristic, followed by appearance and traceable information. Significant heterogeneity was observed in consumer preferences for the attributes of traceable pork. Consumers’ preferences for traceable attributes were significantly influenced by age, income level, and education level. Based on these results, we suggest that the government should strengthen the promotion of scientific knowledge regarding traceability systems, and encourage and support the production of traceable food with different traceability levels and different certification types. Moreover, the development of food traceability systems should be combined with a labeling system for quality certification. |
| Keywords: | Traceable Pork, Attributes, Levels, Consumer Preference, Choice-based Conjoint Analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Q18, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236346&r=agr |
| By: | Tsakiridis, Andreas; Breen, James; O'Donoghue, Cathal; Hanrahan, Kevin; Wallace, Michael; Crosson, Paul |
| Abstract: | Beef suckler cow calf farms similarly to firms in other sectors of production operate in competitive and dynamically changing environments. In order to increase profitability and reduce uncertainty, beef suckler cow calf farmers may not be able to change radically their farm resources in the short-run; however they can decide on either retaining or not the ownership of calves. This decision brings changes to the herd size and composition, and ultimately defines the degree of farm’s market integration. Flexibility is a measure of firm’s competitive advantage which reflects its capacity to cope with uncertainty. In this paper two types of flexibility have been estimated, and its determinants have been identified for three cow calf systems. Namely, tactical flexibility indicates farmer’s ability to vary output level in the medium-run, and operational flexibility reflects the ability to adjust product mix in the short-run. In these systems farmer’s decision and time-length to retain their calves differs, thus farm’s flexibility is examined in relation to varying calf retention decisions. Results indicate that calf to weaning farms who retain the ownership of their calves beyond weaning increase both tactical and operational flexibility. Adjustments in cattle marketing strategies increase the flexibility of all beef farms. |
| Keywords: | Calf retention, cattle marketing strategies, flexibility, Modified Lilien Index, unbalanced panel data, Ireland, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q1, Q130, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236289&r=agr |
| By: | Sahara, Sahara; Daryanto, Arief; Yi, Dale; Stringer, Randy |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235514&r=agr |
| By: | Fairbairn, Anna; Michelson, Hope; Ellison, Brenna; Manyong, Victor |
| Abstract: | Small farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa exhibit low adoption rates for mineral fertilizers. A promising hypothesis explaining these puzzlingly low rates remains untested: a perception among farmers that fertilizer in the market has been compromised in ways that raise concerns about its effectiveness. Information about fertilizer quality problems is anecdotal rather than backed by reliable evidence. A challenge: little research to date has focused on understanding the relationships between input supply chains and product quality. To achieve a clearer understanding of this problem, this research links results from tests of the quality of 661 samples of fertilizers for sale in the markets of the Morogoro Region of Tanzania with data from a survey of the region’s 225 input dealers. Fertilizer nutrient and moisture content tests are performed on the same samples in multiple laboratories located in East Africa and in the United States. Results from our research provide the first assessments of market-available fertilizer quality in the region, as well as the first analysis of relationships between fertilizer quality and mineral fertilizer supplier characteristics. |
| Keywords: | Fertilizer, Small Farmers, Agricultural Inputs, Tanzania, East Africa, Poverty, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236818&r=agr |
| By: | Gittelsohn, Joel |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao16:236611&r=agr |
| By: | Ali,Daniel Ayalew; Deininger,Klaus W.; Duponchel,Marguerite Felicienne |
| Abstract: | Rwanda's completion, in 2012/13, of a land tenure regularization program covering the entire country allows the use of administrative data to describe initial performance and combine the data with household surveys to quantify to what extent and why subsequent transfers remain informal, and how to address this. In 2014/15, annual volumes of registered sales ranged between 5.6 percent for residential land in Kigali and 0.1 percent for agricultural land in the rest of the country; and US$2.6 billion worth of mortgages were secured against land and property. Yet, informality of transfers in rural areas remains high. Decentralized service provision and information campaigns help reduce but not eliminate the extent of informality. A strategy to test the efficacy of different approaches to ensure full registration, scale up promising ones, and rigorously monitor the effect of doing so is described. |
| Keywords: | Rural Land Policies for Poverty Reduction,Land Use and Policies,Municipal Housing and Land,Common Property Resource Development,Land and Real Estate Development |
| Date: | 2016–06–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7705&r=agr |
| By: | Rimsaite, Renata; Fisher-Vanden, Karen A.; Olmstead, Sheila M. |
| Abstract: | With this study we seek to understand the relationship between the sale and one-year lease prices in the U.S. water rights market. Given that the majority of current water rights markets in the U.S. are informal, high in transaction costs, and heterogeneous within and across states, we do not expect for the asset pricing theory to completely explain high variation in prices. Our goal is to understand which part of the pricing can be explained by the arbitrage theory and which part should be attributed to the expectations about the future conditions. Using a unique water rights trading dataset, which consists of water rights sales and one-year leases in six U.S. western states between 1994 and 2007, we follow the Newell et al. (2007) approach applied to New Zealand fisheries, and econometrically analyze the applicability of a present-value asset pricing model to the water rights markets. Our preliminary results show that the asset pricing theory holds in water rights markets, and support our hypothesis that the U.S. water rights market is less efficient than the fishing quota market in New Zealand. We further analyze what policies lead to different water rights pricing mechanisms across and within the studied states. |
| Keywords: | Water rights markets, arbitrage-free pricing, water institutions, climate change, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q21, Q25, Q28, Q54., |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236373&r=agr |
| By: | Ukolova, Anna; Dashieva, Bayarma |
| Abstract: | The article is devoted to the research of experience of the United States - one of the countries with a federal system, highly developed economy and agriculture - on conducting, design and presentation of the results of agricultural censuses in terms of workforce analysis capabilities. The key role of ensuring agricultural workforce as one of the main factors of efficiency of agricultural production was revealed based on economic and statistical and econometric analysis. It is closely associated with other indicators of the intensity of production, its concentration and specialization. |
| Keywords: | agriculture, the United States, labor, agricultural census, summary and grouping data, Farm Typology, statistical analysis, production function |
| JEL: | C1 Q1 |
| Date: | 2016–05–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:71663&r=agr |
| By: | Warr, Peter |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235785&r=agr |
| By: | Aruga, Kentaka |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235240&r=agr |
| By: | Green, Lisa |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235316&r=agr |
| By: | Dorner, Zack; Brent, Daniel A.; Leroux, Anke |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235270&r=agr |
| By: | Gregory, Christian; Deb, Partha |
| Abstract: | Empirical methods for estimating the treatment effects of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) routinely focus on the average treatment effect of the program. This statistic is satisfactory and useful for many policy makers, although researchers understand that it is unlikely that program effects are constant across the treatment population. Obviously, differences in treatment across observed household, individual or geographic characteristics could lead to heterogeneous outcomes. And there are good reasons to think that effects of treatment will vary across \textit{unobserved} factors in household: food preferences, subjective poverty thresholds, discount rates, and financial acumen all could affect the distribution of outcomes not captured in the mean treatment effect. We estimate finite mixture models in order to address heterogeneity in response to receipt of SNAP and find that the data suggests two latent classes of recipients: one for whom SNAP has little or no effect, and one for whom SNAP has large and significant effects. This is true for both of the outcomes that we examine: food spending and food insecurity. |
| Keywords: | health, nutrition, heterogenous treatment effects, finite mixture models, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Health Economics and Policy, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, I18, I38, C31, C38, |
| Date: | 2016–06–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236648&r=agr |
| By: | Schrobback, Peggy; Star, Megan |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235516&r=agr |
| By: | Iqbal, Md Zabid; Babcock, Bruce |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236285&r=agr |
| By: | Shannon, Harlan D. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao16:236836&r=agr |
| By: | Peralta, Alexandra; Swinton, Scott M. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235498&r=agr |
| By: | Gine,Xavier; Jacoby,Hanan G. |
| Abstract: | Groundwater is a vital yet threatened resource in much of South Asia. This paper develops a model of groundwater transactions under payoff uncertainty arising from unpredictable fluctuations in groundwater availability during the agricultural dry season. The model highlights the trade-off between the ex post inefficiency of long-term contracts and the ex ante inefficiency of spot contracts. The structural parameters are estimated using detailed micro-data on the area irrigated under each contract type combined with subjective probability distributions of borewell discharge elicited from a large sample of well-owners in southern India. The findings show that, while the contracting distortion leads to an average welfare loss of less than 2 percent and accounts for less than 50 percent of all transactions costs in groundwater markets, it has a sizeable impact on irrigated area, especially for small farmers. Uncertainty coupled with land fragmentation also attenuates the benefits of the water-saving technologies now being heavily promoted in India. |
| Keywords: | Debt Markets,Water and Industry,Water Supply and Systems,Drought Management,Water Use |
| Date: | 2016–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7694&r=agr |
| By: | Phumzile Ncube; Simon Roberts; Tatenda Zengeni |
| Abstract: | Development of the animal feed to poultry value chain across Botswana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe The animal feed to poultry value chain in the southern African region has seen rapid demand growth owing to increases in urbanization. This growth has been accompanied by the increase in co-ordinated investments by large, predominantly South African, firms across the region. We examine the developments in the value chain across countries in southern Africa, paying attention to production and trade in poultry meat and its main inputs. We also consider the regional nature of the animal feed to poultry value chain. We argue that large firms play a lead role in the development of the value chain in southern Africa given their ability to make coordinated investments at different levels and to realize the competitive potential from the regional agricultural production of the main feed crops. |
| Keywords: | value chains, trade, poultry, regional industrialization, agro-processing |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2016-002&r=agr |
| By: | Chatri, Abdellatif; Maarouf, Abdelwahab; Ezzahid, Elhaj |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to verify how the performance of the agricultural sector affects the process of structural transformation of the Moroccan economy. It analyzes the dynamics of productivity in two ways. First, the speed of convergence of agricultural productivity to the level recorded by other sectors of the economy. The second, the decomposition of the change in aggregate productivity into the structural changes or reallocation effect and the within or intra effect. Furthermore, the paper uses the Input-Output methodology for measuring the degree of integration of the Moroccan economy and seeing if there was or not emergence of new leading sectors. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Input-Output Analysis, Morocco, productivity, structural transformation. |
| JEL: | C5 C67 E23 E24 O10 O13 O47 |
| Date: | 2015–07–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:71774&r=agr |
| By: | Anderson, Kym |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235238&r=agr |
| By: | Hill, Berkeley; Bradley, Dylan |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the cost of and good practices for FADN data collection in EU Member States during the period 2012-2014 using evidence gathered from existing literature, a survey of EU-28 FADN Liaison Agencies, nine case studies, and interviews with senior policy officials within the European Commission and the OECD. Costs were assessed both in money terms and by labour input along the data supply chain; total annual public costs of FADN averaged €59 million. A variety of institutional arrangements are used by Member States to provide data to FADN. Within these, three types of organisation carry out the process of data collection: FADN Liaison Agencies; public advisory bodies; and, accounting firms. Data collection by accounting firms from accounts drawn up at the expense of farmers for tax purposes provides data at the lowest public cost per farm. At the other extreme, highest costs per farm are where advisory agencies combine data collection with provision of extension services. FADN data are widely used by Member States and therefore bring substantial, if unquantified, benefits. Examples of good practices which can be shared between Member States and that are reflected principally in costs and benefits are identified |
| Keywords: | data systems, FADN, farm incomes, Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc16:236324&r=agr |
| By: | Bradshaw, Miranda; Curtis, Kynda; Bosworth, Ryan; Slocum, Susan |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235266&r=agr |
| By: | Oktaviani, Rina |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235492&r=agr |
| By: | Finizio, Anna; Ahmed, Sharmina; Umberger, Wendy |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235301&r=agr |
| By: | Ni, Yuanming (Dept. of Business and Management Science, Norwegian School of Economics); Steinshamn, Stein I. (Dept. of Business and Management Science, Norwegian School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The effects of random environmental impacts on optimal exploitation of a fish population are investigated using both optimization and simulation, based on a discrete-time age-structured bioeconomic model. The optimization problem is solved as a non-linear programming problem in GAMS. First, a basic model structure and 6 different scenarios, dealing with two interactions between fish and environment, are introduced. Based on the simplest scenario, eight different parameter combinations are tested. Then the optimization problem is solved for each of the 6 scenarios for a period of 100 years in order to gain long term insights. The main finding is that higher volatility from the environment leads to higher net profits but together with a lower probability of actually hitting the mean values. Simulations are conducted with different fixed fishing mortality levels under 6 scenarios. It seems that a constant fishing mortality around 0.06 is optimal. In the end, a comparison is made between historical and optimal harvest for a period of 40 years. It turns out that in more than 70% of the time, the optimal exploitation offered by our optimization model dominates the historical one, leading to 43% higher net profit and 34% lower fishing cost on average. |
| Keywords: | Random environmental impacts; optimal exploitation; non-linear programming |
| JEL: | C61 Q00 Q20 Q22 Q50 |
| Date: | 2016–05–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhhfms:2016_009&r=agr |
| By: | Bell, Kendon |
| Keywords: | Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235245&r=agr |
| By: | Newman, Matthew |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235418&r=agr |
| By: | Ning An; Paul J. Thomassin |
| Date: | 2016–06–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2016s-31&r=agr |
| By: | Cynthia, West |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2016–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao16:236877&r=agr |
| By: | Freedgood, Julia |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao16:236619&r=agr |
| By: | McCluskey, Jill J. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235408&r=agr |
| By: | Orlowski, Jan Alexander; Ubilava, David |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235496&r=agr |
| By: | Chengyi Tu; Joel Carr; Samir Suweis |
| Abstract: | The easy access to large data sets has allowed for leveraging methodology in network physics and complexity science to disentangle patterns and processes directly from the data, leading to key insights in the behavior of systems. Here we use to country specific food production data to study binary and weighted topological properties of the bipartite country-food production matrix. This country-food production matrix can be: 1) transformed into overlap matrices which embed information regarding shared production of products among countries, and or shared countries for individual products, 2) identify subsets of countries which produce similar commodities or subsets of commodities shared by a given country allowing for visualization of correlations in large networks, and 3) used to rank country's fitness (the ability to produce a diverse array of products weighted on the type of food commodities) and food specialization (quantified on the number of countries producing that food product weighted on their fitness). Our results show that, on average, countries with high fitness producing highly specialized food commodities also produce low specialization goods, while nations with low fitness producing a small basket of diverse food products, typically produce low specialized food commodities. |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1606.01270&r=agr |
| By: | Thorn, Craig |
| Keywords: | International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2016–02–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao16:236875&r=agr |
| By: | Martin, Will |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235402&r=agr |
| By: | Kuethe, Todd H. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao16:236867&r=agr |
| By: | Iftekhar, Sayed; Latacz-Lohmann, Uwe |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235336&r=agr |
| By: | Esther Blanco; Tobias Haller; James M. Walker |
| Abstract: | The provision of public goods often benefits a larger group than those who actively provide the public good. In an experimental setting, this paper addresses institutional arrangements between subjects who can provide a public good (insiders) and subjects who benefit from the public good but cannot provide it (outsiders). We compare a setting of passive outsiders to situations where outsiders can either make unconditional transfers (donations) or conditional transfers (contracts) to the insiders. The primary behavioral question is to what extent outsiders will respond to the opportunity to subsidize the contributions of insiders and will insiders use such subsidies to increase contributions or simply substitute them for their own contributions. The results suggest the latter. In fact, once conditional or unconditional transfers are allowed, insiders decrease contributions to the public good relative to the baseline condition without transfers. |
| Keywords: | Public goods, Institution, Externality, Laboratory Experiment |
| JEL: | D70 H41 C92 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inn:wpaper:2016-16&r=agr |
| By: | Muller, Carla |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2016–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aare16:235414&r=agr |