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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2022‒07‒18
sixty-one papers chosen by |
| By: | Emily Gray; Darryl Jones |
| Abstract: | This report assesses Viet Nam’s agricultural sector through the lens of the OECD Agro-food Productivity-Sustainability-Resilience (PSR) Policy Framework. Agriculture has played an important role in Viet Nam’s remarkable economic growth over the past thirty years. In the 1990s, government policies contributed to strong agricultural productivity growth, but this has since fallen. OECD Agri-Environmental indicators also reveal weaknesses in the environmental footprint of growth, notably with respect to nutrient balances, as a result of the excessive use of agro-chemicals and poor animal waste management practices. The agricultural sector faces significant resilience challenges from climate change impacts, including sea level rises and more frequent and severe storm events. Although the level of agricultural support provided to farmers is relatively low, policies such as land use regulations are skewed in favour of rice production, thereby maintaining a production structure dominated by small part-time household farms that limit innovation. Viet Nam’s support for general services for agriculture (GSSE) was equivalent to 2.5% of agricultural value added in 2018-20, well below the OECD average. Shifting the focus of support towards research, development, and innovation partnerships with the private sector will contribute to improving the agri-environmental performance of agriculture in Viet Nam. This should ideally be accompanied by a reform of land use regulations. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural policies, Agricultural productivity, Environmental sustainability |
| JEL: | O13 O3 Q1 Q18 Q24 |
| Date: | 2022–06–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:agraaa:181-en&r= |
| By: | Santiago Guerrero (OECD); Ben Henderson (OECD); Hugo Valin (OECD); Charlotte Janssens (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis); Petr Havlik (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis); Amanda Palazzo (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates whether agricultural policy reforms could help cushion the impacts of climate change on agriculture by facilitating the relocation of production and international trade. The agricultural sector faces immense challenges in ensuring the provision of food, farm incomes, employment and environmental services in a changing climate. Its ability to meet these challenges depends, in part, on the flexibility with which agricultural production can be relocated in response to agro-ecological and market conditions being reshaped by climate change in a sustainable manner. To better understand these interactions, this study employs a quantitative model to assess the economic and environmental effects of removing market distorting policies under climate change. The modelling results suggest that the policy reforms could reduce the extent to which climate change increases agricultural commodity prices and undernourishment and, in that sense, contribute to global adaptation to climate change. The results also suggest that accompanying policy measures may be required to address potential trade-offs in some regions, in terms of land use emissions, water demand and farm income losses. |
| Keywords: | Adaptive capacity, Agricultural policy, Land use change, Non-technical measures, Producer support, Tariffs, Trade policy, Water scarcity |
| JEL: | C61 F18 Q11 Q17 Q54 O13 |
| Date: | 2022–06–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:agraaa:180-en&r= |
| By: | Lin, Jessie; Gupta, Anubhab |
| Abstract: | We investigate how the distribution of domestic staple crop production by smallholders and commercial farms influence staple prices, and the implications it has on food security and dietary diversity in rural and urban areas. Using three waves of the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS) data as well as data from other national sources in Ethiopia, we find that proportional shift towards commercial and large-scale farms of staple crops significantly decreases their prices in both rural and urban areas, which then increases dietary diversity. Previous literature has focused on commercialization and its implications for food security in rural areas. This paper contributes to the literature by including food security and dietary diversity in urban areas. Our findings provide governments and international organizations insights on how to consider contextual specificities when implementing programs and policies aimed at either sustaining smallholder farming or incentivizing commercialized farms, keeping in mind their implications for consumer welfare, food security, and diet. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Farm Management, Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321161&r= |
| By: | R. Aaron Hrozencik; Nicholas A. Potter; Steven Wallander |
| Abstract: | Global climate change is already impacting water resources and, in many areas, reducing the amount of water available for drinking, sanitation, and agriculture. Water conservation can be a means to mitigate the economic damages associated with water scarcity, including scarcity arising from climate change. In the agricultural sector, most water conservation efforts have focused on farm-level irrigation efficiency. However, since over one-third of water applied for agricultural irrigation in the U.S. comes from off-farm supplies, improvements in delivery and conveyance efficiency also have the potential to significantly reduce water losses. This study utilizes survey data from irrigation water delivery organizations in the Western U.S. to estimate the impact of lining and piping conveyance infrastructure on conveyance losses. The average irrigation delivery organization reports a conveyance loss of 15 percent of the total water brought into their system in 2019. Using a control function estimation, this study finds that at the margin an increase of one percentage point in the share of conveyance infrastructure piped leads to an expected 0.16 percentage point reduction in conveyance losses. A simulated water-conservation supply curve based on these estimates shows that about 2.3 percent of total water brought into these systems could be recaptured at a private capital cost below $10,000 per acre foot. |
| JEL: | Q1 Q15 Q25 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30123&r= |
| By: | Margherita Squarcina |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 pandemic is having disruptive consequences on many people's livelihoods around the world, projecting 150 million people into extreme poverty. In many developing countries, where economies still rely on agriculture, domestic food supply chains have been severely affected due to internal mobility restrictions, resulting in income reduction and job loss. In this context, the ability to adapt to the “new normal†is crucial in ensuring market inclusion, but it is often limited by many constraints that participants at different levels of the chain face. Understanding the main constraints and the possible ways in which the agri-food system participants can adapt is then key for targeting appropriate responses. Using Ethiopia as a case study, this paper aims to identify different impacts at various stages along the agri-food value chain, assessing the impact of COVID-19 on household employment and income and identifying the main determinants that mediate those impacts. Using both longitudinal and cross-sectional econometric models over a panel sample composed of a pre-COVID face-to-face interview and 6 follow-up phone-based surveys, the paper shows that the crisis has reduced both employment and income, with worsening trends over time. The study shows that farming, which had initially been relatively less affected, reported highly negative impacts in subsequent rounds, making it the most affected stage in the agri-food value chain. Access to formal institutions, such as formal insurance, credit, formal contract, and land ownership title, played a key role in reducing the likelihood of income loss. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, food value chain, labor market participation, income loss. |
| JEL: | I15 O12 Q12 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2022_07.rdf&r= |
| By: | Margherita Squarcina; Donato Romano |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 pandemic and the related restrictions implemented by the Ugandan government placed severe limitations on labor mobility, inputs availability, and market access. This negatively impacted poverty and food insecurity, especially in refugee-hosting districts, which were already suffering a fragile situation. While worsening levels of food security and dietary quality in the country have been documented by several authors, it is still unclear how the COVID-19 impact was transmitted to the final outcomes. This paper aims to identify the mechanisms through which COVID-19 affected poverty and food insecurity in refugee-hosting districts in Uganda. Starting from the two main transmission channels– i.e., food value chain disruption and job loss – we use path analysis with household fixed effects to identify the main pathways for different groups of households according to refugee status (i.e. refugee vs. host households), main income source (agricultural vs. non-agricultural households) and agricultural household’s market position (i.e. net-buyers vs. net-sellers vs. self-sufficient households). The role of responses that can offset the COVID-19 shock, such as assistance received or access to credit, and exogenous factors, such as environmental shocks or distance to market, have also been accounted for. The analysis shows that COVID-19 significantly affected labor participation and increased food value chain disruption, particularly worsening diet quality. Refugees have been affected more than hosts by the COVID-19 direct and indirect effects resulting in a higher negative impact on poverty. Host households were impacted mostly by food prices and agricultural income, while refugees were more affected through labor market mediated effects. As expected, net-buyers are the group most affected by food value chain disruption and, along with non-agricultural households, are the ones that were most affected in terms of food security. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, food value chain, labor market participation, income loss. |
| JEL: | I15 O12 Q12 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2022_08.rdf&r= |
| By: | Joey Blumberg; Chris Goemans; Dale Manning |
| Abstract: | Agricultural producers make investment decisions based on beliefs about future returns. This article investigates how changes in beliefs about input availability affects the adoption of conservation practices. We develop a theoretical model to examine how a producer's beliefs about water shortages influence investment in more efficient irrigation technologies. We then use publicly available data on water rights and irrigated cropland to empirically identify the impact of changing beliefs about water availability on conservation decisions. We leverage a natural experiment in Colorado in which a period of severe drought and institutional change in the early 2000s led to an exogenous shock to expectations for some water right holders. We estimate that producers who experience unprecedented increases in the curtailment of their water right convert 11% more land to a more efficient irrigation technology on average. We also present evidence that adoption rates are driven more by changes in surface water availability than groundwater. This analysis provides useful insight into the role of beliefs in incentivizing adaptation to increasing water scarcity in irrigated agriculture. |
| JEL: | Q1 Q25 Q54 |
| Date: | 2022–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30080&r= |
| By: | Jonathan R. McFadden; David J. Smith; Steven Wallander |
| Abstract: | Crop farmers have few short-run options for reducing downside production risk from changes in drought frequency and intensity due to ongoing climate change. However, one recently available option is drought-tolerant (DT) varieties. We determine how recent drought exposure, drought risk, and other climatic features have influenced adoption of DT corn—a water-intensive crop of particular economic importance due to its large share of U.S. agricultural value. Our empirical analysis is motivated by a state-contingent economic framework that accommodates farmers' beliefs about future drought based on objective drought risk and exposure. Using a representative sample of U.S. farmers' fields, we implement a novel econometric method, spatial first differences, that can reduce concerns of omitted variables bias. We find that long-run temperatures and drought risk—rather than short-run drought exposure in recent prior years—led to increased adoption of DT corn varieties in 2016. Farmers are more likely to plant DT corn on highly erodible land and less likely to irrigate such varieties, consistent with the fact that the western Corn Belt was of major marketing focus during the early years of commercialization. |
| JEL: | Q12 Q15 Q16 Q54 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30121&r= |
| By: | Aimable Nsabimana |
| Abstract: | There has been much discussion on climate change and its adverse effects on agriculture, including excessive loss of food production. In regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, where agriculture is the major source of household livelihoods, shocks in weather patterns affect farmers' expectations of farm yield and hence the decision to adopt farm inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides and the extent of their utilization, particularly given the relatively high cost of these inputs. |
| Keywords: | Farm inputs, Agriculture, Climate change, Sub-Saharan Africa, Weather shock |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2022-57&r= |
| By: | Stetter, Christian; Sauer, Johannes |
| Abstract: | The cultivation of agroforestry systems is regarded as an effective strategy to synergistically mitigate and adapt to climate change in the face of an increased occurrence of regional extreme weather events. This study addresses the question if and under what conditions farmers are likely to adopt agroforestry and wood-based land-use systems in response to regional weather extremes. We conducted a discrete choice experiment to elicit farmers preferences for - and willingness to adopt - agroforestry and wood-based land use systems and combined the results with geo-spatial weather data. Assuming adaptive weather expectations, we regionally simulate land users' dynamic response to extreme weather years in terms of adoption probabilities. We find that farmers in our case study region in Southeast Germany have a negative preference for alley cropping and short rotation coppice compared to an exclusively crop-based land use system. However, the results from the simulation of a 2018-like extreme weather year show that alley-cropping systems (i.e. agroforestry) might have a very high probability of being adopted in the medium to long-run under different scenarios, thus enhancing farmers' resilience to climate change. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321173&r= |
| By: | Ahmed, Musa Hasen; Tesfaye, Wondimagegn Mesfin; Gassmann, Franziska |
| Abstract: | We investigate if and how farmers adjust their land allocation decisions in response to within-growing season weather variability using novel crop-specific data collected over seven consecutive years. By focusing on maize-producing smallholder farmers in Ethiopia, we show that farmers respond quickly to growing season weather variability by adjusting their land allocation decisions. In addition to quantifying a substantial adaptation margin that has not been documented before, our findings also reveal the presence of a weather variability-induced expansion of maize production into areas that are less suitable for maize cultivation. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321171&r= |
| By: | Dillon, Emma J.; Moran, Brian |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a baseline assessment of Irish farmer engagement with digital technologies in operating their farm businesses pre-COVID using nationally representative data from the 2019 Teagasc National Farm Survey. The analysis thus identifies those farmers most equipped to adapt to the changing communication and operational environment and those most vulnerable to exclusion and isolation. Survey results confirm that dairy farmers are more engaged with computer and smartphone technology in operating their farm business. Preliminary econometric investigations confirm the importance of socio-demographic factors relating to both farm and household in influencing farmer uptake of such technology. More engaged farmers tended to be younger, living in younger households and with higher agri-educational qualifications. Conversely, older farmers living alone, were less likely to use ICT in conducting their farm business. Further in-depth econometric investigation is required to explore the drivers and barriers to technology adoption. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321160&r= |
| By: | Cardwell, Ryan; Ghazalian, Pascal L. |
| Abstract: | The Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) was a state-trading enterprise that controlled the sale and distribution of wheat and barley produced in Western Canada from 1935 to 2012. The CWB’s regulatory and bureaucratic structures have been investigated as sources of several market effects, including prices and spatial production patterns. We investigate the effects of the CWB on productivity using farm-level data, and identify how deregulation of the CWB affected total factor productivity (TFP) for CWB-regulated crops. Farm-level production and input data for 13,000 grain farms over 15 years are used to generate a within-farm difference-in-difference (DiD) estimator that identifies how relative TFP changed between CWB and non-CWB crops after deregulation. Cereal farm operators typically grow several (CWB and non-CWB) crops in a single season, allowing us to estimate production functions for multiple crops at the same farm in the same year. Our within-farm DiD empirical strategy identifies the effects of deregulation on changes in relative TFP between crops, while controlling for many of the confounding factors that complicate TFP measurement in other approaches, such as unobserved differences between farms and unobserved changes within farms over time. This research makes a methodological contribution to the productivity literature by developing a within-farm DiD estimator, and contributes to the understanding of how policy interventions affect farm-level productivity. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321159&r= |
| By: | Mikhail Miklyaev (Department of Economics Queens University, Canada and Cambridge Resources International Inc.); Richard Barichello (Food and Resource Economics, University of British Columbia); Katarzyna Pankowska (Independent Consultant) |
| Abstract: | Agriculture in Ethiopia is highly fragmented according to agroecological zones, with distinctly different cropping patterns across all regions of the country. Agroecological conditions in several of Ethiopia's regions are appropriate for producing various specialties of sesame seeds. These seeds are grown as a cash crop and cultivated for their oil contents. However, many challenges are facing the agricultural sector of the sesame value chain in Ethiopia. Using the cost-benefit approach of the integrated investment appraisal, this project aims to improve the Ethiopian sesame value chain by exploiting its potential in the production of sesame and increasing its share of the world market. This is done by integrating the financial, economic, stakeholder, and risk outcomes of the Ethiopian sesame value chain. |
| Keywords: | agriculture, production, export, sesame value chain. |
| JEL: | D61 Q2 Q13 |
| Date: | 2021–08–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qed:dpaper:4592&r= |
| By: | Matthews, Alan |
| Abstract: | The European Green Deal has the ambition to bring about a more sustainable food system. Trade policy is required to be coherent with and supportive of the objectives of the Green Deal. Various legislative and other initiatives have been introduced or proposed to use trade policy measures to support the move to higher sustainability standards in the food system both in the EU and globally. Mandatory due diligence requirements for companies are proposed to ensure they have ‘clean’ supply chains. Mirror clauses have been proposed in agri-food trade to require that imported products meet similar regulatory standards as EU producers. Promoting this agenda is a priority of the French EU Presidency in the first half of 2022. Higher sustainability standards and accompanying trade measures will have a significant impact on the competitiveness of EU producers as well as international trade in food. This paper provides a preliminary assessment of this debate, with a particular focus on vulnerable developing countries for which the EU is an important market. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321162&r= |
| By: | Raitzer, David (Asian Development Bank); Batmunkh, Odbayar (University of San Francisco) |
| Abstract: | Matching grant programs administered to agricultural groups and cooperatives have emerged as a means of helping smallholder farmers to commercialize in Nepal. These programs help farmers to access information on new technologies, overcome barriers to productive investment, and connect with output markets, although the combinations of support received by individual households vary. This study disentangles the causal effects of different elements of support through an inverse probability weighted two-way fixed effects analysis of data from a panel of 2,268 households, of which 47% belong to 246 farmer groups in three provinces. It finds that group membership without receiving support has important effects on commercialization and income, as does receiving any support. The forms of support with largest effects on production, income, and/or human capital include production training, marketing support, and a combination including both training and assets. In contrast, only modest or even negative effects are detected from provision of either inputs or credit in isolation. |
| Keywords: | matching grants; microcredit; extension; asset transfer; agriculture |
| JEL: | Q12 Q13 Q14 Q16 |
| Date: | 2022–06–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:0661&r= |
| By: | Kitamura, Shuhei |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the role of property rights and agricultural technology in factor reallocation and structural transformation. Using a novel dataset, I show that the land reform enforced by the Allies after World War II, which redistributed the ownership of farmlands from landlords to tenants and promoted equality, led farmers to use more low-cost agricultural machines when they became available and to rely less on family labor for production, resulting in an increase in the outmigration of farmers' children from rural to urban areas and an increase in agricultural income. Then, I quantify the impact of the factor reallocation on the entire economy using a two-sector neoclassical growth model, and find that (a) both labor and capital reallocation affected economic growth, and (b) the standard of living during the postwar period was significantly lower without such reallocation. These results indicate that not only labor, but also capital, including agricultural machines, is an important factor for structural transformation, and that property rights play a vital role in this process. |
| Date: | 2022–05–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:wh5qx&r= |
| By: | Pejman Abedifar (University of St Andrews - School of Management; Khatam University - Tehran Institute for Advanced Studies); Seyed Javad Kashizadeh (Khatam University); Steven Ongena (University of Zurich - Department of Banking and Finance; Swiss Finance Institute; KU Leuven; NTNU Business School; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)) |
| Abstract: | Using a rare flood in April 2019 in Iran as a natural experiment, we study the role of local banks in mitigating the financial consequence of natural disasters to smallholder farmers. We find that local branches immediately react to the disaster by increasing their lending for two months following the flood. Analyzing proprietary information on more than 70,000 farmers, we find that farmers with a stronger relationship with their bank - in particular when they are young and female - have a higher chance of access to new credit. Our findings underscore the importance of the presence of local banks in agricultural areas which are exposed to climate risk. |
| Keywords: | Local banks, Relationship lending, Climate Change, Farmers |
| JEL: | G21 G28 O13 Q14 Q54 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp2252&r= |
| By: | Choi, Jaerim; Lim, Sunghun |
| Abstract: | This paper provides evidence on the effects of US and Chinese trade policies on the 2020 US presidential election. In response to a series of US tariffs imposed on Chinese goods, China imposed retaliatory tariffs, especially on US agricultural products, which largely affected Republican-leaning counties. The US government then subsidized US farmers by providing direct payments through the Market Facilitation Program (MFP) to mitigate the Chinese retaliatory tariffs. Using the universe of actual county-level MFP disbursement data, we first document that US agricultural subsidies relative to the Chinese retaliatory tariff exposure were especially higher in solidly Republican counties, implying that Trump allocated rents in exchange for political patronage. Then, we find that US agricultural subsidies outweighed Chinese retaliatory tariffs and led to an increase in the Republican vote share in the 2020 presidential election. Finally, we uncover evidence that China’s retaliatory trade policy and US agricultural policy exacerbated political polarization in the US, especially the rural-urban divide. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, Political Economy, Public Economics |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321168&r= |
| By: | Alessandro Passaro; Filippo Randelli |
| Abstract: | Faced with higher risks from climate change, food systems will need to transition away from dominant industrial paradigms and move towards a more sustainable way of producing, distributing, and consuming food. For sustainability transitions to happen, there is increased acknowledgment that lower administrative levels and local territorial arrangements are fundamental for policymaking, implementation, and impactful action. To go beyond two well-known criticisms of local food sustainable initiatives, i.e., to be rather small and to be developed outside policy frameworks and/or in stark opposition to current food systems, we argue in this paper to look at new meso-spaces of transformation at local level such as biodistricts, where community members, professionals, and governments get together to share knowledge, deliberate, and collectively devise place-based strategies to address complex food systems issues. We analyse 8 biodistricts in Tuscany and, as a result of the analysis, we argue that biodistricts can potentially act as territorial meso-spaces at local level, favouring the transformation towards sustainability of food systems. |
| Keywords: | food systems, sustainability transitions, governance, grassroots innovations. |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2022_12.rdf&r= |
| By: | Shin, Mika W.; Loughrey, Jason; Dillon, Emma; Geoghegan, Cathal |
| Abstract: | A decreasing number of young farmers and the ageing of the farmer population is a matter of concern for the Irish and European agricultural sectors. The process of generational renewal, or farm succession takes place gradually over the lifecycle and is not only based on rational economic choice, but is also dependent on relevant social factors. To understand the process of farm succession, we seek to identify relevant drivers and barriers through quantitative analysis with panel data containing information about both the economic and social characteristics of Irish farms and farm holders. Preliminary results show a positive relationship between farm size and the probability of succession in the case of dairy farms. Farm investment also has a strong association with succession, reflecting optimism with regard to the future of the farm business. Demographic factors, particularly the absence of younger household members and instances of farmers living alone are identified as potential barriers to succession. Workload is also confirmed as being negatively related to farm succession. The results confirm the importance of social factors in the succession process and suggest the necessity to mitigate social hardship and to take measures that assist both older and younger farmers in solving the farm succession problem. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, Institutional and Behavioral Economics |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321164&r= |
| By: | Konstantinos Metaxoglou; Aaron Smith |
| Abstract: | We study the relationship between water nutrient pollution and U.S. agriculture using data between the early 1970s and late 2010s. We estimate a positive causal effect of corn acreage on nitrogen concentration in the country’s water bodies using alternative empirical approaches. We find that a 10% increase in corn acreage causes an increase in nitrogen concentration in water by at least 1% and show that the magnitude of the acreage effect increases with precipitation but not with extreme temperature. Based on the average streamflow of the Mississippi River at the Gulf of Mexico during this period and damages of about $16 per kilogram of nitrogen, this 1% increase in average nitrogen concentration implies an annual external cost of $800 million. We also report the results of additional integrated-assessment type of exercises aimed to inform policy makers, and we use recent climate models to project the implications of climate change on the magnitude of the estimated effects. We estimate that climate change will not materially change the relationship between corn acreage and nitrogen concentration in waterways |
| JEL: | Q15 Q48 Q51 Q53 Q58 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30124&r= |
| By: | Adenuga, Adewale H.; Jack, Claire; Ashfield, Austen; Wallace, Michael |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates the impact of membership of the dairy Business Development Groups (BDG), a participatory extension programme in Northern Ireland on the gross margin performance of participating farmers relative to non-participants. The study employs a difference-in-differences exact coarsened matching approach and contributes to the literature on the impact of participatory extension programmes on farm income. The results of the analyses showed that membership of dairy BDG has a statistically significant impact on the gross margin of participating farmers. Specifically, the results showed that dairy farmers who are members of the BDGs increased their gross margin by £117 per head respectively compared to farmers that are non-members of the BDGs. The results of the study have practical implications for the design of participatory extension programmes as it provides evidence to inform policy development around the area of participatory extension programmes. It also supports the design of efficient agricultural education and extension systems that incorporates the ideas of the farmers themselves through peer-to-peer learning thereby maximising the economic and social benefits accruable from such programmes. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, Farm Management |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321170&r= |
| By: | Entine, Jon |
| Keywords: | Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2021–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao21:320971&r= |
| By: | Bertelli, Olivia; Fall, Fatou |
| Abstract: | Finding the most effective ways for motivating agents to volunteer for the benefit of the community is a main concern for resource-constrained organizations. This paper tests the effects of three non-monetary mechanisms in the context of a large-scale volunteer Farmer Trainer program in rural Uganda. Farmers identified by local communities were randomly selected to become Farmer Trainers in dairy farming. To encourage their volunteer activity of trainer, three non-monetary mechanisms were randomly assigned to a subset of Farmer Trainers: (i) vouchers for accessing professional Extension Agents, (ii) sign-post advertising their trainer’s activity, (iii) extra training to learn to customize training sessions based on the farmers’ needs. Results show that connecting Farmer Trainers to professional extension agents is the most effective way to increase their training efforts and to diffuse information to a large number of farmers even outside of their social network. This evidence speaks in favor of providing cost-effective non-monetary incentives to Farmer Trainers for the diffusion of information. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, Institutional and Behavioral Economics |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321175&r= |
| By: | Robbie Maris (University of Waikato); Yvonne Matthews (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA)) |
| Abstract: | Freshwater scarcity is worsening as we quickly approach the freshwater planetary boundary. There has been extensive research and policy development in the space of water scarcity, pollution and accessibility, centered around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A large body of literature examines household and climate characteristics predictive of water consumption by households. However, there does not appear to be any research on the role of views of and proximity to water bodies in household water consumption. While researchers have long recognised the relationship between “water views†and property prices, the relationships between water views and water consumption have been all but ignored. In this paper, we develop a simple model of water consumption which depends on the perceptions of water scarcity and the perceptions of whether water scarcity is an issue. Using geographic information systems (GIS) viewshed analysis, we model whether properties in Tauranga, New Zealand, have views of lakes and the coast. We then use these variables in a fixed effects model of water consumption. We find that views of lakes are associated with higher water consumption and views of the coast are associated with lower water consumption. We suggest that these effects are driven by psychological biases which alter the perceptions of water scarcity and concern for water scarcity. We deploy a range of robustness checks and argue that our results are likely causal. However, there is still plenty of research required to comprehensively unpack the relationship between views of water bodies and water consumption. |
| Keywords: | Water consumption; Viewshed analysis; Water scarcity; Fixed effects; Water demand |
| JEL: | D12 D91 Q21 Q25 |
| Date: | 2022–06–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:22/10&r= |
| By: | Gobey, Will |
| Abstract: | The UK is in the process of signing a raft of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), with potentially large ramifications for domestic agricultural sectors. In Defra, we use a variety of trade models to establish the costs and benefits of such policies on UK consumers and agri-food producers. However, all our trade models aggregate impacts to the UK level. Given we expect production impacts in particular to be regionally concentrated, this is a significant limitation to understanding the overall impact of these FTAs. A variety of approaches could be adopted to estimate these impacts, from the more rudimentary to the more resource intensive. The costs and benefits of these approaches will be discussed. A recommended approach is set out. We examine the appropriateness of this at both a country level – England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland – and at a more detailed regional level. This approach is then tested on an example Free Trade Agreement, the UK’s recent FTA with Australia. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, Production Economics |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321167&r= |
| By: | Le Gloux, Fanny; Dupraz, Pierre; Issanchou, Alice; Ropars-Collet, Carole |
| Abstract: | The effectiveness of payment schemes for delivering agri-environmental public goods with provision thresholds (biodiversity, water quality) depends on reaching enough farmland enrolment at the landscape scale. Supporting the development of collaborative approaches with a financial bonus conditioned to a collective element on top of an individual basic payment is a promising way to favour participation and continuity of environmental commitments in an area. However, little is known on farmers’ attitudes towards such mixed-payment mechanisms. Using a choice experiment, we measure farmers’ preferences towards an individual bonus for sponsoring peers, which can be combined with a collective bonus for improving the ecological quality of rivers in northwestern France. Applying a mixed logit model, we find that respondents have a positive willingness to accept contracts with a sponsor bonus, but a negative willingness to accept a sponsor bonus combined with a bonus for reaching a collective environmental objective. We characterize respondents’ heterogeneity with a latent class model and identify 3 different attitudes towards the bonus options: (i) negative preferences for both, particularly for the combined bonus, (ii) indifference, (iii) positive preferences for both, even higher for the combined bonus. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321177&r= |
| By: | Chamberlin, Barbara |
| Keywords: | Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety |
| Date: | 2021–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao21:320999&r= |
| By: | Kung, James Kai-sing (City University of Hong Kong); Özak, Ömer (Southern Methodist University); Putterman, Louis (Brown University); Shi, Shuang (City University of Hong Kong) |
| Abstract: | We propose and test empirically a theory describing the endogenous formation and persistence of mega-states, using China as an example. We suggest that the relative timing of the emergence of agricultural societies, and their distance from each other, set off a race between their autochthonous state-building projects, which determines their extent and persistence. Using a novel dataset describing the historical presence of Chinese states, prehistoric development, the diffusion of agriculture, and migratory distance across 1° × 1° grid cells in eastern Asia, we find that cells that adopted agriculture earlier and were close to Erlitou – the earliest political center in eastern Asia – remained under Chinese control for longer and continue to be a part of China today. By contrast, cells that adopted agriculture early and were located further from Erlitou developed into independent states, as agriculture provided the fertile ground for state-formation, while isolation provided time for them to develop and confront the expanding Chinese empire. Our study sheds important light on why eastern Asia kept reproducing a mega-state in the area that became China and on the determinants of its borders with other states. |
| Keywords: | state, agriculture, isolation, social complexity, stickiness to China, Erlitou, East Asia |
| JEL: | F50 F59 H70 H79 N90 O10 R10 Z10 Z13 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15348&r= |
| By: | Fengxia Dong |
| Abstract: | Besides a variety of production and environmental benefits, cover cropping has been advocated as a mean to increase resilience to drought. We explored factors influencing farmer’s adoption of cover crops and examined the effects of cover crops on soybean yield and its risk using USDA’s 2018 ARMS Phase II Soybean Production Practices and Costs Report and Phase III Soybean Costs and Returns Report. Incorporating drought occurrence in current year and previous 5 years into our analysis, we find that previous occurrence of drought did not affect farmers’ adoption of cover crops and the effects of cover crops on yield and its risk are mixed. Under a drought condition, cover crops reduced soybean yield and increased yield variation; but in the meantime, they reduced the risk of crop failure, or made yield less negatively skewed. The insignificant effect of previous drought on cover crop adoption and the mixture of positive and negative effects of cover crops on yield and its risk imply that farmers are divided in their acceptance of cover crops as a mean to build resilience to drought. |
| JEL: | Q12 Q54 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30122&r= |
| By: | Joseph I. Uduji (University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria); Elda N. Okolo-Obasi (University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the multinational oil companies' (MOCs) corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Nigeria. Its special focus is to investigate the impact of the global memorandum of understanding (GMoU) on gender difference in nutrition and health in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. This paper adopts a survey research technique, aimed at gathering information from a representative sample of the population, as it is essentially cross-sectional, describing and interpreting the current situation. A total of 800 women respondents were sampled across the rural areas of the Niger Delta region. The results from the use of a combined propensity score matching and logit model indicate that CSR of the MOCs using GMoU model has made significant success in closing the gender difference in nutrition and health in agricultural household in the Niger Delta region. The findings also show that mainstreaming gender in nutrition within the field of agriculture is a critical aspect of strengthening gender and nutrition/health linkages, in recognition of women substantial contribution to agriculture production and their central role in household food collection, preservation/processing and preparation. This suggest that mainstreaming gender in nutrition offers opportunities to integrate agriculture and health approaches in GMoU projects, which will require increased collaboration and coordination between the MOCs’ and CBD clusters in the field of gender and nutrition to exploit existing complementary and comparative advantages, and to apply a holistic approach in host communities. This implies that gender and nutrition/health have multiple dimensions and are highly context-specific; and the pathway towards improved food and nutrition security for all should be a gender-equitable process incorporated in CSR programmes and projects in sub-Saharan Africa. This research contributes to the gender debate in agriculture from a CSR perspective in developing countries and rationale for demands for social project by host communities. It concludes that business has an obligation to help in solving problems of public concern. |
| Keywords: | Gender, nutrition and health, agricultural households, corporate social responsibility, multinational oil companies, sub-Saharan Africa |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aak:wpaper:22/009&r= |
| By: | Gilbert, Christopher L. |
| Abstract: | The episode of high food prices in the period from 2007 and the more recent post‐lockdown commodity price resurgence have prompted discussion of commodity price cycles. Tropical commodities, particularly tree crop commodities, stand out as the most likely to exhibit cyclical patterns. The paper uses annual data for cocoa, coffee and sugar extending back into the middle of the nineteenth century to attempt to identify long cycles. I compare results obtained from the bandpass filter decomposition with those generated by the unobserved components model. Both procedure rely on separation of trend and cycle. This is straightforward in sugar, where the trend is well defined, but more problematic in coffee and, especially so in cocoa. Some evidence is found for a 25 year cycle in all three commodities. |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis, Production Economics |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321165&r= |
| By: | Becker, Stefan; Grajewski, Regina; Rehburg, Pia |
| Abstract: | The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2023–2027 is implemented through national strategic plans. This paper examines the strategic plans submitted for approval, analysing their financial priorities to identify commonalities, differences and overarching patterns of national CAP implementation. It aims to provide general orientation on the new funding period as well as starting points for further studies. The paper shows that the member states use the discretion granted in the Strategic Plan Regulation in various ways. Despite common goals and funding guidelines, the plans show great heterogeneity. Regarding the general design, the plans differ quite vastly mainly in the reallocation of funds between the first and the second pillar or the level of contribution rates. In the first pillar, the plans not only vary in their shares of decoupled and coupled direct payments as well as the newly introduced eco-schemes; they also differ considerably in how these interventions are designed. Overall, the funds planned for eco-schemes are slightly above the prescribed minimum, while some member states are close to the maximum share of coupled direct payments. Interventions in specific sectors also vary. Some offerings are highly differentiated; however, most funds will flow into the fruit and vegetable and wine sectors. The second pillar is marked by overall continuity. Despite the eco-schemes in the first pillar, agri-environment- climate measures also remain important in the second pillar. Support for organic farming and animal welfare measures even increase slightly in relative terms. The same is true for risk management, where Italy and France make substantial use of CAP funds. Support for investments remains high, but becomes less important. More significant than the changes compared to the current funding period are national differences: The strategic plans attribute quite different importance to each of these interventions. Despite the heterogeneity, the strategic plans heavily focus on the agricultural sector; services of general interest and business development in rural areas as well as the forestry sector are only secondary. The goals primarily pertain to income, competitiveness and the environment. This pattern is also evident, albeit in a weakened form, if only the second pillar is considered. Nevertheless, the overall diversity of strategic plans is further evidence of the subsidiarity in the Common Agricultural Policy. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Environmental Economics and Policy, Financial Economics |
| Date: | 2022–06–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:jhimwp:321830&r= |
| By: | Glyn Wittwer (Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University, Australia); Kym Anderson (Wine Economics Research Centre, School of Economics and Public Policy, University of Adelaide, Australia, and Arndt-Corden Dept of Economics, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia) |
| Abstract: | This paper outlines four enhancements to a global model of national markets for wine, beer and spirits to improve its usefulness in policy analysis: each still wine type is split into red and white; the model distinguishes on-premise from off-premise consumption; California (responsible for nearly 90% of US wine production) is distinguished from the rest of the United States; and top-down modules are added to capture sub-national grape and wine impacts in Australia and sub-state impacts in California. The paper provides several illustrations of the usefulness of these enhancements for estimating impacts of market and public policy shocks and options. |
| Keywords: | Global beverage modelling, impacts of excise and import taxes, on-premise consumption, beverage alcohol levels |
| JEL: | C68 F17 H21 Q17 Q18 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:adl:winewp:2022-04&r= |
| By: | Leduc, Gaëlle; Hansson, Helena |
| Abstract: | Agroforestry has recently been recognized as a type of agriculture that provides ecosystem services such as biodiversity, carbon sequestration and water management. This paper studies farmers’ behavioral drivers with respect to their adoption of agroforestry practices, using survey data from Sweden. We extended the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to incorporate other behavioral factors, including business identity, conservation objectives and perceived labor constraints. These constructs were first extracted with factor analysis before estimating their impact on adoption with logit models. Of the factors analyzed, the results indicate that conservation objectives positively impact farmers’ adoption of agroforestry. The absence of significance of the other behavioral variables, including attitudes, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms, indicate that there might be some over reporting of significant TPB models in the farmers’ adoption literature. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321174&r= |
| By: | Lebdioui, Amir |
| Abstract: | The economic future of Latin America and the Caribbean is intrinsically linked to climate change. In the context of a 21st century that will be marked by climate change and the global fight against it, the status quo is unlikely to help Latin American economies leap forward economically, which calls for a major rethinking of trade and investment strategies in the region. A Latin American Green Deal, based on regional coordination to exploit existing synergies and economies of scale, could be the way forward. Across the region there is growing evidence of climate change - precipitation patterns are shifting, temperatures are rising, and some areas are experiencing changes in the frequency and severity of weather extremes such as floods and droughts. By 2050, it is estimated that climate change damage could cost USD 100 billion annually to the region. The impact of climate change, which will be more devastating in Latin America than in most parts of the world, also influences the region’s ability to trade and its long-term export prospects. The increasing frequency of extreme meteorological events has already led to devastating effects on production, tourism, and trade infrastructure, while expected fluctuations in precipitation and temperature also threaten the long-term productivity of several agricultural outputs, which many countries in the region depend on as a source of exports. |
| JEL: | L81 |
| Date: | 2022–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:115268&r= |
| By: | de Brauw, Alan; Kramer, Berber |
| Abstract: | Adoption of high-quality yet more expensive agricultural inputs remains low, in part because most inputs are experience goods: before purchase, buyers observe only price—not quality—providing sellers with opportunities to cheat on quality. Our lab-in-the-field experiment in Bangladesh replicates markets for such inputs, with input retailers (sellers) choosing price and quality, and farmers (buyers) choosing from which seller to purchase inputs. We analyze market behavior, including buyers’ trust and sellers’ reciprocity, and study the effects of buyer-driven accreditation and loyalty rewards for accredited sellers of high-quality products. Trust and reciprocity remain low: Sellers provide mostly low-quality products, and buyers reveal low demand for more expensive, high-quality inputs. Accrediting sellers when their buyers are satisfied leads to higher input quality and more repeat purchases, but only when combined with loyalty rewards, because buyers’ quality signals are weak and do not incentivize sellers to change their behavior. We conclude that small incentives are effective at improving seller behavior, but this behavior change does not necessarily enhance quality signals and farmer welfare. |
| Keywords: | BANGLADESH; SOUTH ASIA; ASIA; farm inputs; markets; field experimentation; behaviour; consumer behaviour; merchants; trust; reciprocity |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2124&r= |
| By: | Monteiro, Diogo Souza |
| Abstract: | Contract farming is increasingly used to coordinate transactions between farmers and buyers downstream in food chains. However, the potential gains of contracts are often undermined by contract breaches from both buyers and sellers. In this paper we develop a simple buyer-seller contract model where we introduce the option of buyers to choose whether or not to offer a binding price to sellers. We assume agents are rational and self-interested, and that in single or double moral hazard settings there should not be differences in profits between buyers and sellers. We test our model in a laboratory experiment where we vary whether: (i) only the seller can renege on the initial agreement (single moral hazard), (ii) both the buyer and the seller can renege (double moral hazard), (iii) buyers can choose whether they are bound by their initial contract offer or not when the contract is determined. In contrast to theoretical predictions, we find that the single moral hazard setting is Pareto superior to the double moral hazard one, as it increases total profits and reduces income inequality. In the third treatment, we find that buyers opt to retain the right to renege on the initial contract offer and use it as a substitute for a lower price offer. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, Farm Management |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321179&r= |
| By: | Ghoshray, Atanu |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the dynamics of real coffee prices received by growers. First, we analyse the long run trends of coffee prices to determine whether producers of coffee are relatively worse off over time as has been suggested by influential reports. Given the biological nature of production of coffee we make conjectures that coffee prices can be characterised by large swings that can last several years, and accordingly, we consider whether prices can be characterised by structural breaks that cause a change in the sign and/or magnitude of the trend. Secondly, given the variability in coffee prices, an important issue for farmers’ is whether any shock to the prices they receive is short-lived or not. To investigate both of these questions, we conduct robust econometric tests and exploit a unique data set for selected countries that grow coffee. We find no evidence of any structural breaks and therefore breaking trends, and little evidence of any significant secular trend. We find mixed results with reference to whether shocks to coffee prices are transitory. The results are informative as they dispel some of the beliefs about trends in farm-gate coffee prices. We conclude by outlining policy implications based on our empirical findings. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321166&r= |
| By: | Malevolti, Giulia |
| Abstract: | As extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, the chronic poor, being overly exposed to these shocks, risk suffering the highest price. The 2012 flood in Nigeria was the worst in 40 years and hit more than 3 million people. Using nationally representative panel data from LSMS project, I study households’ asset dynamics over about a decade. I find that households hit by the flood converge to multiple equilibria consistent with the poverty trap narrative. In particular, households whose assets fell below the threshold converge to a low-level equilibrium point, whereas better endowed households converge to a high steady state. This is consistent across several empirical methods, ranging from parametric to non-parametric methods, as well as panel threshold estimation. Robustness checks further examine the validity of the finding, testing different asset indexes and flood definitions, as well as controlling for conflict-related events. Identifying a poverty trap is crucially helpful for designing poverty alleviation policies and fostering a country’s development. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Security and Poverty |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321172&r= |
| By: | Eichhorn, Theresa; Kantelhardt, Jochen; Schaller, Lena Luise |
| Abstract: | A major focus of the Europe’s “Green Deal” is the better delivery of public goods by agriculture. Improvements are expected by applying innovative agri-environmental contracts, e.g. based on results-based payments. For the implementation of such contract solutions, farmers’ willingness to participate is key to success. This empirical study determines factors influencing farmers’ intention to perform result-based contract solutions based on a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The direct and indirect relationships are tested by applying a Structural Equation Model (SEM) based on primary data of 235 Austrian farmers. Findings reveal that the intention to perform is significantly and directly driven by the attitude towards performing result-based contracts and by self-efficacy. Perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are indirectly influencing the intention to perform via attitude. The subjective norm is influencing perceived usefulness directly and the intention to perform indirectly. Perceived risk is impacting perceived ease of use and therefore also indirectly impacting intention to perform. Our findings show, that especially for new voluntary AES, the socio-psychological constructs of farmers should be considered, which allows new levers in the design and successful introduction of these measures. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321178&r= |
| By: | Carlota Maria Miranda Quintal (University of Coimbra, Centre for Business and Economics Research, CeBER and Faculty of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Objective: To examine socioeconomic inequality in dietary habits and obesity in Portugal, looking at their evolution from 2005/06 to 2014. Methods: Cross-sectional data collected by Statistics Portugal – National Health Survey. Samples used in this study include 18–64-year olds (n=23,049 in 2005/06 and n=10,312 in 2014). The analysis focusses on differences in the prevalence of intake (at main meals) of nine foods across income groups and over time. Multiple logistic regression analysis is adopted to analyse association between socioeconomic factors (income and education) and obesity, controlling for behavioural and demographic characteristics. Results: Mean prevalence (%) in intake of food in 2005-06/2014 – soup (66/59: P |
| Keywords: | Socioeconomic inequality, Food intake, Obesity, Multiple logistic analysis, Portugal. |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gmf:papers:2021-01&r= |
| By: | Scheitrum, Daniel; Schaefer, K. Aleks; Saitone, Tina |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed how consumers obtained food with a dramatic shift out of food service and restaurants into grocery retail. At the onset of the pandemic, prices of a variety of goods, including groceries, increased rapidly. In many cases, U.S. states led lawsuits alleging price gouging behavior of food retailers and producers. In this paper, we examine the case of eggs and nd that price gouging litigations lead to a dramatic change in retailer behavior, long after the resolution of many of these disputes. We nd that retailers responded by rigidly adhering to pre-pandemic price levels for eggs, despite that fact that costs of production of eggs increased sharply during this time. We determine a breakdown in the pre-pandemic relationship between input costs and output prices for eggs. Additionally, we nd that retailers signicantly decreased their purchases of eggs and reduced the number of advertisements they placed for eggs, suggesting they are now willing to accept empty shelves in lieu of increasing prices. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Demand and Price Analysis |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321169&r= |
| By: | Mulugeta, Elias; Greig, Alastair |
| Abstract: | In this paper, a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) was carried out to investigate the profitability of investment undertaking on grassland reseeding using a simulation of different scenarios on reseeding rates. We employed the Net Present Value (NPV) and the Annualised Net Present Value (ANPV) evaluation criterion to determine the possible returns from grassland reseeding on a dairy farm. Furthermore, the assumptions made in the CBA are improved using econometric analysis. Both fixed and random effects regression models were applied to improve the assumptions. The results show that the effects of increasing reseeding rates will increase profit on a dairy farm. In grassland production, the profit is a result of increasing silage yield. Dairy profit is mainly a result of substitution between concentrate feed and silage. The correlation between silage yield and the reseeding rate is also positive. A 1% increase in reseeding rate could increase silage yield by 225kg. The correlation between milk yield and the reseeding rate is also positive. A 1% increase in reseeding rate could increase milk yield by 55.8 litres. This study also estimated the least-cost substitution between concentrates and silage feed occurs when the MRS is at 20.5%. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Livestock Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321180&r= |
| By: | Blake, Carol |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2021–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao21:320997&r= |
| By: | Martijn Huysmans; D. van Noord |
| Abstract: | Geographical indications (GIs) protect regional specialty foods such as lemons from Sorrento and Gouda Holland. While the EU asserts that GIs certify and protect high quality regional specialty products, the US sees them as protectionist. This article develops a conceptual framework of different quality attributes and analyzes how GIs may certify quality on those attributes. Regional origin may count as a quality attribute per se, or only indirectly through taste. The conceptual framework is illustrated with an exploratory blind tasting of Gouda cheeses. While a majority of consumers prefers Gouda North-Holland PDO to generic Gouda, the same is not true for Gouda Holland PGI. This suggests that not all GIs guarantee better taste for all consumers. The framework and empirics clarify the possibilities and limits for GIs to collectively appropriate the brand value of regional foods. |
| Keywords: | Geographical indications, Regional Foods, Quality, Protected Designationof Origin, Protected Geographical Indication, European Union |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:2108&r= |
| By: | Orazio Attanasio; Costas Meghir; Corina Mommaerts; Yu Zheng |
| Abstract: | We consider risk sharing in rural China during its rapid economic transformation from the late 1980s through the late 2000s. We document an erosion of consumption insurance against both household-level idiosyncratic and village-level aggregate income shocks, and show that this decline is related to observable economic changes: the shift from agriculture to wage employment, the decline of publicly owned Township-and-Village Enterprises, and increased migrant work. Further evidence suggests that as these changes took place at the village level, higher levels of government failed to offset these effects through the tax-and-transfer system, leaving households more exposed to both idiosyncratic and village-aggregate risk. |
| JEL: | D12 E21 O12 P25 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30143&r= |
| By: | Roberson, Michael |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2021–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao21:320998&r= |
| By: | Possner, Annkathrin; Rosero, Gabriel; Musshoff, Oliver |
| Abstract: | The poor and rural population in Sub Saharan Africa suffers from low financial inclusion. Yet, excluding population parts from accessing formal financial services means lost opportunity for household level, as well as for the whole economy. Evidence suggests that formal saving helps to accumulate larger amounts: Recent studies show how saving contributes to smoothing consumption and increasing resilience. A powerful tool for enhancing marginalized groups’ financial inclusion are mobile financial services. In Ghana’s rapidly developing banking and savings sector open questions remain. We investigate factors affecting Ghanaian cocoa farmers decision to save, as well as their savings amount. Among other factors, we focus on different savings instruments such as mobile saving on the phone, bank accounts or the traditional group saving method Susu. We employ data from a structured telephone survey conducted in 2021 among 405 randomly sampled cocoa farmers. The results of a two-step Heckman approach show that, while Susu or a bank account enhance savings, saving on the phone is associated with lower amounts. However, female farmers seem to benefit from this technology. In the light of recent policies issued by the Ghanaian government, directed at fortifying the digital finance sector, our results provide valuable information for public policy makers as well as the private sector. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, Consumer/Household Economics |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321156&r= |
| By: | Céline Guivarch (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AgroParisTech - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Thomas Le Gallic (CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AgroParisTech - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Nico Bauer (PIK - Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung); Panagiotis Fragkos; Daniel Huppmann; Marc Jaxa-Rozen; Ilkka Keppo (Aalto University); Elmar Kriegler (PIK - Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung); Tamás Krisztin; Giacomo Marangoni; Steve Pye (UCL - University College of London [London]); Keywan Riahi; Roberto Schaeffer (UFRJ - Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro); Massimo Tavoni; Evelina Trutnevyte (UNIGE - Université de Genève); Detlef van Vuuren (Utrecht University [Utrecht]); Fabian Wagner |
| Abstract: | As they gain new users, climate change mitigation scenarios are playing an increasing role in transitions to net zero. One promising practice is the analysis of scenario ensembles. Here we argue that this practice has the potential to bring new and more robust insights compared with the use of single scenarios. However, several important aspects have to be addressed. We identify key methodological challenges and the existing methods and applications that have been or can be used to address these challenges within a three-step approach: (1) pre-processing the ensemble; (2) selecting a few scenarios or analysing the full ensemble; and (3) providing users with efficient access to the information. |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-03663267&r= |
| By: | Ogunpaimo, Oyinlola Rafiat; Buckley, Cathal; Hynes, Stephen; O'Neill, Stephen |
| Abstract: | There exist an urgent need to reduce ammonia (NH3) emissions to control air pollution and moderate other related environmental and health hazards. . This study adopts farm-level marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) analysis across different farm typologies in Ireland. The study also addresses the interactions amongst the abatement options and the presence of farm heterogeneity in order to examine whether it is sub-optimal to adopt a single marginal abatement cost curve across different farm systems. Teagasc National Farm Survey (NFS) 2020 data was used as the basis of the analysis in the paper. The findings show that the selected measures are effective in abating ammonia emissions at varying levels across the different farm typologies. Liming, protected urea and crude protein in diets were primarily cost-saving while the clover measure examined moved between cost-saving and cost positive across the different farm types. The presence of heterogeneity across the farm typologies was further supported by the difference in the MACC diagram of the farm types. Furthermore, a higher abatement potential (>100 kgNH3) was reported for the combined measure as against the stand-alone measures. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321176&r= |
| By: | Brusberg, Mark |
| Keywords: | Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2021–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao21:320993&r= |
| By: | Giulia Malevolti |
| Abstract: | As extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, the chronic poor, being overly exposed to these shocks, risk suffering the highest price. The 2012 flood in Nigeria was the worst in 40 years and hit more than 3 million people. Using nationally representative panel data from LSMS project, I study households’ asset dynamics over about a decade. I find that households hit by the flood converge to multiple equilibria consistent with the poverty trap narrative. In particular, households whose assets fell below the threshold converge to a low-level equilibrium point, whereas better endowed households converge to a high steady state. This is consistent across several empirical methods, ranging from parametric to non-parametric methods, as well as panel threshold estimation. Robustness checks further examine the validity of the finding, testing different asset indexes and flood definitions, as well as controlling for conflict-related events. Identifying a poverty trap is crucially helpful for designing poverty alleviation policies and fostering a country’s development. |
| Keywords: | poverty traps; flood; climate shocks; asset poverty; Nigeria; poverty |
| JEL: | D31 I32 O12 Q54 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:frz:wpaper:wp2022_10.rdf&r= |
| By: | Rosero, Gabriel; Salguero, José; Brümmer, Bernhard |
| Abstract: | The role of agribusinesses can be crucial in improving a country’s economic growth, diversification of revenue sources and contributing to its overall development goals. Previous research has focused on innovation in the first step of the agricultural value chain. Despite that, the off-farm segments may have equal weight in the performance of the entire chain; the food and beverage branch alone represents around 40-70% of the value-added cost. The aim of this paper is to analyze whether firm-level innovation improves agribusinesses’ economic performance. Our analysis contributes to the current academic debate providing evidence of the agribusiness sector within a hostile business environment, a recurrent issue in several developing countries. We use the World Bank Enterprise Survey (2010, 2016) of El Salvador and follow a sequential Crépon-Duguet-Mairesse (CDM) approach. Our results suggest that investment in innovation activities and the potential innovation outcomes are determined by both specific firm characteristics and the surrounding hostile environment. The agribusiness sector has not expanded its overall production frontier, and the expenditures on insecurity mitigation outweigh the economic gains from innovation outputs. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321158&r= |
| By: | Marcel Fafchamps; Aditya Shrinivas |
| Abstract: | We propose a new method to test for efficient risk pooling that allows for intertemporal smoothing, non-homothetic consumption, and heterogeneous risk and time preferences. The method is composed of three steps. The first one allows for precautionary savings by the aggregate risk pooling group. The second utilizes the inverse Engel curve to estimate good-specific tests for efficient risk pooling. In the third step, we obtain consistent estimates of households' risk and time preferences using a full risk sharing model, and incorporate heterogeneous preferences in testing for risk pooling. We apply this method to panel data from Indian villages to generate a number of new insights. We find that food expenditures are better protected from aggregate shocks than non-food consumption, after accounting for non-homotheticity. Village-level consumption tracks aggregate village cash-in-hand, suggesting some form of coordinated precautionary savings. But there is considerable excess sensitivity to aggregate income, indicating a lack of full asset integration. We also find a large unexplained gap between the variation in measured consumption expenditures and cash-in-hand at the aggregate village level. Contrary to earlier findings, risk pooling in Indian villages no longer appears to take place more at the sub-caste level than at the village level. |
| JEL: | D14 D31 D64 O12 |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30128&r= |
| By: | Hammerling, Jessie HF |
| Abstract: | This paper examines drivers of domestic outsourcing through a case study of food services. It demonstrates that outsourcing is not necessarily motivated by clients’ desire to reduce costs or improve efficiency, and suggests that in some cases outsourcing may cost more than inhouse production. Instead, this study points to other kinds of financial incentives to outsource food services. For tech companies, an important incentive is to limit employee headcount in order to improve productivity metrics and thereby increase a company’s appeal to financial stakeholders. For universities, an important incentive is to obtain financing for facilities improvements from contractor companies. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, firms and organizations |
| Date: | 2022–01–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:indrel:qt9sz919zw&r= |
| By: | Macchiavello, Rocco; Morjaria, Ameet |
| Abstract: | Broadly speaking, economists have studied trust in two somewhat distinct ways. One approach is best captured by notions of generalized trust; another approach places trust at the core of relational contracts. After reviewing two empirical approaches to the study of relational contracts, we provide a preliminary attempt to bridge these two strands of the literature in the context of Rwanda’s coffee supply chain. |
| Keywords: | Relational Contracts; Trust; ERC Consolidator Grant Sharing Gains; IGC; EDI; GPRL at Northwestern; Elsevier deal |
| JEL: | J1 R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2022–05–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:115069&r= |
| By: | Tensi, Annika Francesca; Ang, Frederic; Fels-Klerx, Ine van der |
| Abstract: | In this article, we analysed the relationship between farm innovation and farm efficiency. We computed an innovation index based on Dutch Innovation Monitor data and ratings from an expert elicitation. The innovation index is an adaptation and extension of an existing innovation index for Irish dairy farms. We computed technical efficiency scores with a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The DEA scores are computed with Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) data. We investigated the relationship with pre-registered ordinary least square (OLS) regression analyses in quadratic form and additional Chi-square tests. Unanimously, we reject the first hypothesis that farm innovation and farm efficiency can be described by an inverse parabolic relationship. Early adopters and innovators are not necessarily less efficient than the early and late majority of innovation adopters. We also reject the second hypothesis that innovation front-runners become more efficient. These are preliminary findings. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321163&r= |
| By: | Meissner, Luise; Musshoff, Oliver |
| Abstract: | Farmland market regulation and the respective political instruments are very present in the current discussion, especially since the market faces big price increases. In the European Union, several instruments exist. The evaluation and discussion of those instruments is complex and shaped by subjective arguments. Not only are their utility for the society questioned, but also their accuracy and efficiency. Within those points, different concerned parties might have a different focus and different requirements to the regulation instruments. In this article, we intend to enrich and structure the discussion about farmland market regulation. We present an analytical framework for arguments and parties within farmland market regulation. As an example, the German land transaction law is broken down by process, parties and arguments. The framework allows to weight arguments individually. It implicates two results: First, considers conflicting interests in a clear form. Second, a linear utility curve can be calculated which determines the minimum share of pre-sales right executions to achieve a positive aggregated utility. Hence, the framework is able to analyze the utility of the German farmland transaction law from different perspectives. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321157&r= |
| By: | Heck, MIchelle |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Health Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2021–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:usao21:321041&r= |