|
on Agricultural Economics |
|
Issue of 2011‒05‒24
112 papers chosen by |
| By: | Betz, Michael R. |
| Keywords: | Africa, agriculture, trees, tree planting, Uganda, land, land rights, sovereignty, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011–04–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103534&r=agr |
| By: | Schuring, Jessica; Huffman, Wallace E.; Fan, Xing |
| Keywords: | Aggregate production, Midwestern agriculture, elasticties of supply and demand, public agricultural research, GM- crop varieties, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Q11, Q16, Q41, |
| Date: | 2011–05–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103493&r=agr |
| By: | D'Antoni, Jeremy M.; Mishra, Ashok K. |
| Abstract: | The MILC program, a counter-cyclical income support program, was designed to provide price support to dairy farmers. Since the inception of the MILC program it has been argued that the program is inefficient and rewards inefficiency by keeping high cost, small dairy farms in business. Large dairy producers have expressed concerns that the MILC payments have negatively affected their farming income. Using farm-level, ARMS data from 2005, this study investigated the factors that affect farmerâs decision to participate in MILC program and if participation in MILC has an impact on milk production. The results show that participation in MILC program is positively correlated with farmerâs educational attainment, organic certification subsidy, milk price, off-farm work by spouses, and financial record keeping. Further, medium sized dairy farms are more likely to participate in MILC program. Finally, results indicate that participation in MILC program has a positive impact on milk production. |
| Keywords: | dairy farms, agricultural policy, Milk Income Loss Contract Program, two-step probit estimation, Agricultural and Food Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, H20, Q13, Q18, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103775&r=agr |
| By: | Slade, Peter; Hailu, Getu |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103866&r=agr |
| By: | Haque, Samiul; Kenney, Roman |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103901&r=agr |
| By: | Niemi, Jarkko K.; Partanen, Kirsi |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103688&r=agr |
| By: | Kragt, Marit E; Pannell, David J; Robertson, Michael |
| Abstract: | The Australian government has identified soil carbon sequestration on agricultural lands as a potential strategy to offset greenhouse gas emissions. Within the public debate, it has been claimed that provision of positive incentives for farmers to change their land management will result in substantial carbon sequestration in agricultural soils at a low carbon price. There is, however, little information about the costs or benefits of carbon sequestration in agricultural soils to test these claims. The objective of this study is to assess the costs of alternative land-use and land-management practises that will increase soil carbon sequestration. The analysis integrates biophysical modelling of carbon sequestration with whole-farm economic modelling, to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of alternative carbon storage practices. Results indicate that, for a case study model of a crop-livestock farm in the Western Australian wheatbelt, the opportunity costs of sequestering high levels of soil carbon are considerable. Low carbon prices would generate very modest increases in soil carbon sequestration. We discuss the implications of our findings for policy development. |
| Keywords: | Soil carbon, Climate Change Mitigation, Carbon sequestration, Agriculture, Crop Rotations, MIDAS modelling, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2011–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103708&r=agr |
| By: | Egbendewe-Mondzozo, Aklesso; Swinton, Swinton M.; Izaurralde, R. Cesar; Manowitz, David H.; Zhang, Xuesong |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Production Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103435&r=agr |
| By: | Dong, Fengxia; Jensen, Jensen H. |
| Abstract: | Consumer demand for reliable food product quality and safety is growing. This trend, together with increased public regulation and attention to the legal liability of food processors and retailers creates derived demand for food safety assurance in farm production. In consequence, farms have adopted different measures, voluntarily or compulsorily, in their production practice to ensure reduced food safety risks from the farm product. Multiple individual indicators exist which reflect different facets of food safety practice. In fact, it is likely that production of a safer product is a result of several factors. However, little is known about what practices effect greater food safety control at the farm level, or how farms that take greater food safety control fare in comparison to other farms. This study develops a composite food safety control indicator by aggregating data from a set of individual indicators of food safety control and investigates the variation in food safety practices across farms. Moreover, we show how some relevant variables may influence farm food safety control, thus provide empirical evidence for the design of food safety-enhancing agricultural policy measures. |
| Keywords: | food safety control, hog farm, composite indicator, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103863&r=agr |
| By: | Xiong, Bo; Beghin, John C. |
| Keywords: | sanitary and phytosanitary, SPS, technical measures, TBT, standards, gravity equation, OECD., Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q17, F13, |
| Date: | 2011–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103505&r=agr |
| By: | Feil, Jan-Henning; Musshoff, Oliver; Balmann, Alfons |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103729&r=agr |
| By: | Kandilov, Amy M.G.; Kandilov, Ivan T.; Liu, Xiangping; Renkow, Mitch |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the impact of USDAâs low-cost broadband loan programs on the U.S. agricultural sector. The broadband loan programs increase access to high-speed internet in recipient communities, which can raise farm sales by increasing both farm output and prices received by producers. Further, high-speed internet may drive down costs by providing information on cheaper inputs and better management practices, leading to an overall improvement in farm profits. Using data from the 1997, 2002, and 2007 U.S. Census of Agriculture, we employ a panel difference-in-differences estimator, as well as a difference-in-differences propensity score matching estimator, to show that the two USDA broadband loan programs have positive impacts on farm sales, expenditure, and profits. The positive effects for crops are larger than those for livestock and animal products. |
| Keywords: | Broadband loans, program evaluation, farm sales, expenditure, and income, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Marketing, Public Economics, Q10, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103634&r=agr |
| By: | D'Souza, Anna; Jolliffe, Dean |
| Keywords: | Afghanistan, food prices, wheat, food security, nutrition, poverty, quantile regression, influence functions, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, D12, I3, |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103443&r=agr |
| By: | Yu, Chin-Hsien; Park, Seong C.; McCarl, Bruce A.; Amosson, Stephen H. |
| Keywords: | animal feeding operation, dust, odor, externality, social welfare, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103786&r=agr |
| By: | Miao, Ruiqing; Feng, Hongli; Hennessy, David A. |
| Abstract: | There have long been concerns that federal crop insurance subsidies may significantly impact land use decisions. It is well known that classical insurance market information asymmetry problems can lead to a social excess of risky land entering crop production. Our conceptual model shows that the problem will arise absent any information failures. This is because the subsidy is i) proportional to acres planted, and ii) greatest for the most production risky land. Using farm-level data, we follow this observation through to establish the implications of subsidies for the extent of crop production, with particular emphasis on U.S. regions where the cropland growth is likely to have marked adverse environmental impacts. Simulation results show that when subsidy rate decreases by 5 percentage points, then about 0.60 percent of insured cropped land will be converted to non-cropped land. When crop price decreases by 5 percent, then about 1.01 percent of insured cropped land will be converted to non-cropped land. |
| Keywords: | crop insurance, land use, crop yields, yield risk measurement, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Land Economics/Use, Q15, Q18, Q24, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103891&r=agr |
| By: | Cai, Ruohong; Bergstrom, John C.; Mullen, Jeffrey D.; Wetzstein, Michael E. |
| Abstract: | In this paper, a dynamic optimization model was developed to simulate how farm-level realized price and profitability respond to yield change which was induced by climate change. Producers' acreage response was included in the dynamic model considering crop rotation effect. In the crop rotation model, a modified Bellman equation was used to dynamically optimize the net present value of farm profit for a five-year interval. This simulation process was repeated through the year 2050. Then yield, price, and acreage response were compiled to generate realized profit. Results generally indicated that reduction in crop yields due to climate change results in reduced farm profitability for most of the states studied. Predicted climate change is more likely to pose a problem for agricultural production and profitability in the southern U.S. states as compared to the northern U.S. states. Our results also suggest that acreage response alone is not sufficient to ameliorate the potential negative effects of global climate change on agricultural production and profitability. The results of this research are expected to provide a foundation for future related research to aid producers' crop rotation decisions in an unstable price environment. |
| Keywords: | Dynamic simulation model, Acreage response, Crop rotation, Expected price, Realized price, Agricultural Finance, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103420&r=agr |
| By: | Wang, Ye; Wang, Chenggang; Pan, Suwen |
| Abstract: | Although evidence abounds that the development of rural non-farm activities have increased rural household income and contributed to rural development, the underlying structure and mechanism of the linkage between agricultural productivity and non-farm activities is poorly understood. Using a unique panel dataset of Chinese villages, this article examines the mechanism by which non-farm activities influence agricultural productivity. I find that Chinese villagesâ non-farm revenue has a significant positive effect on agricultural land productivity. Although non-farm activities do withdraw labor out of agriculture and therefore dampen land productivity, that negative effect is negligible in comparison with the land productivity improvement brought by nonfarm revenue-financed infrastructure capital investment. |
| Keywords: | Rural non-farm activities, labor migration, agricultural productivity, infrastructure capital., Agricultural and Food Policy, Productivity Analysis, O13, Q18, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103605&r=agr |
| By: | Xie, Jing; Gao, Zhifeng; Zhao, Xin; Swisher, Marilyn E. |
| Keywords: | organic food, country of origin, choice experiment, Agribusiness, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103462&r=agr |
| By: | Hiroki, Uematsu; Mishra, Ashok K. |
| Abstract: | We employed the propensity score matching and estimated the causal effect of being certified organic crop producers on farm household income and its various components in the United States. Contrary to the standard assumption in economic analysis, certified organic farmers do not earn significantly higher household income than conventional farmers. Certified organic crop producers earn higher revenue but they incur higher production expenses. In particular, certified organic producers spend significantly more on labor expenses, insurance payments, and marketing charges than conventional farmers. The results suggest that early adopters of organic farmers have done so for non pecuniary reasons and the lack of economic incentives can be an important barrier to conversion to organic farming in the United States. |
| Keywords: | organic farming, propensity score matching, nearest neighbor matching, average treatment effect, Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Marketing, Q10, Q13, J43, C21, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103862&r=agr |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Salau, Sheu |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103608&r=agr |
| By: | Ferrer, Myra Clarisse R.; Fonsah, Esendugue Greg; Ramirez, Octavio; Escalante, Cesar L. |
| Abstract: | Prevalence of local foods is believed to answer several food issues one of which is health and nutrition. This study focused on the on the availability of local foods to consumers and see its relationship with two specific diet-related diseases namely, obesity and diabetes. Other variables were included in the analysis to provide additional evidence to previous findings. Factors considered are divided into 5 groups namely diet-, local food-, environment-, education- and gender-related factors. Diet- and environment-related variables provide the most perceptive findings while local food variables provided significant however weak evidence of positive impacts to health and nutrition. |
| Keywords: | local foods, diabetes, obesity, food environment, farmers' market, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, I15, I31, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103664&r=agr |
| By: | Goodwin, Barry K.; Piggott, Nicholas E. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103679&r=agr |
| By: | Key, Nigel; Sneeringer, Stacy |
| Abstract: | Climate change could affect the costs and returns of livestock production by altering the thermal environment of animals thereby affecting animal health, reproduction, and the efficiency by which livestock convert feed into retained products (especially meat and milk). In the United States, concentrated livestock operations are located in a variety of climatic regions, suggesting that the industry could adapt to future changes in temperature and weather patterns resulting from global warming. However, this adaption could be costly. We use nationally representative data on dairy producers coupled with finely-scaled climate data to empirically examine how producersâ costs, returns, and production systems vary across U.S. regions as a function of the local climate. |
| Keywords: | climate change, dairy, temperature humidity index, economics, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, Production Economics, Q5, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103461&r=agr |
| By: | Elobeid, Amani; Carriquiry, Miguel; Fabiosa, Jacinto F. |
| Abstract: | We use a spatially disaggregated model of Brazilian agriculture to assess the implications of global biofuel expansion on Brazilian land usage at the regional level. This Brazilian model is part of the FAPRI agricultural modeling system, a multimarket, multi-commodity international agricultural model, used to quantify the emergence of biofuels and to analyze the impact of biofuel expansion and policies on both Brazilian and world agriculture. We evaluate two scenarios in which we introduce a 25% exogenous increase in the global demand for ethanol and one scenario in which we increase global ethanol demand by 50%. We then analyze the impact of these increases in terms of land-use change and commodity price changes particularly in Brazil. In the first scenario, we assume that the enforcement of the land-use reserve in Brazil remains at historically observed levels, and that abundant additional land can be readily incorporated into production. The second scenario involves implementing the same exogenous biofuel demand shock but with a different responsiveness in area expansion to price signals in Brazil, reflecting varying plausible assumptions on land availability for agricultural expansion. The third scenario, which is similar to the first scenario but with a larger increase in global ethanol demand, is run to check whether increasing volume of ethanol requires the incorporation of additional quantities of land per unit of ethanol. We find that, within Brazil, the expansion occurs mostly in the Southeast region. Additionally, total sugarcane area expansion in Brazil is higher than the increase in overall area used for agriculture. This implies that part of the sugarcane expansion displaced other crops and pasture that is not replaced, which suggests some intensification in land use. The lower land expansion elasticities in the second scenario result in a smaller expansion of area used for agricultural activities. A higher proportion of the expansion in sugarcane area occurs at the expense of pasture area, which implied land intensification of beef production. This explains the small change in commodity prices observed between the first and second scenarios. These results suggest that reducing the overall responsiveness of Brazilian agriculture may limit the land-use changes brought about by biofuel expansion, which would in turn reduce its environmental impacts in terms of land expansion. Additionally, the impacts on food prices are limited because of the ability of local producers to increase the intensity of land use in both crop (by double cropping and raising yields) and livestock production (by increasing the number of heads of cattle per hectare of pasture or stocking rate) releases area that can be used for crops. In scenario three, we find that larger ethanol volumes did not require more land per unit of ethanol. Doubling the demand for ethanol does not change the results, which indicates that the limit for intensification is beyond the 50% expansion assumed in Scenario 3. In this range, the same amount of land is incorporated into production per additional unit of ethanol. |
| Keywords: | Biofuels, Brazil, land use, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103798&r=agr |
| By: | Uchida, Shinsuke |
| Abstract: | Among multiple slippage effects potentially generated in voluntary land retirement programs, this study attempts to identify one unique source of slippage. Specifically, I examine slippage caused by within-a-farm land conversion from uncultivated land to cropland. With the U.S. Agricultural Census farm-level longitudinal data on land use and enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), I find that an average partial-farm CRP participant converts 25% of noncropland to cropping activities as a consequence of CRP enrollment. Also, an estimated slippage rate varies across farm types and regions. In particular, farms with relatively inelastic crop acreage supply lead to more slippage. Knowledge about the mechanisms through which slippage occurs should help policymakers devise programs with features designed to avoid or mitigate slippage incentives. |
| Keywords: | Conservation Reserve Program, Land use, Land conservation, Slippage., Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use, Q15, Q18, Q24, Q58., |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103612&r=agr |
| By: | Trindade, Federico J. |
| Abstract: | I studied the impact that high temperatures have over the agricultural performance for countries in Nebraska. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103416&r=agr |
| By: | Qiu, Feng; Goodwin, K. Barry |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103733&r=agr |
| By: | Liang, Chyi-lyi (Kathleen) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a success story of a rural community adopting multifunctional farm operation to achieve long term sustainability and profitability. |
| Keywords: | multifunctional farm operation, food system, local food, Hardwick Vermont, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Security and Poverty, Q0, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103687&r=agr |
| By: | Rhodes, Charles |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2010–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea10:61713&r=agr |
| By: | Wang, Weiwei; Park, Seong C.; McCarl, Bruce A.; Amosson, Steve |
| Abstract: | The sustainable water use especially for irrigated agriculture in the Texas Panhandle Region is a major concern. A semi-arid climate and average low rainfalls results in little surface water being available year-round. The Ogallala Aquifer is the primary source of irrigation water in this region. The intensive irrigated agricultural production and growing livestock industry have led to substantial decline of water tables. Furthermore, climate change and growing bioenergy feedstock productions exacerbates the water shortage and quality problems. Given the critical dependence of the regional economy on Ogallala Aquifer, underground water use is an intergenerational issue that must be evaluated in terms of the sustainability of agricultural activities in the long run. This paper develops a dynamic multi-county land allocation optimization model which integrates three sectors: agriculture, climate and hydrology. The sustainable water use and associated irrigated agricultural economic consequences under climate change are analyzed. This model also serves as a policy tool in evaluating economic impacts of alternative bioenergy expansion policies and water saving technologies in Ogallala Aquifer Region. The simulation results show that availability of extractable water has a direct impact on optimal land allocation. Deficit irrigation for major crops is an effective short-run strategy for water sustainability. In the longer run, dryland and pastureland farming will dominate. Climate change has heterogeneous impacts on agricultural production over counties and sub-counties because of the non-uniform hydrological characteristics. |
| Keywords: | Groundwater, Land Use Change, Climate Change, Bioenergy feedstock, Dynamic Optimization Model, Deficit Irrigation, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q24, Q25, Q54, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103642&r=agr |
| By: | He, Dehua; Chidmi, Benaissa; Zhou, Deyi |
| Abstract: | This study analyzed the impact of food safety information on food demand in urban China. The LA/AIDS model was estimated by using national province level food consumption data and quantities of articles about food safety event on public media from 2000 to 2008. The results of the study show that urban Chinese consumer food demand was influenced by food safety information from daily newspapers and GM labeling policy. This paper also indicates food price elasticities, expenditure elasticities by categories and the effect of food safety information. |
| Keywords: | food safety, food demand, Linear Approximated Almost Ideal Demand System( LA/AIDS), Genetically modified( GM), food consumption, price elasticity, expenditure elasticity, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, D12, Q11, |
| Date: | 2011–07–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103618&r=agr |
| By: | Chang, Hung-Hao; Meyerhoefer, Chad R.; Just, David |
| Abstract: | Using a unique dataset of 703,287 farm operators from the Taiwanese Census of Agriculture merged to administrative records from the National Farmers' Health Insurance (FHI) program, we examine the effects of the enrollment in the FHI program on farmersâ on- and off-farm labor supply and the amount of land they allocate to Taiwanâs land retirement program. In order to account for non-random self-selection into the FHI we use a matching procedure to estimate the impact of the program on land and labor allocations. Our results indicate that participation in the FHI increases (decrease) on (off) farm labor supply, and decreases the amount of land enrolled in the land retirement program. Our findings have implication for health care reforms that have been initiated in other countries, and the United States in particular. |
| Keywords: | National Farmer's Health Insurance Program, labor supply, land retirement program, Taiwan., Agricultural and Food Policy, Health Economics and Policy, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103446&r=agr |
| By: | Hu, Wenjing; Onozaka, Yuko; Thilmany McFadden, Dawn |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the welfare changes as a result of changes in prices and quantities of Colorado labeled apples relative to domestically produced apples, using equilibrium displacement model with two-regions: Colorado State and the rest of the United States. The results showed that in the short run producers would lose $300, while in the long run producers would increase supply to capture $263,000 in increased surplus. |
| Keywords: | local food marketing, marketing channel, market segmentation, equilibrium displacement model, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Industrial Organization, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103500&r=agr |
| By: | Coulibaly, Jeanne; Sanders, John; Preckel, Paul; Baker, Timothy |
| Abstract: | During the last decade, cotton production and area have been declining as a result of depleting soil nutrients and low cotton prices in the cotton zone of Mali. This paper shows that the Malian governmentâs 2011 policy to increase the farm gate cotton price as a response to world cotton price increase enhances farm income but has less impact on cotton than on maize production. A complementary policy of introducing new sorghum technologies would have an equal impact on farmersâ incomes in the cotton zone of Mali. |
| Keywords: | Cotton prices, improved sorghum technology, discrete stochastic programming, Mali, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, International Development, Production Economics, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103755&r=agr |
| By: | Adhikari, Shyam; Belasco, Eric J.; Knight, Thomas O. |
| Keywords: | Crop Yield Modeling, Crop Insurance, Weather Cycle, Crop Yield Aurocorrelation, Agricultural Finance, Production Economics, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103724&r=agr |
| By: | Mohr, Belinda Acuna |
| Abstract: | This article quantifies the effect of the 2006 food-borne illness spinach outbreak on harvested acreage for the fresh spinach market. In September 2006, fresh spinach contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 caused hundreds of consumer illnesses across the U.S. and a few deaths. The outbreak was detrimental to the spinach industry causing a significant decrease in the demand for spinach. Spinach growers were prohibited from harvesting spinach until more was known about the contamination. According to the Census of Agriculture, harvested spinach acreage for the fresh market fell by 17% from before the outbreak. Due to the unanticipated effects resulting from the outbreak, farms potentially decreased their acreage of fresh market spinach to reduce profit uncertainty caused by the probability of a future outbreak. Alternatively, farms may have increased the acreage of a less risky commodity in order to provide a method to remove potential contamination. |
| Keywords: | Production, Acreage, Uncertainty, Spinach outbreak, Food safety, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Risk and Uncertainty, Q11, Q18, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103520&r=agr |
| By: | Salois, Matthew J. |
| Abstract: | Obesity and diabetes are increasingly attributed to environmental factors, however, little attention has been paid to the influence of the âlocalâ food economy. This paper examines the association of measures relating to the built environment and âlocalâ agriculture with U.S. county-level prevalence of obesity and diabetes. Key indicators of the âlocalâ food economy include the density of farmersâ markets and the presence of farms with direct sales. This paper employs a robust regression estimator to account for non-normality of the data and to accommodate outliers. Overall, the built environment is associated with the prevalence of obesity and diabetes and a strong 'local' food economy may play an important role in prevention. Results imply considerable scope for community-level interventions. |
| Keywords: | community-intervention, diabetes, food environment, famersâ market, leverage points, âlocalâ food, robust regression, obesity, outliers., Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103649&r=agr |
| By: | Gao, Zhifeng; Yu, Xiaohua |
| Abstract: | Another version will replace the current draft |
| Keywords: | choice experiment, milk, attribute information, Agribusiness, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103472&r=agr |
| By: | Cleary, Rebecca; Grainger, Corbett; Zipp, Katherine |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103465&r=agr |
| By: | Taheripour, Farzad; Tyner, Wallace E. |
| Abstract: | The economic and land use consequences of US biofuel programs and their contributions to GHG emissions have been the focal point of many debates and research studies in recent years. However, most of these studies focused on the land use emissions due to the first generation of biofuels such as corn ethanol, sugarcane ethanol, and biodiesel (e.g. [1, 2] [3, 4]). A quick literature review indicates that only a few attempts have been made to estimate these emissions for the second generation of biofuels which convert cellulosic materials into liquid fuels. Gurgel et al. [5] have used a highly aggregated computational model (CGE) to evaluate land use consequences of producing biofuels from biomass feedstock. This model does not distinguish between the first and second generation of biofuels, aggregates all agricultural products in one sector thereby over simplifying the competition for land among its alternative uses, and relies on an old data set which represents the world economy in 1999. These authors predict that producing energy from biomass requires a considerable amount of land, about 0.5 hectares per 1000 gallons of ethanol. More recently, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released its emissions assessments for alternative biofuels including ethanol produced from corn stover and a dedicated crop (switchgrass) [6]. To provide these assessments EPA has mainly relied on the FASOM and FARPRI partial equilibrium models to evaluate domestic and international land use impacts of the US cellulosic biofuel targets. The simulation results obtained from these models show that producing ethanol from corn stover has insignificant land use impacts. However, producing ethanol from switchgrass will cause major land use changes in the US and other countries across the world. The EPA results show that producing 7.9 billion gallons of ethanol from switchgrass will increase global cropland areas by about 3 million hectares of which 1.7 million hectares will occur in the US. In addition, according to the EPA estimates, producing ethanol from switchgrass will curb acreages of US soybeans, wheat, hay, and other crops by 3.36 million hectares as well. On the other hand several research studies have concluded that dedicated energy crops can be grown on marginal lands (including idled cropland and cropland pasture) and that considerable amounts of these lands are available across the world to use without imposing a major impact on cropland and no consequences for food security [7-9],. These papers simply assume that these marginal lands have no opportunity costs. The economic and land use impacts of producing biofuels from dedicated crops could be more complicated than corn ethanol. Production of dedicated crops for significant volumes of biofuels could alter relative prices of crops and their profitability leading farmers to produce them on their existing active croplands or convert their idled or marginal croplands to produce these crops. This could cause major implications for livestock producers who use marginal lands (such as cropland pasture) in their production process. This will alter demand for feedstocks leading to major changes in markets of agricultural commodities, animal feed items such as DDGS (a by-product corn ethanol) and oilseed meals (co-products of biodiesel), and livestock products. The impacts of producing cellulosic biofuels from dedicated energy crops go beyond agricultural sectors and affect many economic activities at local, regional, national, and global scales. This paper discusses these impacts and explains interactions among the first and second generations of biofuels and their joint implications for other economic activities and markets. Then it provides a preliminary analysis of the economic and land use changes induced by cellulosic feedstocks for biofuel production. It develops an economy-wide computational general equilibrium (CGE) model based on the modeling framework developed at the Center for Global Trade Analysis (GTAP) to assess the economic and land use consequences of producing biofuels from cellulosic materials including corn stover and a dedicated energy crop. In particular, it extends the model developed in Tyner et al. [4]. The paper extends this model and its database in several directions. The new model works based on the latest version of GTAP databases (version 7). Following Taheripour et al. [10] the first generation of biofuels are introduced into the database. Then new industries and commodities are introduced into the database to support production and consumption of an advanced cellulosic biofuel (named Bio-Gasoline). In particular, a new crop industry is introduced to produce a dedicated energy crop (miscanthus) and a new industry is defined to supply agricultural residues (corn stover). The production technologies and cost structures of new industries are taken from the literature. The land use and land cover component of the data base is also updated according to the work done by Avetisyan et al. [11]. To introduce cellulosic biofuels we assumed several regions including US, some EU members, Brazil, and China produce tiny volumes of cellulosic biofuels from miscanthus in the base year in order to be able to shock the model for larger volumes of production. Then the GTAP modeling framework is revised to handle production, consumption, and trade of new industries and commodities at a global scale. To accomplish this task all production, supply, and demand functions included in the model are revised and necessary changes are made in market clearing conditions as well. In addition, the land use module of the model is altered to handle competition for land (including marginal lands) among the new dedicated crop and traditional land use industries such as forestry, livestock, and crops. Econometric analyses on land cover changes are used to update the economic parameters of the land use module as well. Furthermore the model is augment with a procedure which links productivity of marginal lands with their rent. This component will play an essential role in assessing the economic impacts of advanced biofuels. The CGE model is used to assess the economic and land use impacts of alternative biofuel scenarios including in the US Renewable Fuel Standard Program (RFS2). The numerical results obtained from these simulations show that producing bio-gasoline from corn stover has no significant land use impacts and generates economic gains. On the other hand, the numerical results indicate that the economic land use impacts of producing bio-gasoline from miscanthus vary across alternative assumptions. For example, producing bio-gasoline from miscanthus increases global cropland areas by about 0.2 hectares per 1000 gallons of ethanol equivalent in the presence of yield improvement on cropland pasture. This experiment indicates that about 40% of this land requirement will occur in the US, and forest has a small share (about 4%) in this land conversion. This figure is significantly higher than the additional land requirement of corn ethanol (about 0.13hectares per 1000 gallon ethanol). The results obtained from this experiment shows that production and consumption of each gallon of Bio-Gasoline (converted to ethanol equivalent) produced from miscanthus generates 891 grams CO2 emissions. This figure is 7% percent less than the corresponding figure for corn ethanol. In this case the livestock industry will not suffer from bio-gasoline production. However, when farmers do not improve yield on cropland pasture more land with higher share from forest is needed. Finally, based on the numerical results the paper offers a set of policies to support production of the second generation of biofuels which reduce welfare costs of the RFS policies. References 1. Searchinger, T., et al., Use of U.S. croplands for biofuels increases greenhouse gases through emissions from land use change. Science, 2008. 319(5867): p. 1238-1240. 2. Taheripour, F., T. Hertel, and W.E. Tyner, Biofuels and Their By-Products: Global Economic and Environmental Implications. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2010. 34: p. 278-89. 3. Hertel, T., W. Tyner, and D. Birur, The Global Impacts of Multinational Biofuels Mandates. Energy Journal, 2010. 31(1): p. 75-100. 4. Tyner, W., et al., Land Use Changes and Consequent CO2 Emissions due to US Corn Ethanol Production: A Comprehensive Analysis, A Report to Argonne National Laboratory. 2010, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University. 5. Gurgel, A., J.M. Reilly, and S. Paltsev, Potential Land Use Implications of a Global Biofuels Industry. Journal of Agricultural and Food Industrial Organization, 2007. 5: p. Article 9. 6. Environmental Protection Agency, Renewable Fuel Standard Program (RFS2) Regulatory Impact Analysis. 2010: Washington, D.C. 7. Tyner, W.E., F. Taheripour, and Y. Han., Preliminary Analysis of Land Use Impacts of Cellulosic Biofuels, Argonne National Laboratory and the California Energy Commission, Editor. 2009. 8. Campbell, J.E., et al., The Global Potential of Bioenergy on Abandoned Agricultural Lands. Environmental Science and Technology, 2008. 42(15): p. 5791-5794. 9. Cai, X., X. Zhand, and D. Wang, Land Availability for Biofuel Production. Environmental Science and Technology, 2011. 45(1): p. 334-39. 10. Taheripour, F., et al., Introducing Liquid Biofuels into the GTAP Database, in GTAP Research Memorandum No 11, GTAP, Editor. 2007, Purdue University: West Lafayette, IN. 11. Avetisyan, M., U. Baldos, and T. Hertel, Development of the GTAP Version 7 land Use Data Base, in GTAP Research Memorandum No. 19. 2010, Purdue University: West Lafayette. |
| Keywords: | biofuels, cellullosic feedstocks, land use change, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103559&r=agr |
| By: | Mezzatesta, Mariano; Newburn, David A.; Woodward, Richard T. |
| Abstract: | Federal agricultural conservation programs, which have invested billions of dollars, are designed to provide incentives for farmers to voluntarily adopt production practices or change land uses to provide environmental benefits. The effectiveness of these programs depend in part on their additionality: whether payments to farmers encourage practice adoption and land use changes that would not have occurred without the program. Using data from a 2010 survey of farmers in southwest Ohio, we estimate the percentage of additional farm acreage of a conservation practice that was adopted as a result of having received funding from major federal conservation programs. We use covariate and propensity score matching techniques to estimate the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT), measured as the change in acreage in a conservation practice as a percentage of farm acreage. Estimates of additionality improve the understanding of how incentives in conservation programs affect farmer behavior and assist in designing programs that cost-effectively enhance environmental benefits. Analyzing the effect of payments on conservation effort is also crucial to developing successful emerging markets, such as payment for ecosystem services, carbon sequestration, and water quality markets, which are being developed in response to growing environmental concerns. |
| Keywords: | Conservation programs, matching estimators, additionality, average treatment effects, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103592&r=agr |
| By: | Mojduszka, Eliza M.; Schaub, James D. |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103942&r=agr |
| By: | Bejarano, Hernan; Latek, Maciej M. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103939&r=agr |
| By: | Delbridge, Timothy A.; Fernholz, Carmen; Lazarus, William; King, Robert P. |
| Keywords: | Organic Farming, Profitability, Farm Size, Machinery Cost, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103790&r=agr |
| By: | Jin, Songqing; Jayne, T.S. |
| Abstract: | This study uses panel data from 1,142 Kenya smallholder households over four survey periods to examine the determinants of participation in land rental markets and to quantify the impact of renting land on householdsâ crop income and total income. We find that land rental markets in Kenya enhance productivity and are equitable. The results are consistent across different estimation methods and model specifications. Dynamic panel models were used to assess the impact of rental participation on householdsâ crop income and total income. After controlling for the endogeneity of rental market participation and the persistent effects of lagged income, we find that the decision to rent land increased tenant householdsâ net crop (net total) income by 25.1 (6.6) percent. These percentage gains are inversely related to household landholding size. Hence, land rental markets in Kenya appear to play an important role in raising incomes and reducing poverty for land-constrained smallholder farmers. |
| Keywords: | Land rental market, Kenya, Income, Poverty, Dynamic model, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, Land Economics/Use, O12, Q13, Q12, Q15, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103907&r=agr |
| By: | Lin, Chung-Tung Jordan; Gao, Zhifend; Lee, JonqYing |
| Keywords: | obesity, diet quality, nhanes, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, I00, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103538&r=agr |
| By: | Salois, Matthew J.; Tiffin, Richard; Balcombe, Kelvin |
| Abstract: | The relationship between income and nutrient intake is explored. Nonparametric, panel, and quantile regressions are used. Engle curves for calories, fat, and protein are approximately linear in logs with carbohydrate intakes exhibiting diminishing elasticities as incomes increase. Elasticities range from 0.10 to 0.25, with fat having the highest elasticities. Countries in higher quantiles have lower elasticities than those in lower quantiles. Results predict significant cumulative increases in calorie consumption which are increasingly composed of fats. Though policies aimed at poverty alleviation and economic growth may assuage hunger and malnutrition, they may also exacerbate problems associated with obesity. |
| Keywords: | calorie and nutrient consumption, food and nutrition policy, income elasticities, nonparametric, panel, quantile regression., Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, C11, C14, C21, C23, O10, O47, Q18, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103647&r=agr |
| By: | Ulimwengu, John; Badiane, Ousmane |
| Abstract: | The importance of health in promoting economic development has been forcefully stated by the World Health Organizationâs Commission on Macroeconomics and Health. In this paper, we look at the impact of own household health expenses on malaria incidence and ultimately on agricultural efficiency. We use a non-parametric method to estimate agricultural efficiency, therefore avoiding the issue of identification of the proper household agricultural production function. In addition the simar-wilson approach followed in this paper accounts for bias induced by serial correlation among farmers. A Tobit model with endogenous health production function is used to estimate the impact of malaria incidence on agricultural efficiency. Data come from the 2006 National Ugandan Household Survey. Estimation results suggest that marginal increase in the index of malaria incidence is expected to reduce agricultural efficiency by 0.07; in other words, ten percent increase in malaria incidence will decrease efficiency by 1.5 percent. We also found evidence of female farmers being more efficiency than male by 39.5 percent. Moreover, farmers who have been visited at least once by an extension agent appear more efficiency by 13.9 percent than those who were not. |
| Keywords: | Malaria, Efficiency, Tobit, Health, Agriculture, Expenses, Household, Production, Agricultural and Food Policy, Health Economics and Policy, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103839&r=agr |
| By: | Johnson, Myriah; Anderson, David; Bryant, Henry; Herring, Andy |
| Abstract: | For more than thirty years, studies about the effect of the exchange rate on exports have been conducted. However, few have considered the combined effect of the exchange rate on imported inputs into the agricultural system and the exports of final agricultural products those inputs produce. A current concern is for the net effect as the total value and quantity of inputs imported has increased. This research examines the effect of exchange rate changes on imported inputs into the corn, wheat, and beef cattle production systems. Effects on cost of production budgets are calculated, examining affects on profitability. Vector Autoregression (VAR) and Bayesian Averaging of Classical Estimates (BACE) models were estimated to evaluate those effects. Daily and weekly price data were used for corn, wheat, feeder steers, ethanol, diesel, ammonia, urea, di-ammonium phosphate, and the exchange rate. A VAR model was estimated to model the relationship between the variables. After having incongruous test results in determining the lag length structure it was decided that a BACE model would be approximated. After estimating the BACE model the price responses of the commodities to the exchange rates was estimated. The price responses were used in demonstrating the effect of the exchange rate on a producerâs profitability. It was determined that, generally, a strengthening exchange rate has a negative impact on prices. It was also found that the exchange rate has a greater impact on prices now than it did 14 years ago, implying that the exchange rate now has a greater affect on profitability. A one percent increase in the value of the dollar led to a decline in profitability ranging from $0.02/bu in wheat to $0.56/cwt in feeder steers. However, agricultural producers should not be overly concerned about a lower valued dollar from the perspective of their agricultural business. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103802&r=agr |
| By: | Deuss, Annelies |
| Keywords: | Brazil, sugarcane expansion, economic growth, propensity score, ethanol, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, International Development, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, C14, C21, O13, R13, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103564&r=agr |
| By: | Mabiso, Athur; Weatherspoon, Dave |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103962&r=agr |
| By: | de Gorter, Harry; Drabik, Dusan; Just, David R. |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes carbon leakage due to reduced emissions from deforestation (RED). We find that leakage with RED is good because the policy induces afforestation that contributes to a further carbon sequestration. By ignoring the domestic component of carbon leakage, the literature can either overestimate or underestimate leakage, depending on the magnitudes of the numerator and the denominator of the leakage formulas. Unlike the literature, we include the land and agricultural markets in the analysis of carbon leakage with forestation policies. In this model, carbon leakage depends on: (1) supply and demand elasticities of timber production and consumption, respectively in the country introducing a RED policy (Home country) and in the rest of the world; (2) Home countryâs production and consumption share in the world timber production and consumption, respectively; (3) prices of land and crop products in the Home country and the rest of the world; (4) initial allocation of land between forestry and agriculture; (5) share of total forest area set aside under RED; and (6) relative carbon sequestration potential of the forest planted on an afforested land and of the forest withdrawn from timber harvest. These potentials depend heavily on the forest species as well as on timing of the policy, and on the discount rate and time path of increasing carbon prices. |
| Keywords: | carbon leakage, forestry, reduced emissions from deforestation, afforestation, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use, Q23, Q24, Q54, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103797&r=agr |
| By: | Park, Timothy A.; Mishra, Ashok K.; Wozniak, Shawn J. |
| Abstract: | In the era of a global economy, farmers face increasing pressure in developing a portfolio of various marketing channels. However, the literature on direct marketing strategies has mainly focused on consumers. Using farm-level data this study investigates factors associated with the choice of three direct marketing strategies. We apply a selectivity based approach for the multinomial logit model to assess the relationship between the choice of direct sales marketing strategy on the financial performance of the business. Findings from this study suggest that obtaining an Internet connection and accessing the Internet for farm commerce increases the likelihood of using intermediated marketing outlets. Using the Internet for farm commerce and operating diversified farms (more enterprises) is associated with increases in the likelihood that the farmer relies on direct to consumer marketing outlets. The gender of the operator, the portfolio of input acquisition and management practices, and participation in Federal, State, or local farm program payments is positively associated with total farm sales in all three direct marketing strategies. Finally, an accurate evaluation of the projected earnings from the direct-to-consumer marketing outlet must account for selectivity effects. |
| Keywords: | direct marketing outlets, multinomial logit, farm sales, selectivity correction, Agribusiness, Agricultural Finance, Farm Management, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103756&r=agr |
| By: | Nair, Shyam; Wang, Chenggang; Segarra, Eduardo; Belasco, Eric; Velandia, Margarita M.; Reeves, Jeanne |
| Abstract: | A nested logit model was used to analyze the 2009 Southern Cotton Precision Farming Survey to study the impact of farmer and farm characteristics on the adoption of Variability Detection Technologies (VDT) and the adoption of Variability Rate application Technology (VRT) conditioned on the type of the VDT chosen. The results showed that the farm size and exposure to extension activities are important factors affecting the choice of VDTs. The farmers adopting both soil and plant based VDTs are more likely to adopt VRT. The probability of adoption of VRTs was lower for Texas cotton farmers irrespective of the type of VDT adopted. In general, younger, more educated farmers who use computers for farming operations are more likely to adopt VRT when they choose soil based or both soil and plant based VDT. |
| Keywords: | Precision Agriculture, Technology Adoption, Cotton, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, O33, Q16, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103567&r=agr |
| By: | Theriault, Veronique |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the role of institutional environments on cotton farmer technical efficiency scores in Benin, Burkina Faso, and Mali using a stochastic frontier production approach. First, the key institutional changes that have occurred with the recent market-oriented reforms are discussed. Then, farm efficiency per country is measured using cross-sectional data collected by the Cotton Sector Reform Project of the Africa, Power, and Politics Programme in 2009. Results from a one-stage estimation procedure suggest that while no technical inefficiency exists in Benin, an average technical efficiency of 69% and 46% is found in Burkina Faso and Mali, respectively. Agricultural development policies focusing on reducing the inefficiency at the farm level in Mali and Burkina Faso should be adopted; whereas policies designed to shift outward the production frontier seem more appropriate in Benin. Interestingly, institutional environment factors explaining variations in efficiency scores differ across countries. In Mali, farms that are food secure and that cultivate more hectares of cereals are more technically efficient in producing cotton. In contrast, Burkinabe farmers who are dissatisfied with the management of their producer organizations are more technically efficient. To be successful, efforts to promote efficiency would have to work in concert with the local realities in each country. |
| Keywords: | Cotton, Technical Efficiency, Institutional Changes, Reforms, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Development, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103436&r=agr |
| By: | Rahkovsky, Ilya; Gregory, Christian |
| Abstract: | Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) cost Americans hundreds in billions of dollars. High cholesterol levels, which are closely related to diet habits, are a major contributor to CVD. In this paper we study whether changes in food prices are related to cholesterol levels and whether taxes or subsidies of particular foods would be effective in lowering cholesterol levels and, consequently, CVD costs. We find that prices of vegetables, processed foods, and whole milk and whole grains significantly affect the blood cholesterol levels. Having analyzed the costs and benefits of government interventions, we find that a subsidy of vegetables and whole grains would be the most efficient way to reduce CVD expenditures. |
| Keywords: | cholesterol, CVD, cardio-vascular, food prices, health, welfare, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, D04, D12, D62, H23, I19, Q18, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103566&r=agr |
| By: | Hernandez-Villafuerte, Karla Vanessa |
| Abstract: | Selected Paper prepared for presentation at the Agricultural & Applied Economics Associationâs 2011 AAEA & NAREA Joint Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 24-26, 2011. (Poster Presentation) |
| Keywords: | cointegration, price transmission, geographical distance, structural breaks, principal component regression, rice, Brazil., Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, C32, Q11, Q13, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103677&r=agr |
| By: | Qin, Yu; Zhang, Xiaobo |
| Abstract: | We used a panel survey at the household level primarily conducted in 18 natural villages over three waves in Guizhou province, China, to study how road access shape farmersâ cropping and input use. Our results show that access to roads significantly improves the level of specialization in household agricultural production as measured by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index. In villages with better road access, farmers plant a few number of crops and invest more intermediate input. Through specialization and increasing use of intermediate input, road connections improve farmersâ agricultural income as well. However, better access to rural roads does not seem to bring about significant change in the non-agricultural sector. |
| Keywords: | road, agricultural specialization, intermediate input, agricultural income, China, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, International Development, O18, O43, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103882&r=agr |
| By: | Chang, Ching-Cheng; Hsu, Shih-Hsun |
| Abstract: | The sharp increase in global food prices during 2007â2008 has triggered the awareness of food insecurity problems and their impacts on the low income, foodâdeficit countries many of which are located in the East Asian countries. The foodâsecurity situation was good in relative terms given that the percentage of carbohydrates consumed is slightly lower than the world average while proteins and fats consumption are higher than that of other regions. The food security in East Asia is largely driven by domestic production performance, and despite the doubling of import volume during the last decade, Asia remains the least dependent of all regions on food imports. Nevertheless, the rising energy costs and grain prices induced by the increasing demand of grains for bioâfuel exacerbate the undernourishment of the poor households in the region. While most of the government interventions focus on shortâterm measures such as reducing domestic food prices through trade or price control, the risk of facing a longâterm food insecurity still exists which may render national action inadequate and require multilateral cooperation. Evidence has shown that agricultural production is rather vulnerable to climate change, in particular, temperature and precipitation changes. As Matthews et al. (1995) indicates, the impact of climate change on rice production in Asia is of particular policy interest considering that rice is the most important component in millions of Asiansâ diet. Seventeen south, southâeast, and east Asian countries produce 92% of the world total rice supply, among which 90% is consumed in these regions as well (Matthews et al., 1995). Riceâgrowing countries in Asia locate in different latitudes and the terrain conditions of the riceâgrowing areas vary as well. As such, climateâchange impact on rice production of the Asian countries is quite diversified and warrants a detailed assessment at regional level. Here, we present a summary report from a recent study by Lee and Chang (2010) regarding the impact of climate change on Asiaâs rice sector. Our study employs a multiâregion, multiâsector computable general equilibrium (CGE) modelâwhich also considers crop suitability and agroâecological characteristicsâto analyze the climateâchange impact on global rice market (supplyâside shock through crop yield change), with the consideration of changes in food demand due to population and 3 economic growth. In contrast to Mathews et al. (1995), our study places more emphasis on the economic side of food security issue regarding rice such as the effect on prices of rice and other competing food crops that is brought about by varied changes in rice yield across countries. We take into account changes in both the supply and demand sides to examine the impact of climate change by 2020 on the global rice market and food security for Asian countries should the world is developing as plotted in the IPCC SRES scenario A2. Among all these concerns, food price is the key. Thus, in addition to the physical impact of climate change, priceâinduced adjustments in food production, which would affect significantly the reallocation of agricultural land among uses, are also taken into account. By identifying crop suitability and agroâecological features of land, the economic model we used here can model more realistically the production responses of riceâgrowing countries to climate change, especially when diversity are found for the riceâgrowing countries in their vulnerability to climate change. Food security of countries located in tropical and subâtropical zones may be adversely affected by climate change and the fluctuations in global food prices thus induced. The results suggest that among Asian countries, India gets the hardest hit of climate change in its rice production, and a huge increase in the unit cost of rice production. Thus India has to rely heavily on imports from the world market to meet its domestic rice demand. To fill the gap being caused by climate change, China also has to increase rice imports, with a relatively bigger magnitude than the other Asian countries. India and China have been the worldâs top riceâgrowing countries, and most of their rice production is consumed domestically. Should negative effects of rice yield occur in these two major riceâconsuming countries, their raised demand for rice imports may push up global price of rice, and in turn affect regions that are very much reliant on foreign supply. Our major finding is that as agricultural trade intensifies, impact of climate change, be it positive or negative, occurring in one region will spill over into other regions, through the channels of trade. As such, policy measures aimed to effectively alleviate food security problem should also take into account the geographically diverse impact of climate change on crop yield along with the agricultural trade development related policies. |
| Keywords: | Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103418&r=agr |
| By: | Lim, Kar Ho; Maynard, Leigh J.; Hu, Wuyang; Goddard, Ellen |
| Abstract: | The mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) troubles beef exporters to the U.S. This study evaluates the extent that U.S. consumers are receptive to imported steak and their perception of food safety level of beef from various countries. In addition, using conjoint analysis, willingness to pay for strip loin steak from Australia, Canada and the United States is estimated along with several increasingly important food safeties and quality attributes in beef. We find that on average U.S. consumers are willing to pay significantly less for imported steaks. |
| Keywords: | beef, consumer preferences, country-of-origin labeling, conjoint experiment, willingness to pay, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103385&r=agr |
| By: | Weber, Jeremy G; Key, Nigel |
| Abstract: | Agricultural support payments that cause no or minimal production distortions are exempt from World Trade Organization restrictions. If and how much decoupled payments, such as direct payments in the U.S., affect agricultural production remains an open empirical question with implications for policy. We use multiple years of the Census of Agriculture to estimate the aggregate supply response to changes in direct payments. To identify an exogenous source of variation in payments we exploit a provision of the 2002 Farm Act that departed from previous policy by making oilseeds eligible for direct payments, thus increasing payments to areas that historically produced more oilseeds. Using a sample of ZIP codes that accounts for more than eighty percent of the national value of production of program crops, our instrumental variable estimates, in contrast to OLS estimates, suggest that changes in payments over the period 2002 to 2007 had little effect on aggregate production. |
| Keywords: | decoupled payments, supply response, government payments, program crops, trade policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103455&r=agr |
| By: | Oana, Deselnicu; Costanigro, Marco; Souza Monteiro, Diogo M.; Thilmany McFadden, Dawn |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:104000&r=agr |
| By: | Hu, Wuyang; Woods, Tim; Bastin, Sandra |
| Keywords: | Horticultural products, consumer, marketing, value-added, Agribusiness, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2011–05–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103444&r=agr |
| By: | Smale, Melinda; Byerlee, Derek; Jayne, Thom |
| Abstract: | There have been numerous episodes of widespread adoption of improved seed and long-term achievements in the development of the maize seed industry in Sub-Saharan Africa. This summary takes a circumspect view of technical change in maize production. Adoption of improved seed has continued to rise gradually, now representing an estimated 44 percent of maize area in Eastern and Southern Africa (outside South Africa), and 60 percent of maize area in West and Central Africa. Use of fertilizer and restorative crop management practices remains relatively low and inefficient. An array of extension models has been tested and a combination of approaches will be needed to reach maize producers in heterogeneous agricultural environments. Yield growth overall has been 1 percent over the past half-century, although this figure masks the high variability in maize yields, as well as improvements in resistance to disease and abiotic pressures that would have caused yield decline in the absence of maize breeding progress. The authors argue that conducive policies are equally, if not more, important for maize productivity in the region than the development of new technology and techniques. Currently popular, voucher-based subsidies can"crowd out"the private sector and could be fiscally unsustainable. |
| Keywords: | Crops&Crop Management Systems,Agricultural Research,Food&Beverage Industry,Food Security,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems |
| Date: | 2011–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5659&r=agr |
| By: | Liu, Chia-Lan; Richardson, James W.; Leatham, David J. |
| Abstract: | The Dungeness is a popular food and the most commercially important crab in the western states in the U.S. Like all agricultural production, the crab fisherman face yield risks and must manage these risks. In addition to weather risk, crab fisherman may experience low yields if the crabs are over fished in previous years. Farmers for many traditional agricultural crops can purchase crop insurance to insure against low yields. However, crab fishermen at this time do not have this option. The purpose of this paper is to estimate a fair insurance premium based on the historical yields of the Dungeness crab. This information can then be used in risk/return models for crab fishing to determine if it would be optimal for fisherman to purchase crop insurance. An important input into the fair insurance premium estimation is the yield distribution. Sherrick et al. estimated alternative yield distributions to evaluate traditional crop insurance. However, no one has looked at the yield distributions for the Dungeness crab nor explored possible crop insurance. Much of the past literature for the fishing industry has focused on production functions, cost function models, and optimal catching yields for specific fish species. Moreover, most research has focused on the endangered commercial ocean species such as tuna and swordfish. Data and Methodology This research collects the annual landing data including metric tons, pounds, and price per pound from NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries Service) to analyze the yield distributions of Dungeness crab in California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska from 1950 to 2009. Dickey Fuller test is conducted for each state to test if the data is stationary. The Durbin-Watson test was used to make sure the data did not have autocorrelation problems. We find that the detrended data has positive Skewness contrary to traditional crop yield data. The positive Skewness indicates that the tail on the right sides is longer than the left side and the mass of the distribution is concentrated on the left. It also has relatively few high values. The candidate distributions used include normal, Gamma, Weibull, logistic, lognormal, and loglogistic distributions. The fitted distributions are compared with formal goodness- of- fit tests including Chi-Square, Anderson-Darling, and Kolmogorov-Smirnov. The loglogistic distribution is best to estimate the yield losses of Alaska, Oregon, and California respectively while the logistic is best for Washington. The Gamma and normal distribution are the worst for the four states. Actual Production History (APH) policies insure crop producers against yield losses due to natural causes. After Just and Weninger found that crop yield losses were nonnormally distributed, many agricultural researchers use parametric (Goodwin and Ker) and nonparametric distributions (Sherrick et al) and the insured price to estimate the insurance premium. The premium refers to the periodic payment made on the insurance policy. When the yields are below the insured level (the predicted level each year), the insurance company has to pay indemnities to the producers to compensate them for their losses. Our study uses different parametric distributions to forecast the crab yields. Along with the yield distributions and yield forecasts, we assume that the crop insurance insures up to 80% of the yield distribution. We also assume that the insured price is the predicted price per pound for 2010 (since the price model are Pth-order autoregressive (AR(p)) processes) to estimate the fair insurance premium. The insured prices per pound of the four states from north to south are $1.88, $2.39, $1.94, and $1.99 respectively. If the random value (that the realized yields fall below the guaranteed yields) generated by the best distributions which may generate different parametric value for the four states falls below zero, it will means that the fisherman suffer yield losses, and that the insurance company has to compensate the fishermenâs revenue. The insurance company pays the fishermen the dollars that the insured price times 80% of the yield that the fishermen suffer from loss. The indemnities will be either zero or positive. Next, we adopt Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) to simulate the indemnities 500 times to calculate the average indemnities. If we donât consider the capital and administration fees of the insurance company, the average indemnities will be the actuarially fair insurance premium. The average indemnity and thus the actuarially fair premiums of the overall crab industry are $1,380,924, $702,344, $2,823,855, and $3,470,998 one year for the all ships in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California respectively. Unlike traditional crop insurance that estimates the premium per acre, we use the total premium shared by all fishing vessels in the state and account for the total tons that the fishing vessels load because the crabs and the fishing vessel move everywhere. After simulated, half of the time the insurance company must pay indemnities. To avoid the high risk of yield losses and uncertainty, the existence of insurance is necessary to protect the fishermenâs revenue. Finally, we will try to use non-parametric method to estimate the fair premium and compare the results of the parametric and non-parametric distributions for the rigorous study. We will also estimate the potential welfare gain of fishermen from this insurance policy. |
| Keywords: | Dungeness Crab, Fair Insurance Premium, Simulation, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103424&r=agr |
| By: | Alston, Julian M.; Fuller, Kate B.; Lapsley, James T.; Soleas, George; Tumber, Kabir P. |
| Abstract: | Many economists and others are interested in the phenomenon of rising alcohol content of wine and its potential causes. Has the alcohol content of wine risenâand if so, by how much, where, and when? What roles have been played by climate change and other environmental factors compared with evolving consumer preferences and expert ratings? In this paper we explore these questions using international evidence, combining time-series data on the alcohol content of wine from a large number of countries that experienced different patterns of climate change and influences of policy and demand shifts. We also examine the relationship between the actual alcohol content of wine and the alcohol content stated on the label. The systematic patterns here suggest that rising alcohol content of wine may be a nuisance by-product of producer responses to perceived market preferences for wines having riper, more-intense flavors, possibly in conjunction with evolving climate. |
| Keywords: | wine grapes, alcohol percentage, climate change, labeling errors, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103845&r=agr |
| By: | Dahl, Cody P.; Gunderson, Michael A.; Moss, Charles B. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103827&r=agr |
| By: | Liu, Zhuo; Kanter, Christopher; Messer, Kent D.; Kaiser, Harry M. |
| Abstract: | The organic dairy category is one the fastest growing categories of organic production in the U.S. Organic milk consumers generally cite perceived health benefits and lower risk of food contamination, as well as perceived superior quality and low environmental impact of organic farming methods, as the major motivations for preference of organic over conventional milk. While the properties of organic milk that are valued by consumers are fairly well-known, there is more ambiguity regarding the demographic characteristics of the typical organic milk consumer. This research makes use of experimental data and utilizes a relatively novel non-parametric modeling approach, the CART analysis, in identifying how willingness to pay for organic milk varies with the demographic profile of experiment participants. A more traditional econometric approach utilizing a Tobit regression is also performed to compare the results of the two models. The study finds that perceived taste of organic milk and concern for the risk of consuming conventional milk are major factors that separate experiment participants into groups with high and low WTP for organic milk. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:104020&r=agr |
| By: | Kragt, Marit Ellen; Pannell, David J.; Robertson, Michael J. |
| Abstract: | Earlier versions of this working paper have been/will be presented at the 2011 Conference of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (AARES), and at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Applied and Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA). |
| Keywords: | APSIM, Carbon sequestration, Climate change mitigation, Farm management, GHG emissions, MIDAS, Soil carbon, Western Australia, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Q12, Q19, Q52, Q54, |
| Date: | 2011–05–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uwauwp:104150&r=agr |
| By: | Pandit, Mahesh; Paudel, Krishna; Mishra, Ashok; Segarra, Eduardo |
| Abstract: | We used survey data collected from cotton producers in eleven U.S. states to address the issues of correlated events and individual heterogeneity in multiple precision technologies adoption. Results from a conditional frailty model indicated that younger, better educated cotton producer adopted precision technology quickly once those technologies were available. Further, farm size and farm income have positive influence on a chance of technology adoption by the cotton farmers. Moreover, the conditional frailty model addresses for both heterogeneity and event dependence allowing different baseline hazards for each group of precision technology adopters. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103849&r=agr |
| By: | Katchova, Ani L.; Woods, Timothy A. |
| Abstract: | This study examines the role that food consumer cooperatives play in the local food networks. Data are collected from three case studies with leading food cooperatives and a national survey of the general managers of food cooperatives. We identify the emerging business practices in local sourcing as a differentiation and member recruitment strategy for food cooperatives. Our analysis identifies several clusters of strategies used for local food procurement, based on the extent to which the co-op is involved in procurement activities upstream (at the farm), mid-stream (at the distribution center) or downstream (at the food cooperative). The results also show that when compared to other grocers, food co-ops have clear advantages in working with local producers and oftentimes play a key role in the producersâ business viability. |
| Keywords: | Food consumer cooperatives, local foods, Consumer/Household Economics, Marketing, Q13, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103918&r=agr |
| By: | Fadhuile, Adelaide; Lemarie, Stephane; Pirotte, Alain |
| Abstract: | This article focuses on the demand system of French farmers concerning pesticides uses. We estimate the demand elasticities of herbicides, insecticides and fungicides with respect to pesticide expenditure, and considering crop differentiation. Then we compare two indexes that are used in agronomic literature to measure the intensity of pesticides uses. We retain a Linear Approximated Almost Ideal Demand System (LA/AIDS) specification. A Full-Information Maximum Likelihood estimation procedure is used for dealing with the problem of censored dependent variable. We consider two cross-sections observed in 2001 and 2006 covering pesticides uses of three crops. We confirm the previous results of the literature that farmers response to price variation is very low, with higher prices response in 2006 than in 2001. Moreover, we find that conditional herbicides expenditure elasticities are often higher than insecticides expenditure elasticities, but lower than those of fungicides. We find higher own-price elasticities for herbicides and fungicides than for insecticides, which is the less used. Finally, application dose seems statistically better to explain herbicides decision, whereas treatment frequency index appears better for insecticides and fungicides. However, most of elasticities are closed for dose and treatment frequency index. |
| Keywords: | Pesticides, LA/AIDS, Elasticities, Censored System of Equations, Two-Step procedure, Quasi Maximum Likelihood, Full-Information Maximum Likelihood., Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, C30, C31, C34, L11, Q11, Q12, |
| Date: | 2011–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103654&r=agr |
| By: | Zhylyevskyy, Oleksandr; Jensen, Helen H.; Garasky, Steven B.; Cutrona, Carolyn E.; Gibbons, Frederick X. |
| Abstract: | Facilitating healthy eating among young people, particularly among minorities who are at high risk for gaining excess weight, is at the forefront of current policy discussions and food program reviews. We investigate the effects of social interactions and relative prices on fruit and vegetable consumption by African American youths using rich behavioral data from the Family and Community Health Study and area-specific food prices. We find the presence of endogenous effects between a youth and parent, but not between a youth and friend. Lower relative prices of fruits and vegetables tend to increase intakes. Results suggest that health interventions targeting a family member may be an effective way to increase fruit and vegetable intake by African Americans as a result of spillover consumption effects between the youths and parents. |
| Keywords: | social interactions, healthy food choices, fruit and vegetable consumption, African American youth, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, I12, J15, C35, |
| Date: | 2011–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103411&r=agr |
| By: | Shockley, Jordan; Dillon, Carl; Woods, Tim |
| Keywords: | whole farm modeling, edamame, Farm Management, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103709&r=agr |
| By: | Wendt, Minh; Lin, Biing-Hwan |
| Abstract: | The purpose of the study is to examine the dietary consequences of greater consumption of vegetables by type and source. Dietary outcomes include calorie intake, USDAâs healthy eating index (HEI) scores, and intakes of fiber and sodium. We fit a fixed-effects model with two-day intake data from the 2003-4 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Our results suggest that the effect of vegetable consumption on diet varies greatly by type of vegetables and where the food is prepared. As stated in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, âEating [vegetables and fruits] instead of higher calorie foods can help adults and children achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Our results support the statement and call for attention to how to incorporate vegetables into healthy foods, both at home and away from home. |
| Keywords: | Consumption, Calories, Fruits and Vegetables, Fixed-effects, NHANES, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103438&r=agr |
| By: | Abler, David; Yu, Xiaohua; Chen, Danhong |
| Abstract: | Contracts are widely used by agricultural processors for purchasing inputs not only in developed countries but also in developing countries such as China. The total number of formal, written contracts between farmers and food processors is increasing rapidly in China, and the formal contracts that exist are becoming more complex. Contractual design in China is evolving from simple price-quantity contracts toward more complicated arrangements known as cooperation contracts or joint-stock cooperation contracts, designed to share risk and mitigate opportunistic behaviors by the contracting parties. Due to small farm sizes, the contracted amount in the typical contract in China is very small compared with Western countries, and each processor usually has a large number of contracted farmers. This paper uses data from a 2003 survey of food processing firms by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture to analyze the determinants of contractual choices between these firms and farmers and the number of farmers that each firm contracts with. An important issue identified in the literature in analyzing the determinants of contractual choices is endogenous matching between parties to a contract and the effects of this endogenous matching on contract choice. We find strong evidence to support endogenous matching. In particular, our results indicate that firms which contract with a larger number of farms are more likely to use cooperation contracts than relational contracts. |
| Keywords: | China, contractual design, endogenous matching, farms, food processing, Agribusiness, Industrial Organization, Q13, L14, |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103805&r=agr |
| By: | Mason-D'Croz, Daniel; Magnan, Nicholas; Msangi, Siwa; Leroy, Laetitia |
| Abstract: | Global general and partial equilibrium models focused on the agricultural sector can help policy makers do ex-ante analysis by providing a variety of macro-level outcomes, such as changes in flows of international trade, and changes in the supply, demand, and prices of globally traded commodities. IFPRIâs IMPACT model (International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade) model is one such model. Since its inception nearly 20 years ago the model has evolved to inform increasingly complex and nuanced policy issues, such as the explicit modeling of water use and the productive response of agriculture to climate change. However, on the demand side it has remained a fairly blunt instrument. One oft mentioned shortcoming of global food policy models such as IMPACT model is that they treat national populations as a single composite consumer. As (relatively) wealthier urban and poorer rural populations exhibit different demand characteristics, have different base levels of food consumption, and have different levels of wealth, assigning a single representative consumer for an entire country could result in misleading results regarding both global prices and consumption and the food security of the poorer segments of the population. In this poster we present a global partial equilibrium food security model with disaggregated demand. Working from the IMPACT model, we divided national populations into their urban and rural components. Studies have shown that rural and urban consumers, as well as poor and rich consumers, have structurally different food demands. Accordingly, we assign different demand elasticities (price and income), different base consumption (at the commodity level), and different incomes to sub-populations populations within each country. We have completed an extensive study of the food demand literature, using the findings to develop parameters to represent the structural differences in urban and rural food demand (see right for explanation of this process). We use rural/urban population and income data and projections from the UN to complete the disaggregation. |
| Keywords: | Partial Equilibrium Models, Disaggregated Food Demand, IMPACT model, Food Security, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103859&r=agr |
| By: | Parks, Joanna C.; Smith, Aaron D.; Alston, Julian M. |
| Abstract: | The Food Stamp Program (FSP) administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the cornerstone of the U.S. federal income and food safety net policy. The FSP has subsidized the food budget for millions of American households for over forty years, spending more than $60 billion per year in recent times. Prior research has demonstrated that women who participate in the FSP are more likely to be overweight or obese than eligible non-participants. This finding raises the concern that the additional income provided by FSP benefits induces participants to eat significantly more calories and gain weight, contributing to the U.S. obesity epidemic. Previous studies of the FSP have yielded mixed results. In this study we develop new conceptual and empirical models linking FSP participation, calorie consumption, physical activity, and weight gain, while controlling for genetic variation, weight history, and other physiological characteristics of individuals. The models enable us to test whether participants gained more weight, ate more calories, or engaged less in physical activity; or if previously omitted variables and individual health characteristics explain the higher prevalence of obesity among female FSP participants. We find a positive relationship between FSP participation and weight gain for a small subset of women. We do not find convincing evidence for the hypothesis that FSP participation causes obesity by increasing caloric consumption, decreasing physical activity, or some combination of the two. Our findings suggest that a positive association between FSP and weight exists, but we find no evidence of a direct causal link from one to the other. The association between weight and FSP likely results from confounding factors that make individuals more likely both to gain weight and to participate in the FSP. |
| Keywords: | Food Stamp Program (FSP), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), obesity, body mass index (BMI), nutrition assistance, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Health Economics and Policy, Q18, H53, I12, I18, I38, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103537&r=agr |
| By: | Gervais, Jean-Philippe; Larue, Bruno; Otsuki, Tsunehiro; Rau, Marie-Luise; Shutes, Karl; Wieck, Christine; Winchester, Niven |
| Abstract: | We outline new data on non-tariff measures (NTMs) in agricultural trade collected as part of the NTM-Impact project. The data cover product and process standards, conformity assessment measures, and country requirements for the EU and 10 other countries. We create a Heterogeneity Index of Trade (HIT) regulations to aggregate data on different measures, and estimate the impact of regulatory heterogeneity on trade using a gravity framework. Our results suggest that differences in standards reduce trade in beef and pig meat, but have little impact on trade in other agri-food products. |
| Keywords: | Non-tariff measures (NTMs), import requirements, agri-food trade, gravity estimation, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103730&r=agr |
| By: | Lei, Lei; Rickard, Bradley; Balagtas, Joseph; Krissoff, Barry |
| Abstract: | Current U.S. farm programs make payments to farmers based in part on historical base acres planted in particular program crops such as corn, soybeans, cotton, wheat and soybeans. Eligibility for payments includes regulations on the crops allowed to be grown on base acres, and there are restrictions on planting horticultural crops on such base acres. The fruits and planting restriction on base acres has potentially influenced the number of acres planted to fruits and vegetables over the past two decades. This research carefully examines the effects of planting restrictions applied to vegetables and program crops, using county-level data in the United States in 1982, 1987, 1992 and 1997. The paper employs the difference-indifference (DiD) approach to estimate acreage response to planting restrictions. The results show planting restrictions crowded out land used for growing fruits and vegetables, most notably in the Great Lakes region that produces processing vegetables. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103992&r=agr |
| By: | Dun, Zhe; Mithcell, Paul D. |
| Abstract: | Transgenic plants producing insecticidal protein derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have been widely adopted since their commercial introduction in 1996. In 2009, 25 countries planted 134 million ha of transgenic crops. The widespread adoption of such plants has reduced use of conventional insecticides while attaining yield gains, thus providing economic, environmental and human health benefits. Because of Bt cropsâ high pest control efficacy, there is concern that pests will develop resistance to Bt toxins so that Bt crops are less or no longer effective. To delay the evolution of resistance, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently requires Bt crop growers to also plant non-Bt (conventional) crops on a minimum percentage of their total Bt crop acreage as a refuge for susceptible (Bt toxin sensitive) pests. Refuge allows susceptible pests to survive and mate with resistant adults surviving on Bt crops and so slows the development of resistance in the pest population. The existing literature on the welfare analysis of Bt crops generally does not consider the fact that planting Bt crops not only increases the yields of Bt crops themselves but can also increase the yields of non-Bt (conventional/refuge) crops by reducing pests pressure. For example, based on annual population surveys of European corn borer (the most widespread insect pest throughout the U.S. Corn Belt) from the initial invasion of the pest into the Midwestern United States in the 1940s through the commercial adoption of Bt corn during the period 1996 to 2009, Hutchison et al. (2010) showed that ECB populations have declined relative to the pre-Bt era since commercialization of Bt corn, particularly since 2002. The existing literature typically claims that Bt crop producers are possibly winners if the yield increasing effect of the Bt crop beats the price reducing effect. However, conventional crop producers are sure to lose since the price reducing effect â the only effect comes to play for them â reduces their economic surplus. This outcome makes producers skeptical of the benefits for allowing pests to survive in non-Bt crop refuge and is at the root of the refuge compliance problem. Take Bt corn for example. Based on USDA data, Jaffe (2009) estimates that farmer compliance over all three categories of Bt corn, ECB (European corn borer), CRW(corn rootworm), and stacked hybrids, averaged 73% for distance and 74% for size. In other words, one out of four producers did not comply with the Bt corn refuge requirements. Failure to incorporate the positive externality of Bt crops on conventional crops in existing literature results in underestimation of consumer surplus and overestimation of Bt crops growersâ producer surplus. We model the positive externality of Bt crops on conventional crops as a kind of âtechnology spilloverâ. Therefore, planting Bt crops will shift the supply curve to the right, not only for Bt crops growers, but also for conventional crop growers, although the magnitudes should differ. Following Alston et al. (1995), we describe a framework to analyze distribution of gains from planting Bt crops in a large open economy context incorporating the technology spillover from Bt crops to conventional crops. We assume that the U.S. is a large open economy that exports crops to the rest of world. Rather than assuming specific functional forms for the supply and demand curves, we instead use a logarithmic differential approximation to solve the model. According to Alston and Wohlgenant (1990), the logarithmic differential (linear elasticity) approximation is good for small changes with constant elasticity supply and demand and is exact with linear supply and demand. We conclude that all world consumers always win due to the introduction of Bt crops since the Bt toxin is effective at increasing yield and reducing production costs. Bt crop producers might win depending on which effect (the yield increasing effect or the price reducing effect) is dominant. Conventional crop producers are no longer doomed to lose, as they might also win if the yield increasing effect of the âtechnology spilloverâ due to fewer pests outweighs the price reducing effect. This finding provides more evidence that Bt crop producers have incentives to comply with refuge policy. In the United States, corn has been the most abundant transgenic crop planted to resist insect pests and the most widespread insect pest throughout the U.S. Corn Belt has been the European corn borer which before the advent of Bt corn cost growers about $1 billion annually in losses and control costs. We apply the above model to analyze the distribution of gains from planting ECB Bt corn. The estimated of shift of conventional cornâs supply curve induced by planting ECB Bt corn is crucial to the economic surplus calculation. We combine information from farmer survey and USDA data to refine our estimates. We find that for year 2009, ignoring the positive externality of ECB Bt corn on conventional corn results in underestimation of world consumer surplus by 15.64% and overestimation of Bt corns growersâ producer surplus by 8.43%. The magnitude of these results indicates the importance of including the technology spillover from Bt crops to conventional crops when estimating the welfare effect of Bt crops. In addition, we find that conventional crop producers can also benefit when others use Bt technology. We see high potential for generating discussion as grower compliance with refuge policy for Bt crops continues to be a problem and has apparently gotten worse (Jaffe 2009). Our finding that both Bt and non-Bt acres can benefit from Bt crops will help encourage growers that the refuge/conventional crops that they plant can also benefit from Bt technology. |
| Keywords: | welfare, Bt, pest suppression, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103584&r=agr |
| By: | Lee, Jun; Gomez, Miguel L. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103813&r=agr |
| By: | Reeling, Carson J.; Gramig, Benjamin M. |
| Abstract: | The nitrogen cascade concept indicates that agriculture serves as a significant link between emissions of the potent greenhouse gas (GHG) nitrous oxide and losses of nitrate-N to surface waters. Conservation practices have the potential to exploit this link, as their implementation is found to reduce fluxes of GHGs and nonpoint source (NPS) water pollution. Several studies have recognized this link and have documented the potential to improve environmental quality through the use of programs which retire land, the cost of which can be offset by the sale of carbon credits. However, the ability to use land for both agricultural production and environmental conservation is important. As such, this study provides a novel analytical framework that is used to examine the potential for implementing agricultural conservation practices to reduce NPS water pollutants and fluxes of GHGs in a working-lands setting. The extent to which carbon pricing can affect practice implementation costs and the optimal distribution of these practices throughout the watershed is also explored. Results from this study indicate that carbon offsets can sharply reduce conservation practice implementation costs and therefore have the potential to reduce greater amounts of NPS pollution for a given cost of implementation. This conclusion has significant implications for policymaking, particularly with regard to using market mechanisms to improve water quality in watersheds where markets have historically been unsuccessful. However, this study found that the optimal allocation of practices was heavily reliant on fertilizer management, which is difficult to enforce in practice. |
| Keywords: | greenhouse gases, nonpoint source pollution, agricultural conservation practices, DAYCENT, SWAT, genetic algorithm, Environmental Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103577&r=agr |
| By: | Wang, Hainan; Mittelhammer, Ron; McCluskey, Jill; Bai, Junfei |
| Keywords: | Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103963&r=agr |
| By: | Sesmero, Juan P. |
| Abstract: | Off-farm demand for crop residues is expected to grow as bioenergy policies become effective. Demand for residues will provide farmers with an additional source of revenue but it may also trigger losses in soil organic carbon and increases in fertilizer application. This study develops a dynamic economic model of stover harvest that permits conceptualization and quantification of these potential tradeoffs. We parameterize our model based on publicly available studies of soil biophysical relationships in the Corn Belt. Under these parameter values and 2010 corn and fertilizer prices harvesting stover is not economically convenient at prices below $53 per dry ton of stover. Results suggest that the rate of stover harvest may be quite sensitive and negatively linked to corn prices, which means that policies favoring the use of stover for biomass may be overridden by further increases in corn price. The negative link between stover harvest and corn prices, while somewhat counterintuitive, is driven by the fact that removal of stover reduces future grain yield (through reductions in soil organic carbon). Results also seem to indicate that, under plausible parameter values, profit maximizing farmers would increase stover supply in response to increases in stover price. However increases in supply are, according to our simulations, associated with (potentially significant) reductions in soil organic carbon (and hence carbon emissions as these are positively linked) and increases in nitrogen application (and potential runoffs). This result suggests that concerns about adverse environmental implications of harvesting stover may be justified, and more precise quantification of environmental tradeoffs should be pursued by future research. |
| Keywords: | stover supply, biomass, soil productivity, soil organic carbon, nitrogen, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, C61, Q12, Q24, Q42, Q53, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103765&r=agr |
| By: | Velandia, Margarita M.; Lambert, Dayton M.; Mendieta, Maria P.; Roberts, Roland K.; Larson, James A.; English, Burton C.; Rejesus, Roderick M.; Mishra, Ashok K. |
| Abstract: | Information generated by precision farming technologies is of particular importance to producers. Precision farming technologies implies the ability to improve the management of production factors using site-specific information. This study examines factors influencing cotton farmersâ perceptions about the importance of crop consultants, farm input dealerships, Extension, other farmers, trade shows, the Internet and printed news/media for making precision farming decisions using a rank ordered logit model (ROLM). Results suggest that age, land tenure, income, percentage of income from farming, and location may affect farmersâ perceptions about the importance of different information sources when making decisions about precision farming technologies. Results suggest that regardless of farmer/farm business characteristics other farmers (OF) is one of the most important information sources when making precision farming decisions. Findings suggest that high income producers are more likely to prefer crop consultants, University/Extension, trade shows, and the Internet over OF as a source of information when making decisions about precision farming technologies. Findings also suggest that researchers need to be very careful when designing questions that ask respondents to rank alternatives so that they guarantee that individuals with different skills are able to precisely understand what is being asked. Decreasing the number of alternatives respondents must consider may be one strategy to reduce the complexity of ranking questions to minimize the probability of the respondents leaving alternatives unranked or ranking them randomly. |
| Keywords: | Information-source preferences, Rank Ordered Logit Model, Precision Farming, Production Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q16, C25, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103752&r=agr |
| By: | Ma, Shan; Swinton, Scott M.; Lupi, Frank |
| Abstract: | Payment-for-Ecosystem-Services (PES) programs are gaining appeal as flexible approaches to inducing the voluntary provision of ecosystem services (ES). Farmers, who manage agricultural ecosystems, provide important nonmarket ecosystem services to the public by their choice of production inputs and management practices. Although there exist various PES programs in the United States and Europe, we are aware of none that was designed based on a comprehensive understanding of the underlying supply and demand of ecosystem services. Taking advantage of unique, coupled datasets of stated preferences, this paper combines a supply-side cost function of farmersâ willingness to adopt practices that provide increased ES with a demand-side social benefit function of residentsâ willingness to pay (WTP) for these ES. The result is an empirically based, welfare-maximizing price and quantity of ES that can inform the design of future PES programs. |
| Keywords: | Payment-for-Ecosystem-Services (PES), Contingent valuation, Aggregate supply and demand, Cropland, Eutrophication, Greenhouse gas, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q11, Q51, Q57, Q58, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103501&r=agr |
| By: | Reed, Albert J. |
| Abstract: | This study attempts to find empirical support for one or both of the above reasons for declining food budget shares. Estimates of a deflated-income AIDS model of food demand are compared to estimates of the corresponding nominal-income AIDS model with respect to their implications for declining farm value shares. |
| Keywords: | Consumer Food Demand, farm value shares, market power, Demand and Price Analysis, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103549&r=agr |
| By: | Rada, Nicholas; Buccola, Steven |
| Abstract: | Using a sequence of decennial farm censuses, we examine Brazilâs agricultural performance over the last several decades as the economy shifted slowly from a producer-protected to liberalized environment. Those shifts provide the data for investigating Brazilian policyâs implications for agricultural competitiveness and efficiency. We decompose mean-farm total factor productivity into frontier productivity and efficiency change, each of the two influenced independently by government policy. National technology growth is found to have been an exceptionally high 4.5% per annum. Because, however, average farms were unable to keep pace with it, TFP growth has been a much smaller 2.6% per year. Although frontier producers in the south have outperformed their northern counterparts, TFP growth in the south has been lower than in the north. Benefits from Brazilâs agricultural research system have been tilted toward the farming sector's technological leaders, widening the productivity gap between frontier and average producer. Credit, education, and road construction policies have instead narrowed that gap. |
| Keywords: | Brazilian agriculture, Embrapa, input distance function, stochastic frontier, total factor productivity, technical change, efficiency, International Development, Productivity Analysis, O2, O3, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103326&r=agr |
| By: | Guan, Zhengfei; Wu, Feng |
| Keywords: | Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103801&r=agr |
| By: | Costa, Rafael; Susanto, Dwi; Rosson, C. Parr |
| Abstract: | The United States dairy industry is heavily dependent on foreign labor. Current and newly proposed U.S. immigration policies have been appointed to disrupt the agricultural labor availability, especially that of hired foreign labor. A national survey of dairy farmers across herd sizes and regions of the U.S. was conducted for the year 2009 and the results were used to evaluate the extent to which hired foreign labor dependence will affect the exit intentions in dairy farming. The political affiliation of dairy farmers was based on the 2008 election map and their locations. Our findings indicate that the expected probability of exit from dairy farming increased as the use of hired foreign labor intensified. Results also suggest that states with Republican political affiliation has a greater probability of exiting dairy operations with more stricter immigration laws. |
| Keywords: | immigration, political affiliation, foreign labor, exit intention, dairy industry., Farm Management, Financial Economics, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103583&r=agr |
| By: | Sauer, Johannes; Gorton, Matthew; White, John |
| Abstract: | Drawing on survey data, this paper identifies the determinants of variations in farm gate milk prices for three CIS countries (Armenia, Moldova and Ukraine). We apply a multi-level modeling approach, specifically a bootstrapped mixed-effects linear regression model. The analysis suggests three main strategies to improve the price received by farmers for their output: consolidation, competition for output and stable supply chain relationships. In Armenia and Ukraine selling through a marketing cooperative has a significant, positive, albeit modest, effect on farm gate milk prices. In all three countries studied, the size of dairy operations, trust and contracting also affect positively the prices received by farmers. |
| Keywords: | price heterogeneity, milk, cooperatives, Armenia, Moldova, Ukraine, Agribusiness, Demand and Price Analysis, Marketing, O13, P32, Q13, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103722&r=agr |
| By: | Tae-Kyun, Kim; Hyun-Ji, Lee; Na-Kyoung, Hong |
| Abstract: | Korean consumers' willingness to accept (WTA) for GM food are studied in this paper. This study compares hypothetical and nonhypothetical responses to choice experiment questions. We test for hypothetical bias in a choice experiment involving GM rice with differing characteristic attributes and multinomial logit model is applied to predict the estimated results. In general, hypothetical responses predicted higher probabilities of purchasing GM rice than nonhypothetical responses. Thus, hypothetical choices overestimate willingness to accept for GM rice. The results of this paper could contributes to government's GM food policies and subsequent studies, also improving economic welfare of farmers and consumers. |
| Keywords: | GM Food, Willingness to Accept, Choice experiment, Hypothetical bias, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103629&r=agr |
| By: | Lakoh, Kepifri |
| Abstract: | This paper primarily investigates the contribution of SOM on explaining changes in technical efficiency and agricultural productivity across counties in Nebraska. It also gives an account of the status of inter-county agricultural productivity in Nebraska. An output measure technical efficiency was constructed using data envelopment analysis. Total factor productivity change was estimated using an output Malmquist index approach. Results show that SOM does contribute in explaining variations in technical efficiency and total factor productivity across counties in Nebraska. Also, an average measure of TFP growth of 2.1% was obtained for the 39 year period of which 1.3% was accounted for by technological change while the remaining 0.8% from efficiency change. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103937&r=agr |
| By: | Durand-Morat, Alvaro; Wailes, Eric J. |
| Abstract: | There is a strong linkage between the behavior of the rice market and the state of food security in many regions around the world, particularly in Asia, as made evident in the 2007-08 commodity crisis. Rice is a staple for the majority of the population in Asia, where roughly 60% of the close to one billion undernourished people live (FAO, 2010). As Timmer (2010) states, âit is impossible to improve food security in the short run or long run without providing adequate supplies of rice that are accessible to the poorâ (p. 2). The rice crisis of 2007-08 showed the crucial role of export and import policies on the behavior of the rice market and its consequences for price stability and food security. Market fundamentals could only explain a minimal part of the skyrocketing increase in rice prices observed (Dawe, 2010). The overarching objective of this study is to assess the impact of international rice trade policies on the patterns of production, consumption, trade, and prices, from an ex-post and ex-ante perspective, and analyze the implications of these policies from a food-security point of view. The RICEFLOW model (Durand-Morat and Wailes, 2010) is used for the assessment. RICEFLOW is a spatial partial equilibrium model of the global rice economy in which the behavior of producers and consumers are specified according to neoclassical economic theory (profit and utility maximizers, respectively). Domestic production and imports are specified as imperfect substitutes following Armington (1969). The model is calibrated to calendar year 2008, the latest available year for which the RICEFLOW database is available. The 2008 RICEFLOW database is disaggregated into 65 country/regions, including the largest producers and traders of rice, and 9 rice commodities defined on two dimensions, (1) milling degrees (paddy, brown, and milled), and (2) type (long grain, medium & short grain, and fragrant). Given the crucial importance of the Armington elasticities and the lack of good estimates on these parameters, systematic sensitivity analysis is conducted on the best available estimates to generate stochastic distributions of the endogenous variables with respect to these behavioral parameters. Results are decomposed in two dimensions, namely, (1) trade policy groups, and (2) countries, to obtain a better idea of the partial effect of policies and or countries applying them. Achieving food security implies guaranteeing access (physical availability and affordability) to safe and nutritious food to the entire population. Improving food security is the key goal of the World Food Summit of 1996 and the first Millennium Development Goal. Food security assessments have traditionally been done either at the macro level (market stability) or micro level (household access). Although the methodology used in this study constrains us to focus on the macro level, it can contribute to an improved understanding of trade policy for regional and global rice supply and, thus, for improved market stability. |
| Keywords: | rice, trade, policies, food security, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Relations/Trade, F13, Q17, Q18, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103818&r=agr |
| By: | Shiratori, Sakiko; Kinsey, Jean |
| Abstract: | This study estimated the impact of nutrition information provided by popular media on consumersâ purchases in U.S. grocery stores, taking omega-3 fortified eggs as an example. The media index was constructed from multiple information sources by utilizing computer-coded content analysis. Their probability of purchasing omega-3 eggs between 1998 and 2007 based on household-level scanner data was analyzed by logistic regression models to incorporate elements of information effects. The results showed the significant positive impact of nutritional information from the popular media on consumersâ food choices, thus publishing in popular media can be an effective communication approach to promote consumersâ health. |
| Keywords: | Consumer Economics, Content Analysis, Functional Food, Information economics, Logit, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, D12, D83, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103850&r=agr |
| By: | Chen, Xi; Zhang, Xiaobo |
| Abstract: | This paper is based on our ongoing joint work with Ravi Kanbur. Xi Chen is grateful to Ravi Kanbur for invaluable comments, guidance and encouragement. For comments and suggestions, please direct correspondence to Xi Chen at xc49@cornell.edu. |
| Keywords: | Social Network, Peer Effect, Risk-pooling, Status Seeking, Gift-giving, Ceremony, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Development, Public Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Risk and Uncertainty, I32, J22, D13, D63, |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103643&r=agr |
| By: | MacEwan, Duncan; Howitt, Richard |
| Abstract: | Crop rotation systems are an important part of agricultural production for managing pests, diseases, and soil fertility. Recent interest in sustainable agriculture focuses on low-input use practices which require knowledge of the underlying dynamics of production and rotation systems. Additionally, supply elasticity estimates based crop production as independent activities omit the effects of a cyclical rotation. We derive the theory of rotations within an optimal control framework and show that the optimal control exhibits a bang-bang solution. Using an Optimal Matching algorithm from the Bioinformatics literature we determine empirically observed rotations using a geo-referenced panel dataset of field level observations. We estimate the production parameters which satisfy the Euler Equations of the field level rotation problem and simulate an empirically observed four-crop rotation. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Production Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103635&r=agr |
| By: | Jacobs, Keri L.; Marra, Michele C.; Thurman, Walter N. |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103675&r=agr |
| By: | Di Corato, Luca; Mandal, Maitreyi; Lagerkvist, Carl Johan |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103701&r=agr |
| By: | Bouamra-Mechemache, Zohra; Yu, Jianyu |
| Abstract: | Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) is a public label that isused by the European Union as a tool to sustain the competitiveness and the profitability of agricultural sector and in particular to maintain rural activity in less favored areas. However, in PDO supply chain, many farmers deal with relatively few processing firms. In this framework, it is not clear that producers under such protective policy would have incentive to adopt costly measures to improve their product qualities and accept the restrictions on their production practices. Taking into account the vertical structure of the PDO supply chain, we develop a model of oligopoly and oligopsony competition to investigate the conditions under which PDO producers set high quality requirements on the production of the agricultural input. We find that even if raising quality does not imply additional willingness to pay from consumers, there is still scope for the PDO producers to choose a higher level of quality than the minimum quality standard. The outcome depends on the demand and technology characteristics, which will affect the oligopoly and oligopsony power of processors. In particular, farmers will prefer a higher quality standard than processors when the demand for PDO market is inelastic and the increase in quality generates an additional reduction in farmersâ return to scale. |
| Keywords: | Marketing, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103607&r=agr |
| By: | Champetier, Antoine |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:104007&r=agr |
| By: | Grogan, Kelly A.; Goodhue, Rachael E. |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the spatial externalities of conventional and organic pest control methods to determine if, and how, the two types affect each other. These interactions make the problem more complicated than the usual analysis of a single externality. The numerical simulation model includes one organically managed and one conventionally managed field. One pest and one predator of the pest move between the two fields over five seasons. In each season, the conventional grower has the option of applying a broad-spectrum pesticide that kills the predator a selective pesticide that has no adverse effects on the predator but is either more expensive or less effective than the broad-spectrum pesticide. The organic grower can apply an organic pesticide, augment the predator population, or both. The simulation model identifies the socially optimal pest control decisions and the Nash equilibrium decisions of both growers over the five growing seasons. The relative price and efficacy of the selective pesticide, the type of predator, and the type of pest introduction all influence whether or not either or both growers make inefficient decisions. Under certain conditions, regional pest management, equivalent to coordination of pest control across growers, could increase total regional profits. |
| Keywords: | spatial-dynamic games, spatial externalities, non-cooperative games, organic agriculture, biological control, agricultural policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Crop Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, C61, C72, Q18, Q52, Q57, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103760&r=agr |
| By: | Berning, Joshua; Zheng, Hualu |
| Abstract: | We examine the affect of retail and manufacturer coupons on the nutritional quality of breakfast cereal purchases made by households. Using household level purchase data we find that coupon usage has a significant impact on the nutritional quality of cereals purchased by households. Specifically, we find that the average sugar content decreases and the fiber content increases. This suggests that coupons have a positive impact on the nutritional quality of cereals purchased by households, holding all other factors constant. Given the prolific use of coupons by households and the fact that they offer both a price discount and an advertisement for products, they might be an effective way to help guide consumers to healthier food choices. |
| Keywords: | coupons, breakfast cereal, nutrition, panel data, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, Marketing, D10, I10, M30, C23, |
| Date: | 2011–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103661&r=agr |
| By: | Pouliot, Sebastien |
| Abstract: | The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010 is new legislation that mandates, among other things, new food safety standards. The act includes a clause that exempts small firms from new regulatory requirements. This paper investigates the effects of a small firm exemption from more stringent food safety standards. The model compares food safety, total output and the number of market participants for different food safety regulation with and without an exemption for small firms. The numerical examples show that a more stringent food safety regulation increases food safety, increases the price of food, decreases the total output and decreases the number of firms. A new food safety standard with an exemption for small firms increases the average food safety but not as much as with a new standard alone. An exemption for small firms causes the total number of firms to increase. |
| Keywords: | Food safety, heterogeneous firms, regulation, regulatory exemption, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, D21, M31, Q10, Q18, |
| Date: | 2011–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103885&r=agr |
| By: | Bento, Antonio M.; Klotz, Richard; Landry, Joel R. |
| Abstract: | This paper applies the insights of the carbon leakage literature to study the emissions consequences of biofuel policies. We develop a simple analytic framework to decompose the intended emissions impacts of biofuel policy from four sources of carbon leakage: domestic fuel markets, domestic land markets, world land markets and world crude oil markets. A numerical simulation model illustrates the magnitude of each source of leakage for combinations of two current US biofuel policies: the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) and the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). In the presence of both land and fuel market leakage, current US biofuel policies are unlikely to reduce greenhouse gases. Four of the five policy scenarios we consider lead to increases in greenhouse gas emissions. That is, total leakage was greater than 100%. The single scenario that generates emissions savings, the removal of the VEETC in conjunction with a binding RFS, only does so because negative leakage in the domestic fuel market offset the remaining positive sources of leakage. |
| Keywords: | Multi-market, carbon leakage, biofuels, greenhouse gases, Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q42, Q54, Q58, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:104008&r=agr |
| By: | Okrent, Abigail M.; Alston, Julian M. |
| Abstract: | Food away from home (FAFH) is an important component of the demand for food and hence, the nutritional intake of adults and children in the United States. Hence, policies designed to influence nutritional outcomes should address the role of FAFH. However, most studies of the response of demand for food to policy changes have ignored the role of FAFH, which means the estimates must be biased, while those studies that have included FAFH have treated it as a single good, giving rise to potential aggregation biases. In this study we estimate a demand system including a FAFH and alcoholic beverages composite (i.e., the aggregate of the three products modeled in the second stage), along with nine food at home (FAH) products (cereals and bakery products, dairy, red meat, poultry, fish, eggs, fruits and vegetables, other foods, and nonalcoholic beverages), and a nonfood composite. We also model allocations within the FAFH and alcoholic beverages composite, treating it as the second stage of a two-stage budgeting process. We estimate the demand for two FAFH products: food from full-service restaurants and other FAFH (including food from limited-service restaurants, vending services, and employee and school cafeterias) and alcoholic beverages as a weakly separable group. Using both the first- and second-stage estimates, we approximate elasticities of demand for disaggregated FAFH products conditional on total expenditure for nonfood. We find that the demands for the two FAFH products respond differently to changes in their own-product prices, other product prices and total expenditure for all goods. |
| Keywords: | Food Demand, Food Away From Home (FAFH), Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, D12, Q11, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103625&r=agr |
| By: | Rimal, Arbindra; Benjamin, Onyango |
| Abstract: | The objective of this study is to examine purchasing practices of locally produced fresh vegetables among restaurants and food service institutions. The sample for the study included managers of 75 restaurants and dining centers out of a total of nearly 600 food service outlets in a mid-size metropolitan city in Midwest with a population of about 400,000. The study findings show differential preferences between national/regional chains and the local independently owned restaurants. Although managers across the board expressed willingness to buy local, actual purchasing decisions were largely driven by freshness, quality and availability. Price was not as critical a factor as others including variety and selection. The results suggest that local vegetable producers should use regularity, quality, and freshness to differentiate themselves. As a producer of small volume of fresh vegetables local farmers have much higher probability of success if they supply to locally and independently owned restaurants. These restaurants use small volume of vegetables in broader variety. Additionally, small variety growers may need to recast their business models as the industry seem to be moving towards fewer vegetables delivered round the year. These producers should consider investments in greenhouse to gain a competitive edge. |
| Keywords: | local food, resturant managers, logit, Agribusiness, |
| Date: | 2011–05–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103464&r=agr |
| By: | Msuya, E. E; Isinika, A. C. |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the performance of food production and productivity in Tanzania since 2000, in relation to post-SAP policies. This discussion assumes that individual households in Tanzania strive to achieve food security through own production as well as purchases from the market. Meanwhile, the government strives to meet national food self-sufficiency of main staples (maize,rice and cassava) from local production, implying that individual farmers must produce a surplus, which is then marketed efficiently so that everybody can access sufficient and good-quality food at all times at affordable prices. Any change in the policy environment changes the opportunity set and hence the choices individuals make, which in turn shapes the aggregate performance of economies over time (North, 1993). It is in this context that the analysis in this paper looks at the performance of food production and marketing, at the micro and macro levels, during the post-SAP period in Tanzania, as influenced by preceding and prevailing policies and institutions, in particular focusing on the magnitude and direction of change. The discussion is guided by several questions: is there any change happening in food production? What is driving that change? Can the change be sustained? What is the role of supporting institutions, markets and governance in directing this change? |
| Keywords: | Tanzania; Food security; market failure; policy review; sokoine university of agriculture |
| JEL: | O1 Q13 Q12 O12 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:30886&r=agr |
| By: | Dong, Fengxia; Du, Xiaodong; Gould, Brian W. |
| Abstract: | The classified pricing of fluid milk under the Federal Milk Marketing Orders (FMMO) system combined with the cash settlement feature of Class IIII milk futures contracts generate a unique volatility pattern of these futures markets in the sense that the volatility gradually decreases as the USDA price announcement dates approaching in the month. Focusing on the evolution of volatility in Class III milk futures market, this study quantifies the relative importance of a set of factors driving milk price variation. While volatilities in both corn futures market and financial market Granger-cause the milk price volatility, the impact of financial market is more persistent. Besides embedded seasonality, market demand and supply conditions in the dairy market, cheese in this case, as well as changes in the U.S. exchange rates are found to have positive and statistically significant impacts on milk price volatility. While speculation positively affects milk futures markets, the effect was found insignificant. |
| Keywords: | Cash settlement, impulse responses, milk pricing, realized volatility, speculation., Agricultural and Food Policy, Q11, Q14., |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103617&r=agr |
| By: | Lohr, Luanne; Park, Timothy A. |
| Abstract: | We develop measures of technical and allocative efficiency of producers in marketing certified organic products. A stochastic output distance frontier and the associated revenue share equations are estimated using comprehensive U.S. data on certified organic producers. Farm-level measures of technical efficiency are calculated and factors which enhance performance are identified. Factors that systematically influence allocative efficiency are assessed. The revenue mix of organic producers is systematically inefficient as both male and female producers rely too heavily on revenue from organic markets relative to conventional outlets. |
| Keywords: | organic farming, stochastic frontier, technical efficiency, allocative efficiency, Farm Management, Marketing, D21, C31, Q01, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103365&r=agr |
| By: | Hailu, Yohannes G.; Adelaja, Adesoji; Akaeze, Henry |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:104179&r=agr |